Blockbuster ripoff business from hell Phoenix Arizona
If there's one thing I learned about Blockbuster while working there is that they'll do anything to screw you. The Blockbuster "extended viewing fee" policy is outrageous and everyone knows it (they actually can't call late fees "late fees" anymore because they are too outrageous to be regular late fees). It is ridiculous that they would charge customers the full rental price when they were 2 hours 1 minute late because they figure the customer is basically re-renting the video. (They charge customers the revenue Blockbuster is missing out on when they can't rent out the video. But in most cases it's not like someone would be renting the late video if it was back on time).
Something that really sucks is that it is never disclosed to the customers what the "extended viewing fee" policy is when they open their membership account. The only way to find out is when they return their movies a few hours late for the first time and they are left to pay a hefty bill before they are allowed to rent anything. The customers never expect to pay that much for a few hours late because they expect normal late fees. (It's also not posted anywhere in the store what the cost of late fees are.) It's left a mystery to the customer and then they don't pay it and then Blockbuster charges their credit card for these fees that they had no way of knowing about.
Also, the price of a rental is expensive, especially the games. Why should customers pay that much for 1 video? A cheap movie theatre, or sometimes the matinee price, is cheaper. A movie theatre is much better quality than the quality of watching a movie at home, and the movies at the theatre are newer! (Plus the movie theatre is a lot cheaper if you accrue "extended viewing fees" on a crappy rental).
Also, people sometimes think it is worth it to pay a little more for better service. Believe me, Blockbuster knows nothing about good service! The managers are actually the worst at good customer service. They often snap back at customers and treat the customers like they did something wrong. Plus, our store manager often yelled at customers. I can not name how many times I heard customers say, "I'm never coming here again!" or "This place is a rip-off." I also had at least 3 customers a week complain to me about the managers, telling me that they need to learn how to talk to people. Besides that, I heard many more customers complain to their faces about how rude they were.
I can honestly say I will never go to Blockbuster again because I refuse to support their monopoly. I don't know why anyone goes there because I have never heard any good comments about Blockbuster. When you hear people talk about Blockbluser, they're complaining about it, so I say BOYCOTT BLOCKBUSTER!!
A
Phoenix, Arizona
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1 Updates & Rebuttals
Brendan
Rocky Point,New York,
OK, Here's the Deal With Blockbuster
#2UPDATE Employee
Thu, July 18, 2002
This is the only rebuttal I'm going to post regarding complaints about Blockbuster, as they all basically deal with the same thing.
I have been employed as a Customer Service Rep. of a Blockbuster on Long Island, NY for 13 months. In that time, I have learned how their business is run, and while I have disagreed with several of their policies, I do believe that there are some policies that must be institued to prevent people from taking advantage of the business.
The biggest complaint we recieve is about our Extended Viewing Policy. About half of the customers that I deal with in my store have a balance of some amount, and while in a majority of cases, the customers just shrug it off and pay it, there are numerous customers who get overly irate over issue. When a movie is late, it is re-rented to the customer for the same price they paid for it for the same period of time. If a 2-day New Release DVD or VHS is late, the customer is charged $2.99 plus tax for the next three days (I believe that the rental prices are different in different areas, this is just my store as a for instance). If an 8-day New Release DVD or VHS or Favorites DVD (a DVD that is over 1 year old) is late, it's charged $2.99 + tax for the next 8 days, and an 8-day Favorites VHS is charged $.99 + tax for the next 8 days. While this policy has been stated numerous times to customers, some of them still don't seem to get it. The due date is printed on your recepit right under the title of the movie you rented, and at the bottom of the receipt it tells you that the rentals are due by 12:00 noon. The cashier is required to tell the customer what day of the week the movie(s) are due back and that they are due by noon. The 12:00 noon policy has been in effect for over three years now and we simply cannot credit a customer anymore for saying they weren't aware of it. I'm not saying that exceptions can't be made if you had an emergency or some very legitimate reason as to why you couldn't get the movie back on time, but on the other hand, if we see that you frequently have excuses as to why you couldn't get your movies back, we're forced to put a warning on your account saying not to credit your late fees anymore. Customers do try and take advantage of this, and an employee decides if you've crossed the line and are taking advantage of us. We're not doing it because we hate you, we think you're annoying, or just out of spite, but in a store where we have thousands of customers, we cannot take the time out to research every each and individual case. Some simple solutions to this problem are either:
1.) When you bring your movie(s) back to be returned, ask an employee to check them in for you. We hate it, especially when it's busy (as it usually is around 12 noon every day), but I completely understand why the customer would want this done.
2.) Additionally, you can ask for a receipt showing that you have no balance when your movies are returned. The employee checks your movies in, brings up the last customer (which will be you) total you up and then print a receipt. You can also ask the employee to inital the receipt as further proof.
3.) Bring the movie back early. The reason for moving our return time from 12 midnight to 12 noon was because we had too many complaints from customers about running out at 5 minutes to 12 to return their movies. We extended the rental period on all rentals 12 hours to avoid this situation, but unfortunately, it is impossible to please everyone and to have a set time for returns that will work for everyone. Our movies are still marked 2-day and 5-day so that you know how long you can rent the movie for, but we are giving you the courtesy of an additional 12 hours so that you don't have to run out at 5 minutes to midnight to avoid an extended viewing fee.
These are a few simple steps that could be taken to reduce complaints and conflicts regarding Extended Viewing Fees, but errors on our part can also take place. If we can establish a legitimate error on our part, there should be no reason why an employee shouldn't credit off an balance.
When employees arrive to the store before it opens for business, an overwhelming majority of that hour is spent on checking in overnight returns. In my store, the drop box is often overflowing with returns at 9 AM, and by the time I check them to ensure the movies are in the right coverbox, determine if they are rewound, and check them in, it is usually around 9:45. Usually, there is only one employee taking care of this, as the store opens usually with just a manager and a CSR, and it is not impossible for one or two tapes to be accidentally missed. This is not done as an act of revenge or hate, as the employee will not even know who rented it unless it was checked in. We even take steps to ensure that in the event movies are accidentally returned to the shelf without being checked in, the customer's account will be credited. Unfortunately, the credit cannot be given until the customer comes into the store again and their account is brought up. The balance will show, and the customer is usually informed of this first. However, a real quick check into the account's history will show that this error was on our part and the employee should credit it without question. We cannot instantly credit the account the moment the error is detected because we are required to have a customer signature on every credit given. 99.99% of times, that customer will not be in the store when the error is detected, so we cannot issue the credit until the customer is physically there to sign a copy of their receipt showing the credit.
While I totally disagree with Blockbuster's Extended Viewing Fee Policy, unfortunately, we're the ones getting stuck enforcing it and dealing with irate customers over their balance. As much as we hate it, we have no say in the policy and every customers' rage is taken out on us. We get hit with the same policy if we return our movies late, and employee credits are strictly forbidden (which is especially annoying if we get stuck with a defective movie or game).
Bottom line about the EVF's is that they are preventable and if in the event that you are charged with a balance that is an error on our part, credit should be given where credit is due. Screaming and cursing at us does not resolve anything. It only creates tension, uncomfort, and an unpleasant business environment. And most importantly, while I completely disagree with Blockbuster charging full price for a movie being a few hours late, I didn't make the policy, so please don't bring all the blame down on me (or any other Blockbuster employee). If matters are handled in a mature fashion, there would be no need to have a screaming match between employees and customers.
Now moving on to the complaints about Customer Service. Most of the complaints I've seen are about how all the pizza-faced, high school teens don't give half a sh*t about customers. However, try and picture our situation. Corporations like Blockbuster, McDonalds, Walbaums, etc. make up a majority of the jobs available to teens my age. I am 20 and am starting my junior year of college in the fall, working on a Music Education degree. How much does my job at Blockbuster mean to my future career? Next to nothing. However, that does not mean that I don't care what happens to me or the customers in my store. It's just a predetermined judgement made by customers who think that teens are the biggest hellraisers on earth, and all we care about is sex, drugs, and rock and roll. I've been in a serious nonsexual relationship for nearly two years, have never touched a drug (including alcohol with the exception of a glass of wine at Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas dinner), and have been studying piano for 13 years playing works of Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin. Not exactly the typical teenage life, right? I'm not trying to stray from the subject at matter, but people make judgements about others before they even know them. People who see me for the first time in a Blockbuster uniform wouldn't get the same impression of me as they would if they first saw me in a tuxedo on stage with a 300 member chorus and orchestra performing the Brahms' Requiem. Not every teen out there to ruin the world, contrary to what you may hear.
Ok--I got off on a slight tangent, but back to the subject. This is a first job for many teens and they've been working for a month and one day they're ringing up customers when John Doe comes up to the register, they scan his Blockbuster card, and they inform him that he has a $9.73 balance. Without any questions or calm statements, John Doe starts screaming at this young employee about how he retuned his movies on time and he's paid $7,000 to this company in late fees and you're wrong, he doesn't owe anything, and I need to credit that fee off right away. Makes you look forward to retirement at 16 thinking you'll have to be dealing with sitations like these for the next 40 years or so. When customers start blowing up at employees, it creates an awkward feeling for the employee, especially if the customer is holding that specific employee personally responsible. Though it's not directly his or her fault, somehow they managed to really piss John Doe off by informing him of a company policy that he's not particulary thrilled with. What are they going to do with this situation? Well, this is where human nature kicks in. The employee might feel particularly angered that John Doe has been screaming in their face about something that's not their fault and start screaming back. Or they might just say "ok, I'll credit it off, it was our mistake" just to shut John Doe up and get him off their case. Maybe they'll cry. Who knows. It all depends on the person, but when a customer gets angry with an employee, the employee will have some sort of negative emotional response to this situation. It's kind of a "Fight or Flight" situation, where the fighter will get really defensive and prepare to deal with John Doe's screaming antics, or the flighter will just do anything to make him happy so that he won't hurt him or her. At this point however, if a manager has just overheard this, they feel that the customer has no right treating one of their employees that way, and they'll get involved with the argument as well. The situation usually ends with John Doe storming out of the store (possibly demanding his account to be closed and/or his card cut up) saying he'll go to Hollywood from now on, and leaving a pissed off manager and/or CSR. And usually the comments between employees right after a scene like this is something to the effect of "Good, one less a*****e we need to deal with." Of course, all that the customers hear are the screaming customer and employee(s), and the cursing afterward, which is interpreted as our customer service. Oh yeah, and then John Doe goes on to www.ripoffreport.com and then files a long complaint about how wonderful our customer service is when he gets home. Of couse, when Mary Lou Doe has a baby and her husband Jack Doe came into the store to return the movie that was late for that reason, we credited his fees for that legitimate excuse, congratulated him on the baby, and wished him a good day, no one ever hears about it. Let's just face it, society just want to hear the bad and never the good--just watch the news if you don't believe me.
I've only yelled at a customer once. She came up to my register with two movies, two games, and a popcorn. She also had three or four coupons which she wished to redeem at one time, while it was written on each coupon that it could not be combined with other offers. I informed her that I couldn't guarantee that all the coupons would work together but I would be willing to try to get them to work in combination. I scanned the first one, it was for a free popcorn. I scanned the second one, it was rent one movie, get one free, and the computer said that the redemption was not allowed. I informed her that the computer would not accept the additional coupons since she already redeemed one. She put her hand over her eye, dropped her head and shook her head left and right (as if to say no). After explaining why they wouldn't go through several times, she kept shaking her head and became increasingly annoyed with me because they wouldn't go through. I told her that she can redeem the other coupons on additional visits, but that wasn't good enough, she wanted to use them all now. She got really angry when I told her that the coupon that I had scanned was for the free popcorn and that I didn't use the rent one get one free first. I offered the suggestion that it might work if I did it in two seperate transactions, so, at her demand, I voided everything off and started again. I scanned the two movies, then scanned the rent one get one free coupon, but now the computer said that she couldn't use the coupon because she had already redeemed it on [whatever date it was]. She grew even angrier. I credited her for the movie and she paid the 3.24, a dollar and change with a giftcard, and the remaining $2 and change in cash. Then I went to the other transaction and scanned the two games, then the rent one get one free coupon and the computer wouldn't allow it. She became furious and though I became increasingly agitated with her stubbornness, I held back. Finally, the manager came over and we took the "let's just shut her up and get her out of here" tactic. We credited her for everything. She got two movies, two games, and a popcorn for free. After she signed 3 or 4 receipts for all the friggin' credits we had to do, she finally left the store and we both sighed in relief. Then she came back in screaming about how I hadn't refunded her $3.24, and that's when I finally lost it. And I didn't yell at her about her money, I screamed at her about her atttitude she had with me. I called the manager over once again to do the refund, and as she left she had the nerve to say "You know, it's not the cash so much that I care about, it's the [my] attitude." I quickly responded "You're the one who gave me the attitude first." After that I put a warning on an account saying "Make sure you get this d**n woman's coupons right so she won't blow up on you!!!" as a caution to any other employee who would have the future pleasure of doing business with her. So that's our wonderful customer service. Oh, and since then, I've been nervous about having another confrontation with that woman and about screwing up someone else's coupons to their distaste.
Once again, bottom line is that if you handle situations in a calm, mature fashion, then a solution can be reached without a major conflict.
I think I've rambled on long enough and shared my view. All I really ask is that you be considerate of employees who are working a job that few adults would dare to take.