Reader and blogger Morgan went to his local Blockbuster to rent a movie. He’d never rented at the store before, so he needed to sign up for a membership. We’ve all done this before, but this time, something was different:
The guy at the counter told me that I had to show a driver’s license and major credit card (perfectly reasonable), pay a $10 dollar fee (a bit much, but acceptable) and sign up for their Netflix ripoff, Blockbuster Online. Wait, what? I told him that I didn’t want to sign up for Blockbuster Online, and he refused to let me start a membership without signing up. And of course I couldn’t rent movies without a membership, so I was forced to leave without my movies.
I don’t want to sign up for Blockbuster Online. I know I wouldn’t use the service enough to justify the monthly fee. I know that canceling is likely to be difficult-if the company’s this obnoxious about forcing you to sign up, they’ll be at least as obnoxious about trying to keep you from leaving.
Morgan tried emailing Blockbuster to see if this was a store-wide policy or just one rogue manager. They didn’t write back. Has this happened to anyone else? Are they inflating the subscription numbers for their Netflix ripoff by bullying in-store customers? Lame. —MEGHANN MARCO
Blockbusted [Whose Faulty Vision]
(Photo: Maulleigh)
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@MonkeyMonk:
Netflix’s throttling on heavy customers was boneheaded, IMO. The marginal costs associated with serving their most fevrent, wild-eyed, film addicted customers was merely the extra postage of sending a couple extra titles every couple of weeks.
The benefit was incalcuably valuable word-of-mouth advertising.
The fact that they tried sneaking the changes was a huge black eye when caught. Then sued. Then lost the suit. Then complied with the loss in the most miserly way possible (changing the user agreement retroactively).
I was so disappointed I quit Netflix. Then badmouthed them enough to get at least eight ppl not to try Netflix.
Pretty expensive way to save postage on Netflix’s part.
Use the local library, if there’s a good selection. My local library (Los Angeles County) system has a lot of new & newer movies, and of course classics. And with that many branches, you can almost always find what you want. Free, or a small fee that goes to supporting the library. I’ve managed to survive without a movie store membership, watching many many movies, by using the library & the internet.
I work at blockbuster, the company really pushes us to sell onlines so it could have been that persons way of doing it, but you do not have to sign up, and there is no fee to be a member, thats optional as well, all you need is a license and major credit card, don’t let anyone fool you! The $10 fee is for the rewards which earns you free rentals, totally optional. I’m curious as to which blockbuster did this to you, you should report that store, they are not doing what they are supposed to do!
I just wanted to tell you that since I work for Blockbuster they can’t deny you a membership if you don’t sign up for the online service. They only charge a $10 fee to start up a new account with Blockbuster rewards which means for every 5 rentals you get one for free. I’d definitely call the manager of the store that you were in because that sounds wrong..
@xxheath226xx:
It’s amazing to what extent the head honchos make us do! You know what I don’t like the fact that they base your hours on how many onlines/rewards you sell or have people sign up for. BB is totally in it for the money now and not making the customer happy which IMO is bs. And I’ve only worked for BB a few months!
I’m starting to really regret screwing up at Movie Gallery because at least there you could get as many hours as you wanted!