Reader and commenter Salviati writes in to share his personal experience with Blockbuster and his theory for why they will never survive fierce competition from Netflix and the new Apple video rentals.
I am writing to explain why I am no longer a Blockbuster Total Access subscriber and never will be again. Service wasn’t always so deplorable at Blockbuster, but in the last several months I have had three very negative experiences with the chain that has caused me to turn from a Blockbuster evangelist, who persuaded my parents and friends to join the Total Access plan, to a disgruntled consumer who won’t step into a Blockbuster until they’ve reformed their customer service attitude.
Keep in mind, I was an easy customer. I auto-paid my monthly bill. I held my movies for weeks and months on end without mailing them back or taking them back to the store for exchanges. I even went for a period of 6.5 months without exchanging my movies (While being charged $17.99 all the while). In the past year I was with Blockbuster, I exchanged only 11 movies in-store. I was as profitable as they could get. But between August and today, I have had three incidences which have convinced me that Blockbuster managers are (1)Incompetent (2)Powerless and (3)Apathetic.
Incident 1: I had exchanged out a set of 3 movies in-store in August. After keeping them out past their initial due date I was billed the price of the movies which is in-line with their policy. As long as they are returned within 30 days, Blockbuster is supposed to refund the charge minus a $1.25 processing fee. However, I got called out-of-town on a business trip, and I left before being able to return the movies. Once I realized the situation, I called my local store and asked if it was necessary to have my wife return the movies while I was gone, or if I could wait a week and return them myself. His answer was that it wouldn’t be a problem for me to return the movies after 30 days, but I would be charged the $1.25 fee per movie. Great, I thought, until I got back home. When I tried to return the movies (32 days past their due date), I was told that it was impossible to return the movies, and that I’d have to pay the ridiculously marked-up used price of $40 for the three (the price at Target for all three new was $21). The manager simply wouldn’t acknowledge that one of their employees had mis-informed me about my ability to return the movies. I tried to call their corporate customer service, who could only refer me to the district manager. To cut this long story short, I spent 3 weeks calling between the store manager and district manager trying to simply refund the movies, which they still sold on their Used racks. I was repeatedly told it was “Impossible” and “the computer won’t allow it”. I know the time I spent trying to return the movies was worth more than $40, but I felt like I was being wronged, and didn’t want to let the issue go. I finally caved when I received a threatening Credit Agency letter. I thought about writing this letter to The Consumerist back then, but I figured it was partially my fault, even though I thought Blockbuster did a terrible Customer Service job.
Incident 2: This one was much shorter. Me, my wife, and her friend walking into a Blockbuster with three return envelopes to exchange. My wife, who had never exchanged movies before, didn’t know to hold onto the envelopes until checkout and sat them on top of the counter as she walked in (thinking that she wasn’t allowed to walk around the store with them). About two minutes later, I realized she wasn’t holding them any longer and walked back to the counter to pick them up. Too late. The clerk had already checked them in without pausing even for a second to see if someone was planning to use them. Again, the clerk and manager claimed that they were powerless slaves to the computer and wouldn’t be unable to let us use the credit towards any new movies since they were already checked-in. Still sore after the treatment I had received a month earlier, I didn’t want to let this go, but they wouldn’t budge. I explained that I was a long-term customer who rarely redeemed my credits, but they stood firm. We ended up paying for two movies and left.
Incident 3: Today. I tightly clutched my return envelopes as I slowly browsed the shelves for three new movies to exchange. Finally, I settle on two movies and a Wii game. Last year, I was able to use a return envelope to pick-up a Wii game without a problem. Well apparently things have now changed. After scanning my three envelopes, they scanned the three items I had brought up. $5.34. “Excuse me, this should be an even exchange.” Apparently not. Now the returned movie only counts as $4 off a $9 game rental. Oh well, I thought, “Just take it off and I’ll grab another movie”. Nope – Apparently each credit gets automatically applied to a specific item and can’t be re-transfered to another item. On top of that, they wouldn’t remove the game from my checkout and insisted that I HAD to pay for the game, even though I hadn’t payed yet and the transaction was unfinished. They insisted that the transaction WAS finished and now I had to pay for it (Which doesn’t make any sense. How can the transaction be over before I am even told what the cost will be). After much debate with the manager, they agreed to take the game off the transaction (as a “Favor”), but they couldn’t do anything about applying the credit to another movie. By this time I had already decided that I would be writing this letter when I got home, and canceling my year-long subscription to Blockbuster Total Access.
It no longer surprises me that Blockbuster is failing as a company. They are closing many stores and hemorrhaging cash. Many analysts don’t even expect them to survive more than a few years. They may not be able to compete with the price and selection of Netflix or the new Apple video rentals, but they had one thing strongly going for them – availability. I knew that if I really needed to, I could go down the street and pick up a physical movie and talk to a real person if I needed to. Now my mindset has changed. Clearly, Blockbuster has decided that their employees and even managers are too incompetent to run their own stores and must be treated like trained monkeys. Even when I found a sympathetic ear, they were simply powerless to over-ride the computer for even simple tasks. Oh well, now that Netflix has unlimited downloads at less than half of the price I was paying at Blockbuster, maybe this is exactly the incentive I needed to make the change.
What do you Netflix customers think? How’s the water in your end of the pool?
Should he switch?
(Photo:medalian1)
More From Consumerist
-
L.A. Blockbuster Wants Everyone To Know It Won’t Go Gentle Into That Good Night
-
Can Redbox Do To Ticketmaster What It Did To Blockbuster?
-
Looks Like Blockbuster Won’t Get Its Bloody Revenge On Netflix After All
-
Dish Network Says It’s Closing 300 Blockbuster Stores In The U.S.
-
Cable Companies Should Be Worrying About Kids Who Have No Plans For Ever Getting Cable
@JD: i’m with ya! very rude employees.
@stopNgoBeau: i was referring to the burger having the same ingredients not price.
your never going to go into a mcdonalds and have them tell you that when they make a big mac, their store puts catsup and mustard on it because it is not a corp. store.
bb however told me i couldn’t exchange total access movies there because their store didn’t participate in that. well, thats enough of a difference in what’s being advertised to make me feel like the whole thing is a joke, and fuck blockbuster.
I cancelled my Blockbuster Total Shit account last month after I finally had enough of their crap. I was a member for less than one year, during which they raised the price/reduced my account benefits twice.
I still have bad memories from being in high school and being hassled at Blockbuster every time I used my family account (under my mom’s name, but my name was on the account, we have the same last name and lived at the same address). Every single time.
In 3 years of being a Netflix subscriber I have had to speak to a human once, to put my account on hold (before you could do it online). I can’t imagine how badly Netflix would have to screw up to make me want to go back to that.
@burgeon: Oh, how I love the Second City.
I love netflix.
Comcast may be ousting their CEO…maybe he should be hired by Blockbuster to straighten things out.
[consumerist.com]
I would almost pay to see that!
I have never rented a DVD from Blockbuster, I usually get videos and such from the library for free. But I’m trying out the Netflix trial and I like it so far. And even though they have “secret limits” it still seems more cost-effective to rent from Netflix because now you can watch movies online unlimited along with the regular DVDs being sent to your home. I was shocked when I read online that someone paid about $9 to rent a movie from Blockbuster. That’s just disgustingly overpriced, IMO.
I worked at Blockbuster for three years (from ’03-’06, and thank goodness I jumped the boat – they are an AWFUL company to work for), and I don’t see any reason why each one of these problems couldn’t have been solved in-store…the registers have a “credit” button on them that easily allow an employee to change /override prices or remove rental fees. Unless they are getting written up for overuse of credits, I don’t see why they couldn’t have been fixed, as they were at fault for each of the stated issues.
Netflix + huge Bollywood selection= love!
I HAD Blockbuster, until they raised the fees and lower the instore exchange to 5…. When I canceled, they offered 2 months free. Well, not only did they charge me for the month after I canceled, they then stopped service after the first “free” month. On top of that, they stopped mailing movies out almost a week before the renewal date.
This reminds me I need to call and get a credit, or charge it back to my card…
Netflix has been great to me. Always reliable service, and the very few times I’ve had an incident they’ve given me credits to make up for it. Also, the one time I called their support line, the guy was super friendly and helpful and I only waited a couple minutes for an answer even though it was a Saturday.
I went there once for the spend 50 get a 5 dollar gift card. After she didn’t give me the gift card, she said it was impossible because it had to be done in the same transaction. Later, a manager came over and typed in like a twenty number sequence of numbers, went through like 10 lists with more number sequences, and boom. Rang up the 5$ gift card, then comped it. So they can ring anything up there(according to her) and comp it, if they know what they are doing.
@salviati:
Have to disagree with you on point #2. Based on a few chats with my local Blockbuster manager, a number of people return their mailers to the store and for a good reason. As soon as a mailer is scanned in as a store return, the next movie in your queue starts processing.
When I return a movie and get home 5 minutes later, their site is already listing it as “Returned to Store”.
I am also shocked no one seems to be complaining about the new release availability on Netflix. I have about 12 new releases on top of my queue that have been there for months. It is mid-January and I am still waiting to see discs that released last Fall!
@steveliv:
Forgot to reply to this in my other comment…
There are a bewildering number of Blockbuster subscription plans(like any business) as plans change over time and long term customers don’t switch(unless they make you). These include your monthly fee, how your Total Access works, along with the number and type of coupons you receive(if any).
i.e. I get two free coupons per month for in-store rentals which can be used for either movies or games, anytime during the month. I’ve been offered several opportunities to change, including one offer for 4 movies/games per month(1 in each week of the month) but declined. I believe a new subscriber gets 1 free movie coupon per month now.
@snoop-blog:
Don’t know if it’s still the case now, but when I was a manager in the late 80′s; McDonald’s on Long Island, NY did not use mustard on their hamburgers. The McDLT and fried apple pie was also a hit or miss item at a lot of places. Franchises had a lot of leeway in adding extra items to the menu, like hot dogs and popcorn which were not allowed at corporate owned stores.
The only prolem I had with Netflix was when they started doing Blu-ray. I got sent Talladega Nights, but the disc was scratched a I sent it back after filling out the form online to get a replacement sent. For some reason they sent me the Blu-Ray copy, when I don’t have a blu-ray machine, and they made me jump through hoops to sign up for HD-DVDs (which I rented to watch at a friend’s house). I wrote an email to customer service and they fixed the prblem by allowing me to rent two more movies at a time as a one shot deal. I thought that was just fine since it was a mix up.
I still love Netflix. Sometimes I’ll use redbox to rent something right away and not wait for the mail.
I love my Netflix. I’ve had my account since about Sept 2005. I’ve had nearly no problems and the minor things I’ve had have been handled rapidly and professionally via automation, email, or recently a very efficient and competent CSR when I encountered a minor problem when setting up for their “Watch Instantly” feature.
i have this great advantage of getting in the door early.
i have two blockbuster accounts, both generated while i worked their during high school. that means that i have no credit card on the account. they can try and charge me.
when you apply for your accounts, you can try and ask about providing some other form of secondary ID instead of a credit card. but i’d imagine with the change in late-fee policy, they probably won’t let you any more.
$9 for a game rental?! WTF!
Blockbuster’s business model was based on late fees and putting mom and pop video stores out of business. They are crooks. Do not go to blockbuster.
@vacax: I’ve never had that happen. But, there’s precious little newly released movies I’d want to watch.
There is one overarching flaw in his logic:
You can’t rent a wii game from Netflix.
The dearth of quality in the mail order game rental business will ensure that Blockbuster will stay in business at least 4 more years, and possibly beyond that.
I hope Hollywood Video is next. This incident happened to me back when “The Beach” came out with Leo Dicaprio. DVDs were VERY new. HV had one display case with about 2 dozen DVDs. According to HV I walked in about 10 min before closing time on a wed nite and rented “the beach” and THREE other DVDs. The “ID card” presented had’nt been used in the store for over a year. In fact, the very week before I had to get a NEW card because my old one was lost. The manager showed me the security video of the two youngsters using the card and immediately I said “I have NO idea who those kids are, I don’t have a DVD player, and I would NEVER rent anything with Leonardo Dicaprio ESPECIALLY “the beach”. The manager mumbled “we just want our product back”. Being the smart ass that I am, I asked “Why don’t you call the phone number they gave your guy and ask when they plan to return these DVDs?” Nothing but a blank stare. I pressed on, why did her employee not question why this old card (which was supposed to be marked as LOST) would suddenly show up and is now allowing four DVDS (ahem: “PRODUCT”) to walk out with no photo ID shown? Again: “Well sir, it’s now about getting our product back”. She said it was 80 dollars per DVD and that was final. Afterwards I REFUSED to go into HV and never looked back. NetFlix Forever!
Netflix is awesome. have been using them for a few years. great customer service, great movie selection, good pricing, easy to use. what’s not to love?
recently, i wanted to see ‘Streetcar Named Desire’. didn’t feel like adding it to my Netflix queue and waiting a few days to get it in the mail. i still had a Blockbuster account, so i drove to the closest location. of COURSE they didn’t have it in stock. they told me to go to another location that would DEFINITELY have it in stock. drove there and they didn’t have it either. looked around for something else, but it was all crap. i left empty-handed.
after that? decided i would NEVER, EVER use Blockbuster EVER again.
Why would anyone use Blockbuster when Netflix exists?
Netflix works great for me.
I was a Blockbuster employee for a period of about 6 months with my employment ending a few weeks after the intializing of the “no late fees” policy. And let me tell you if you had me as your CSR these problems would have been resolved in store and with minimal to no hassle.
I suppose its possible in the last couple years things have changed but while I was working there I had the power to give credits at will. Come up to my register and casually mention that the movie you are exchanging skipped a bit at a certain part and I’d give you a credit for another movie. Even if the only reason you told me is so I don’t re-shelve it and you weren’t looking for a freebie. Anytime a customer had a problem of some sort with our store/service I’d give them a credit or more to their account. You know why? Because thats how you get customers to come back after a bad experience. I was told giving credits were up to my discreston. Nobody checked how many credits I gave and all I had to do was make a little note on the account as to why and which nobody ever read. And if you were a cool person and you had a minor issue in store with something not being there I’d hook you up. For example, girl came in once looking for FIFA which was out I could tell she was really dissapointed so I gave her account a credit and rented World Tour Soccer to her so she could check it out and have a soccer game to play. She was so happy with how I treated her that she started becoming a more regular customer. hmmm interesting how that works huh?
When I was a CSR my focus was on helping out customers not the company. BB paid me the same regardless of what I did and gave me absolutely no reason to care about their success or failure. But I didn’t want people to have shitty day on account of the store if I could help it. On Fridays and Saturdays we had to have somebody walk the floor wearing a bright red apron (oh joy … we tried to hide it many times) and upsell to customers. I hate upselling so when it was my turn I’d spend the whole time making recommendations and helping people find what they were looking for. I got a lot of sincere thank yous for helping people find a good movie for them based on their tastes and never once was I thanked for trying to talk somebody into one of our programs.
FWIW my employment ended because I decided so. I was tired of their policies, and low pay. The final straw that resulted in me quitting was them scheduling me to work Christmas Eve and New Years Eve while leading me to believe I’d make time and a half. Well turns out BB doesn’t consider those two nights holidays and gave me the big ol’ screw you after the fact.
@harshmellow: Hardly a correlation. Those of us who love Blockbuster, know enough by now that once a week, Consumerist posts the same story, different submitter of how they got screwed over.
Sorry, if I don’t feel the least bit sorry for some guy that returned a DVD 32 days after it was due and expected a refund back. Its clear as day on the receipt for in-store rentals.
Blockbuster accidently charged me for a movie I returned which, incidently, knocked my credit card over the limit. Am I upset? I was, but I let the manager of the store know my dissatisfaction. Did I get anything for compensation? Nope. Did I care? Nope. I’m not an entitlement gnome.
holy crap … Your store WRONGLY charged you for something you had already returned pushing you over your limit and did nothing to make it up to you? AND YOU SAT THERE AND TOOK IT? Thats just being a pushover and its that mentality that results in corporate retail stores seeing us as nothing more than a wallet to them.
Number 1) You kept the movies past 30 days “because of a last-minute plane trip?” I wonder how many times the Blockbuster employees have heard that one. I’m sorry, but if you can’t manage to return a rental even 30 days after the due date or get someone to do it for you, it’s time to pay full price for those movies.
Number 2) Your wife learned a lesson about leaving in-store exchanges on the counter, lesson learned. You hold onto them and switch them out at the counter. Again, put yourself in the shoes of Average Joe Blockbuster Employee. If lot of customers return onlines through the slots, how are employees supposed to ward off the “But actually I had onlines but I accidently returned them on the counter / through the slots, can I have these rentals free please?” excuse.
Number 3) Online envelope exchanges have never, ever been able to be used for any game rentals of any time. Ever. Ever. Ever. Online e-Coupons were able to be used for either game or movie rentals, yes, but not the envelope exchanges. This was simply mistaken memory on your part, but I’ll still give you a half point on this one. Employees should always tell the customer whatever discount they’re going to get on a particular item through a promotion like Total Access if it’s not free off the bat. The employee, before scanning, should have told you that you would be getting this game for $4.99 instead of $7.99, and if that was alright. I’ll also give you the way the employees handled the situation after scanning was entirely wrong, because if you haven’t totaled out and paid for your items, then they should be able to credit off that $4.99 and the rental.