Late fees are the bane of my existence. Not only do I have to spend over $5 to rent a fricken movie… but they know full well that the pace of life almost dictates that half the time you won’t be able to return the movie on time… and them WHAMMOO!!!! They nail you with the late charge. Suddenly you’ve spent $8 or $9 on a rental. Grrr… I can’t blame Blockbuster for that really… it’s my own fault.
The good folks over at FilmRot put up an interesting post about some changes Blockbuster is trying out to their late policy. Here’s what they have to say:
Before you go thinking the mom-and-pop-shop killer has gone soft, there is a caveat, of course. Instead of charging for member tardiness they’ve decided they’ll just charge you for the WHOLE FREAKING VIDEO.
“…customers will be given a one-week grace period after that to return the product. After that grace period ends, the chain will automatically sell them the product, less the rental fee. If the customers don’t want to purchase the movie or game, they can return the product within 30 days for a credit, less a restocking fee.”
Hmmm… interesting approach. If they mean “sell you the video” as meaning a NORMAL prices video… then it almost becomes an interesting try before you buy kind of system. However, if they charge you like $30-$40 for the videos, then it becomes something of a rip off. I’m interested to see how they structure this. It could either be quite inovative… or really evil.
Come on people. Blockbuster’s NO MORE LATE FEES policy is just that, no more late fees! I worked at Blockbuster for several years, and I haven’t always agreed with what they’ve done, but this policy is not the end of the world. It’s the best thing any video store has ever done for their customers. People are complaining about being charged the full price of the movie after it’s been kept out for more than a week. Hello?! They have ALWAYS charged the replacement cost!!! The difference now is that you can return the items for a refund less $1.25 restocking fee with no late fees added to your account. Gee, $1.25 for 30 days past due? Sound pretty petty to me. Also, they are no longer turning these accounts over to a collection agency for payment. It just bills to your credit card or right to your account. It seems the only people that have a reason to complain are the ones that thought they could actually buy the movie for the rental price. That’s just being unreasonable. I don’t think Blockbuster expected the program to go over so well, so in the begining their stock of movies was limited, but they seem to have realized that and they’re getting more movies in now. Take a deep breath and relax people. No program rolls out with out kinks. Give them a chance to work them out!
Just a few comments on the last post. I have had late fees overturned several times at blockbuster and all in good faith.
Sometimes I return my movie about 5 minutes before the deadline according to my watch, because that’s the exact time I pass by Blockbuster to drive my wife to work. The problem is that the employees probably empty out the bin a little early or a little late, and I believe the official time of return is entered incorrectly into the computer (maybe it’s even electronic by scanning the movie back into stock or something).
So I argue. I know I was on time and that it’s the mechanics of their restocking system that made it go as a late return. And it isn’t always when I return it with only 5 minutes to go that a late fee has been added to my account (which is half the rental price at my blockbuster). Once I returned a movie a full day early on a 2 day rental and it was somehow entered as a late return.
Each time I argue, the late fee gets removed from my account. Once a blockbuster employee spoke too loudly about the issue and embarrassed my wife so she complained online and we got a couple free rentals.
The return system was full holes, and they couldn’t prove that a move showing up as late int he computer was really returned late. Maybe that’s part of the reason for the no late fee policy. A more reliabe way to get some money from people who return movies really late.
As many of you know, Blockbuster is out to exploit it’s customer base (I know, I’ve worked in the industry for the last 5 years). I’ve actually been in a Bluckbuster and heard the manager tell someone, “you will pay the late fee because you did return the movie 5 minutes late and you will come back tomorrow and rent more because you have to rent somewhere!”. I don’t know about the rest of you but this strikes me as nothing more than a big chain store, knowing that it’s a big chain store, who likes to bully their clients around because they have limited options in a lot of areas. This “No More Late Fees” campaign is just another way to, unbeknownst to most uneducated customers, screw the customer!
How many of you have ever disputed a late fee with Blockbuster and got it overturned? Saying that you had it in on time is like trying to prove there is a God…it’s never gonna happen. And now, if you have this discussion on Day 8 of your extra long rental experience, you are going to be forced to deal with another large corporation that you probably don’t want to deal with…your bank or credit card company.
Let us also not forget that we will now be charged the FULL PRICE of a BRAND NEW MOVIE (minus rental fee…hello…rental fee + lower movie charge = BRAND NEW MOVIE CHARGE) even though we are getting a previously viewed movie. At other stores if you purchase a brand new movie you’re going to pay $20-$30 (dvd) whereas you can pick up a previously viewed copy for $5-$7. So if I do the math correctly, I am now paying $25 for a PV as opposed to $10 (assuming I rented the movie first at a full price rental charge and liked it enough to buy it!). Sure, if I keep the movie 8 extra days (on accident or out of convenience) I am still only paying $18 dollars and I dont have to worry about dealing with 2 A__hole companies if I rent elsewhere.
People, I’m not dillusional enough to think that there is a perfect solution out there but I know when I’ve turned in something late and personally the best system I’ve found is Hollywood videos “turn it in late and we charge you for five more days” deal – at least then you don’t have to rush to return it in the next day or 2 before your get bent over and fisted by the preverbial “MAN” again just because you were busy or the rental store nearest you is still isn’t very “near you”.
Necessity is the mother of invention and obviously there are enough people that are tired of dealing with Blockbuster that there are now other viable options available to everyone in the form of Hollywood Video, NetFlix and On-Demand Cable…use your best justment and find the one that will still help you enjoy your free time as close to free as possible.
“Cancer Merchant, Cancer Merchant!” -Clerks
….hmmm…rip-off?!? They already gave a whole week grace period after the due date and still complaining…ahem…
yep…the US of A is full of lazy & irresponsible people…no wonder plenty of businesses go belly up…all we’re good @ is complaining…sad!
me like fatto y fatty you soo soo heads
Here’s an idea that our store is trying…
Not everyone forgets to bring back movies and as a matter of fact, some people actually bring the rentals back the next day. (hard to believe?)
We are charging customers who elect to rent a movie and bring it back the next day just $1.98. Saving over $2 a rental will not only attract customers, but the more responsible ones at that. I rather have a store that actually has dvd’s in stock and available for rent with customers that return them in a timely basis than a store with no inventory and customer’s that will bitch and blame us for overdrawing their checking account when their debit card was hit for $24.99 x 4 rentals.
Here’s an example of what you will be charged if you are late.
Elf-retail 21.99
rental fee-4.29
If you keep it 7 days past the due date(and you do have a due date), then you are charged 17.70 for the dvd.
21.99-4.29=17.70
They are not going to rip you off. If you don’t want to own it, return it!!
You have 30 days from the time you are charged to return it for a small restocking fee. 1.25!
If you keep it past that, you own it. No refunds.
The only problem I see with that are games. Some games are hard to find for sale. Now you can rent them and just keep it until you are charged.
Thank you Maria Singer for that very crude, misinformed and grammatically incorrect post.
Apparently she didn’t read the post entirely. First of all, I highly doubt a highly popular company like Blockbuster would chage its customers $40 for a DVD, especially when they offer unlimited rentals for, what, $20 a month? Secondly, the purchace doesn’t go into effect for a week after the movie is late. Seeing as how the usual rental length is about one week, that would mean you’d have to have a movie out for two whole weeks before you get charged. How many people “forget” to return a movie for two weeks? And finally, if you don’t return a movie and you end up getting charged full price for it, HOW IS THAT ANYONE’S FAULT BUT YOUR FREAKIN’ OWN?!
I would like to add that in the city in which I live, of all the video stores, Blockbuster is the best. Bear in mind I am one who does not like supporting big chains, unless of course I feel they are in some way superior. The local Blockbuster has very friendly and helpful staff who know their movies, and is the only place in my home city that carries a stock of widescreen DVDs; and there are a lot of video stores in my home city.
Anyway, let’s try to keep the posts respectful and intelligent. That’s what I like about this site. :-)
I work at Blockbuster, and I saw a memo about this from our home office the other night. I think that the price you will be charged depends on the movie. Older movies that are out of print will most likely get you stuck with a $100 charge. Newer stuff, we’ll probably sell at our PRP price, which is typically $5-7 for VHS (We’re getting rid of those too), and $7-15 for DVD. teh newest releases will probably be sold at our normal retail price, whihc is typically $20-25. I’m sure the restocking fee will probably be about $5, which, for more than week late, is a pretty good deal. If you can’t get a movie back within a week after it’s due (we typically will have called you twice by this point), you deserve to pay the charge.
Now the problems is that movies are going to be out for much longer. We’ll have to stock more copies to make up for the number that will be “bought” by customers and the ones that will be kept out longer. I dont know if our profit from selling the movies will be able to make up for the loss of late fee revenue, and the increased cost from ordering more movies.
Of course, I work at a franchise location, so we might not even be participating.
so, take away late charges and what is the motive to bring back the movie? if a movie is not returned then it cannot make more money and makes other customers looking for that movie disappointed and so they must look elsewhere for their movies. i guess they’ll all come to rogers video!! :) blockbuster is a fag corpuration, the people taht work there have never once been nice to me and are lazy at helping me with questions. plus, blockbuster produced too many coupon booklets and had to take them off the market because they werent making a profit off them (retards)
if ur late bringing back a new release 1 day late its the price of the rental
at rogers video it would be half the price.
dont get all twidderpated with “no late charges” and forget about the fact that there is a catch. perhaps u didnt brig back the movie “envy” (the stupidist movie i have seen all year) and they want u to buy it now for 30-40 dollars..wouldnt it have been less expensive to have a late charge instead? i think yes! tkae it from me…blockbuster is screwing itself over.
I haven’t been to Blockbuster in 5 years. I’ve been using Netflix since 1999, and for about $20/month I can have 4 DVDs at home and I can get rent as many movies a months as I want depending on how soon I return the ones at home.
As far as returning them late, we’ve had some movies at home for as long as 3 months. :-)
Vic
I agree, this sounds like a good “try-it-before-you-buy-it” idea, but what about the price? Rental videos’ prices are done differently than videos for purchace. I’m not sure how it works with DVDs, though I assume it must be the same. When a movie first comes out on home video, it often is rentable first. For this often brief period of time, anyone can purchase the video, but at a price. That price is usually around $100 (or a little more than ¬£50). After the video has been available to rent for a while, the price drops to something more consumer friendly.
What concerns me most is which price does BlockBuster intend to charge you? For business purposes, if they want to eliminate last returns they choose the former price. I’m sure most of us would be less willing to let a movie go late if we thought we’d have to pay $100 for it, or even $30. On the other hand, if try-it-before-you-buy-it is what they have in mind, than an average price of $20 seems reasonable.
I’d like to see this incorporated. Half the reason I never rent movies is because I can’t see spending $5 to rent a movie I’ve never seen, finding out I like it, then spending another $15-$20 to purchase it.
Except you’ll be buying an ex-rental video or DVD, not a brand new one.
Not sure what things are like in the US or Canada, but we have some excellent postal DVD rental companies in the UK… spend ¬£15 (about US$29) per month for limitless rentals. You can have 3 DVDs at any one time, no late fees, just return a DVD to have the next one on your rental list mailed to you. I get through about 8 or 9 a month, making it just over $3 each.
Sorry to sound like an advert, but after using one of these services for a few months, I can’t imagine ever going back to a Blockbuster-type shop.