When I say asterisk I’m referring to is the asterisk that should be underneath Blockbuster’s ‘No Late Fees’ advertisements, banners, logos and propaganda. They should read: Restocking fee will be billed after you return the video after a certain period of time because we’ll charge you for the movie if you don’t return it when we think you should, and then refund you the cost of the movie if you decide to return it. I am a very dissatisfied customer after this little bit of trickery they have committed against me, my family and the American public. Boycott Blockbuster – if you don’t I will.
This of course is yet another strike against a company that has done lots of things to help twist words and play a PR game. In an earlier encounter with their customer service department I complained that they had adult movies on the shelves at their store easily accessible to my young daughter (at the time she was still an infant, but I knew a time was coming when she could reach and soon read). Their customer service representative told me that they did not carry any rated X (pornographic) movies. Which is true, they can carry any adult movie they want as long as it was never rated by the Motion Picture Association of America. So, as long as it was unrated porn several things are possible: they cannot tell a minor that they can’t rent it because it is unrated and I can’t call it an adult movie.
Morons! See Also: BlockBuster Lawsuits
Yep. I got a BB gift card for Christmas that is still unused for these very reasons. I’m now a happy customer of that video haven known as Lowes Foods.
One of the locations around here in Dallas actually called me when a movie was 2 days late to tell me to return it. So, there are no “late” fees, but if the movie is a week late you’re going to charge me restocking, and call me and nag me until I return it? My boyfriend asked how it’s harder to restock a movie that’s been gone for more than a week as opposed to one that was returned on time.
Netflix is positively amazing. We’ve been using it for a month now and love it.
Yes, my Jess(ica) did a trial with them and she really enjoyed it (I was working so much I didn’t really watch any movies with her). It’s surely better than Blockbuster.
How does Netflix work?
Netflix allows you to sign on to your account, and for a monthly fee they’ll send you 3 or more (depending on how much money you want to part with) videos to rent for as long as you want. When you’ve watched the movie you can send them back the movie and you get the next movie on your list (unless they’ve not got it in stock, then the next, next movie is sent out). In the end you get no late fees and if you’re silly enough to hold onto the same movie for 3 months and pay their monthly rental charge you can have that same movie for three months. It’s a very nice system and one of their warehouses is near Denver so it’s only a 24 hour turn around.
I love Netflix but it’s hard to justify when you keep the movies for 2 months at a time :). I just can’t commit to watching enough movies to justify $20 a month.