I just cut up my Blockbuster membership card.

I don't see the need to do a "test" run - if the payment goes through it goes through. If it doesn't, the renter will need to find an alternate way (credit card/cash.) Sounds like a money-making scheme for Blockbuster, and they hope people won't care about one dollar, but those dollars will add up! Of course it could get refunded, but with Blockbuster's record I'm not that optimistic.

One more reason not to rent from Blockbuster.

that has to be illegal - i would call that stealing. its like if you went into blockbuster and took a game saying you just had to try it out to see if it works and would bring it back within 10 days. where are these people's heads?? i am cutting up my membership as i type this...good job blockbuster. you just lost another customer.

It's probably just an authorization hold. The amount of time for an auth hold to drop varies from bank to bank, but it's usually in the range of 1-2 weeks.

Most banks treat auth holds on debit cards as though they were charges, so it'll show as a charge followed by a refund. Most CREDIT cards will only show that $1 pending, and it'll eventually drop off.

surprising behavior from a company on the precipice of total irrelevancy

@Gamethyme: There's no need for them to place this hold. Either the sale goes through or it doesn't. In any event nothing in my membership agreement authorizes them to do this, and I know because I read the agreement thoroughly when I signed up not long ago and lined out the parts I disagreed with. I know, I know... they're not supposed to accept the agreement like that, but they did anyway.

@Gamethyme: Not a hold if they are charging the dollar for no reason. Why not just debit the money and be done with it? Why the extra pointless step? Chances are alot of dollars are being kept.

I've never once in my life heard of pre-auth for $1 before a transaction to test if the card is active. It makes no sense.

Hell even Paypal...an incredibly evil company DEPOSITS money into your bank account as a test and they never take it back!

But, even if its an auth hold, why would they need to do the auth hold in addition to the actual charge?

Maybe they're charging everyone an extra dollar, and with all the ill-gottn loot, they're hiring a "fixer" to burn down Netflix's warehouses?

People still rent from Blockbuster?

Authorization hold or not, does Blockbuster get to use this $1 until it is refunded? One dollar from each rental times interest for ten days = pure profit for these dopes.

I don't know about the legality of it, but I have seen several other businesses 'pre-charge' my card before charging me the full amount of my purchase - credit or debit, it didn't matter. For my (bank) debit card, the $1 would take a little longer to go away, but for credit cards they would usually disappear within a business day or two.

One time, the $1 charge triggered the fraud prevention from my bank and they shut down my card - I had to call in and verify the $1 charge and then whatever I spent at Newegg, Amazon or wherever. I asked the CSR from my bank (PNC) about the dollar charge and she said it was a fairly routine thing - sometimes the retailer will take a little longer than they should to refund it. I guess they do it in a batch process or something.

Annoying to be sure, but appears to be on the up and up.

I guess they really like The Onion:

It is amazing they have any customers left to alienate.

And $8.47 for a game rental? Wow.

I'd be calling the state attorney general about this new "policy". It doesn't even pass the sniff test.

$8.47??? For a single game? Good lord...

You do realize that Gamefly charges just over that PER MONTH of membership? I'm never stepping foot in a Blockbuster ever again. Hell, I'm throwing my membership card in the shredder as soon as I get home.

As noted above, putting the actual charge through will tell the vendor if the card is valid. I can't see how a separate charge enhances security in any way, and most vendors get charged per-authorization, so everyone loses.

Many years ago, I worked at a Blockbuster. It was policy to put a test authorization _only_ for $1.00 on a customer's card, only when they had just signed up. This was to test the card in case it were to be used for a non-return, etc. The charge was never put through for the $1.00

I would bet money that Blockbuster is actually placing pre-authorizing the entire purchase price of the video game in case you don't bring it back. Blockbuster has been trying to find ways to prevent people from renting games and not bringing them back. They don't do this with movies because the price of DVDs compared to video games makes this less of a problem. For a while they were requiring renters to leave a deposit in order to rent a game. Sound to me like what they are doing now is requiring a deposit but not telling you about it and then flat out to you lying about the auth charge when you ask. Just a few more reasons to never shop at Blockbuster again.

Wow, this is ludicrous, either the sale goes through or it doesn't. I've seen this from other companies, but it was generally for bigger purchases or two confirm the account and it only took a few days to get dollar back, not for renting an $8 video game.

And anyway, $8 for a freaking video game for a week?!?! Now THAT'S stealing.

Wow. My grammar is terrible when I first wake up.

@parad0x360: Whenever I buy fuel, the transaction is always listed as pending for $1 for a couple of days and then the actual amount goes through. I recall the same thing can happen at restaurants where there is a pending charge for $1 until the amount + tip goes through.

I don't understand this situation though. It's a flat price that isn't going to change, so there isn't a good reason for a pending charge.

OMG, Gas pumps authorize a dollar when you insert the card to test it before you pump. Boycott all gas pumps!!!!!!!
/sarcasm

Seriously?

This is standard and I thought it was common knowledge.

If your bank posts a $1 test authorization as a debit to your account then you need to bring it up with the bank. If your bank runs properly, they will hold the $1 auth until the charge from Blockbuster posts and then drop the authorization.

Isn't this what insurance companies do? Charge you in case something happens and then maybe pay you in the event something does happen...

Give me a dollar and several days from now I'll give it back (honest,I will !).

You and I would call that an interest free loan.

In business, it's called a "test"

@parad0x360: really? the last time I had to add a credit card to paypal, they charged the card $1.95, and then I had to wait 3 days for it to show up on the account, and then put the code in from the transaction line to even be able to use the card. (btw people who accept paypal love having to wait 3 days for you to be able to activate your account).

I think it's very common for companies to do this but usually the charge disappears within a day or two. Keeping it for a week seems excessive. I don't like giving anyone free interest, even if it's on a dollar.

As an FYI folks, if you ever purchase anything online through a debit card (and I imagine through a credit card as well) you'll get these things all the time. Anytime I purchase air or bus tickets, buy from an online store, have a bill set to auto pay go into payment mode, add a new card to ebay or paypal or use my debit card at stores or gas stations you'll often see a (usually) small amount in the "pending" section of your online statement which is really just an authorization charge which they use to check the account with. It usually falls off in a couple of days automatically. The money's not really 'gone', it's just on 'hold'. It's annoying sometimes and inconvenient, but that's just how everyone works these days. It's surprising that it's still there after a week though. The issue is probably with the bank and not Blockbuster themselves.

If you call your bank or issuer, they can sometimes lift these authorization charges very easily. I've had to do it before when ebay has screwed me over with my new card I added to my account.

@kJeff: No, not all gas pumps do this. The ones I patronize don't.

@Yurei: Where do you bank? This has never happened to me except at a gas station (that I don't buy from anymore) or by mutual agreement when starting an account.

@Scoobatz: Are you posting from the future? Oh wait, you were just trying unsuccessfully to be clever.

Lots of independent gas stations do this as well.

Whenever I buy fuel, the transaction is always listed as pending for $1 for a couple of days and then the actual amount goes through. I recall the same thing can happen at restaurants where there is a pending charge for $1 until the amount + tip goes through.

This is one circumstance where holds are necessary, since they need to authorize the card before there's a final amount (with gas because you have to authorize your card before you pump, and with restaurants because of the tip). The other time this is common is on online purchase, because you don't generally get charged until the item actually ships, so Amazon will authorize your card at the time the order is placed. But for a physical, immediate purchase of an item at a fixed, known price? That's insane.

Sounds like they are trying to pad the bank account, so that they can lull the investors into a false sense of hope.

Online *purchases*. Someone needs to learn to type. Or to drink more coffee.

Thank goodness that I haven't paid for a rental from Blockbuster or Hollywood in at least 5 years. Discover card rewards FTW :D

To all the people mentioning that $1.00 hold sare normal:

$1.00 holds are normal. They always dissapear as soon as the actual transaction goes through. The fact that this guy has a $1.00 charge AND his $8.47 charge showing up at the same time can only mean that Blockbuster charged TWO things to his card. Since this was a videogame he rented rather than a movie I would bet money that Blockbuster pre-authorized his card to make sure he has enough room left to pay for the game in full should he fail to bring it back.

Verizon appears to be doing this as well. Maybe its a way to get a zero interest loan. Think about how many transactions they are billing 1 dollar on and holding for 10 days.

My guess is someone is new and doesn't get the policy.

I'm guessing you have to have a valid card to rent, and if you're paying in cash they run your card for a buck to make sure it's valid.

If you're paying with the card, it's obviousely valid.

@Uh oh... Cleveland: That's exactly what ran through my mind.

How many rentals do they do a month? Times $1 adds up, interest-wise.

If this is SO necessary why didn't they do this before?!!!! Love you Netflix!

The funny part is that the normal process for a credit card thief is to purchase things like iTunes for $.99 to verify the card works. After 2-3 successful charges THEN they charge the big stuff.

That is how it happened when my card data was stolen. Just sounds really familiar...

People still use Blockbuster? Why?

@johnarlington: If they are just holding the money on the card then the money is still in your account and they cannot claim it as an asset. It just shows up as unavailable on your card.
Also a point as to never use a debit card for purchases, especially if you keep low balances. You don't know whats getting held. There is no real disclosure from the merchant. You only get a receipt for the charge. These holds DO NOT automatically come off all the time. I know for a fact that if it is a MC that the hold can stay on for up to 72 hours.

Yeah free interest loan scam from Blockbuster.

NOTE TO SELF: Self, never go to Blockbuster.

8.47 for a game rental? wow!

verizon does that too.

It's a basic rule of business: Make sure money comes in as fast as possible, make sure it leaves as slow as possible. That's why if you get a check from a big company, it'll come from an obscure bank in the middle of nowhere, but they'll ask you to use your debit card to pay them.

In this case, Blockbuster borrows a dollar from you for a week to pad their till. Assuming they make a wise decision with it, they'll make more than a dollar from it, and be able to return it. Even if they don't, they're a big corporation and can absorb the loss. But what they're doing is effectively taking out many tiny interest-free loans from their customers. That's not right, and they're not really giving any collateral. You're movie doesn't count, because they'll charge you a late fee on it...

Can you try and get a chargeback. Ask them to prove your signature for the $1 charge, that matches the one for the rental. I bet a few $25 chargeback fees might end this soon.

Did they require him to have a credit card authorized when he started the account? When I worked in an indie video store, we authorized your credit card (for $1) when we started your account. If you took off with the merchandise or didn't come in to pay your late fee, we charged that card (as per the signed agreement). If your account credit card expired, we re-authorized you (and made you sign another agreement with the new card) before we could rent to you again. The printed authorization is on file so we would know you card number to charge you for your fees and stolen/damaged merchandise.

Check your agreement again. They may (SMARTLY) authorize your card EVERY time you go in so they know that the card they have on file really DOES work for charging for stolen merchandise.

So many customers would sign up with us and a few months later when they hadn't come in to pay their $5 late fee, we'd try to charge their card and the card didn't work anymore. Then we got screwed.

It's not like they're putting a hold on $100 or something...give it time, it will drop off.

Did they require him to have a credit card authorized when he started the account? When I worked in an indie video store, we authorized your credit card (for $1) when we started your account. If you took off with the merchandise or didn't come in to pay your late fee, we charged that card (as per the signed agreement). If your account credit card expired, we re-authorized you (and made you sign another agreement with the new card) before we could rent to you again. The printed authorization is on file so we would know you card number to charge you for your fees and stolen/damaged merchandise.

Check your agreement again. They may (SMARTLY) authorize your card EVERY time you go in so they know that the card they have on file really DOES work for charging for stolen merchandise.

So many customers would sign up with us and a few months later when they hadn't come in to pay their $5 late fee, we'd try to charge their card and the card didn't work anymore. Then we got screwed.

Fun fact: If you're using a prepaid visa check your terms and conditions for the card. Some of them state if a test transation is run, they can take 1 dollar of that test as a fee. I believe it's green dot that does it..

I use Blockbuster online and occasionally, when swapping my movies, I'll rent an extra one and I usually pay with my debit card. I've never seen this charge and I check my account nightly. I wonder if it's just a rouge store/district with this policy.

@TVarmy: Oh, and let me mention another thing: The fluidity blockbuster gains is less fluidity for you, the customer. A dollar is a small thing, but if many companies start doing this, you'll have fixed money where you could be earning interest, or buying something that appreciates in value, or simply not have enough money on hand to buy something you want.