Wow, that really stinks. I used to use Blockbuster Total Access until I got sick of their pitiful selection online as well as in-store. I'm a Netflix junkie and when they made their instant view mac compatible they earned a customer for life.

Thanks for posting my Tip ... I really hope they change the policy

I don't know why anyone holds Blockbuster stock OR their rental cards. In Northport, NY an OLD movie costs you $5.75. I rented Dumbo for my son, and paid that much. I was floored.

Why, with RedBox and NetFlix does anyone go to Blockbuster? I don't know.

Can anyone tell me?

I quit blockbuster when they switched me to limit 3 in store swaps, ever since then Rebox has fulfilled most of my basic needs.

The punch line is "No Late Fees". Blockbuster lost/settled a class-action lawsuit some time ago for charging excessive late fees, and supposedly stopped charging them around 4-5 years ago. Instead, any movie not returned was "sold" to you for whatever its used price was, but you could "return" your "purchase" for a small "restocking" fee. My, that's a lot of quotes. Gotta love the corporate mentality for redefining modern English. Anyway, what that boils down to is that they kept charging late fees by changing the term they used to describe them.

And now, if they're saying that they're no longer charging late fees as of this new promotion, doesn't that constitute admission that they have been charging them until recently?

That means they're in breach of the original class-action settlement terms by continuing to charge them until today. Naughty, naughty!

@Ezra Ekman: Unfortunately, that was a mistake on my part. They are saying "No more due dates!"

I've updated the headline to fix that.

Here is the exact Email i sent to them .. not like it will help (it was a rush job please excuse any grammar mistakes) :

I have been a LOYAL blockbuster subscriber for years and years .. i have posted my great experiences on any blog/website/friends that would listen and try to gain you more customers and sway people away from Netflix .. but after reading your new total access policy i am disgusted .. you had a great thing going with the in store AND web trade ins and now you are throwing that away with the new limits .. and you try to make it look like you are doing great customer service , your new " NO MORE LATE FEE's " on in store rentals is a scam , you are basically taking away rentals from customers .. because we could get BOTH in store and web retails at the SAME time . now we can only have 1/2 that .. and what "Late fee" are you talking about , blockbuster hasn't had late fees in years ... are you talking about the $1.99 restocking fee ? that is NOT worth the trade off ... in today's market you have to give MORE to get and keep customers , not take away a great service

I will remain a customer of Blockbuster total access hoping you will reverse this ANTI customer service , please rethink your new policy

@CoarseLive: I don't use Blockbuster but rent movies from Hollywood Video 2-3 times a year. Older movies are $2.50, I believe, which is reasonable. I TIVO movies off HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, Independent Movie Channel, etc. Occasionally, I can't locate a movie on cable, so will head to Hollywood Video to rent it. I don't want to pay a monthly fee to Netflix when digital cable has a good selection of movies and I prefer to just use TIVO. I also occasionally use CafeDVD online for hard-to-find movies since they offer an a la carte rental service. Blockbuster stocks too many mainstream titles; I like to find smaller films and Hollywood Video still does an okay job of stocking those.

i dont understand why they do these things, its like they hired a person to think of ideas to bring the company down, i rem. having bbonline about year n half ago and i had the 16.99 3moives at a time for unlimited instore and it was a dream come true, i dealt with the ok movie selection but the instore unlimited selection was great, but conveniently they changed the plans and how many movies you can rent in the store, that plan is i believe like almost 30 bucks now

Why does anyone even still use Brockbustah anyway?? That's so 1996. AppleTV FTW!

@CoarseLive:
Here's why I switched from Netflix to BlockBuster a couple years ago: Flexibility in changing plans.

I subscribe to the 2-movies-at-a-time (with unlimited in-store exchanges--grandfathered in) plan. This allows me to keep a queue of movies I'd like to watch, but it also allows me flexibility. Here's how:

I often watch movies in the middle of the week. Rather than mail them in and hope that the crappy USPS will deliver the next ones by the weekend, I often hang on to them, knowing that I can trade them in at the store. That way, I can get a movie I'm in the mood for (drama vs. comedy vs. chick flick) or that my wife wants to see. If we decide "Wanna see a movie tonight?" we're not constrained by the two movies that were mailed to us--we have a whole store full of options. And our next movies get shipped just as quick.

Now, of course, our next movie isn't shipped 'just as quick,' so the advantage is diminished. Time to look at prices and see if Netflix is worth it again...

I remember when Total Access's value ran circles around NetFlix. Then they realized I was renting all of the movies they had and that I would cease to be a movie-renting customer and dropped the killer offering. NetFlix welcomed me with open arms and continues to amaze. I don't believe they have done anything to reduce their great value. Even the throttling seems to have eased up. Big ups if they move to shipping on Saturdays. Blockbuster can lick my bag.

For me renting games at Blockbuster is great, $9.99 for a week then after a week a late fee (yes a stocking fee is late fee regardless of what they call it) of $2 and I can keep it for a month; by then I'm usually completely done with the game and it gives me time to play it when I want as well. Much cheaper than buying games.

All you really have to do is go to your Queue and say that you returned your movie in-store. Then they will send the next one. Requires a manual input, but it's a pretty doable work-around if you're that anxious for a new movie.

@CoarseLive:
WOW and PPV for new HD movies is just about the same price.

Just sent an email to BBuster expressing my displeasure. Hopefully there's enough outcry to make them change their policy. Otherwise, lets all do RedBox!

@Ezra Ekman: As much as I don't want to defend Blockbuster, the current "restocking fee" is not at all the same as a late fee. Late fees were being charged at the full price of the rental, every day it was late. They were basically inferring that every day the movie was late was a lost rental, which was found to be unreasonable. The current fee is a $2 charge, applied one time only, and only if the movie is more than a week late. Much more reasonable. As for the "sale" of late movies, well, what are they supposed to do? They only consider them "sold" and charge the credit card on file if they're more than a month late. If they aren't allowed to charge late fees, and can't consider the movies sold after a certain amount of time, they're basically powerless to stop people from keeping their movies indefinitely. I'm all for consumer rights, but it's a rental, if you agree to bring it back in 3 days and keep it for 30, they should be able to assume you're not bringing it back at all and charge you for it. Remember, even if they do, you can still bring it back and be refunded all but $2.

@Telekinesis123: Why are you spending $9.99 to rent it for a week? Just take the 2 day rental for ~$5 (plus the $2 restocking fee). You can keep it the same amount of time and save a couple of bucks.

I'm so glad I got rid of Blockbuster a few months ago. I was there at the beginning and they kept changing everything. I see some things never change.

They are one slow sinking ship.

while this looks bad, it's actually really good imo. I hate having to return the free rentals I get because my franchise blockbuster has late fees. while it counts as a rental now, at least I don't have to be scared of the late fees. I realize most people don't have to deal with late fees at the corporate locations, but as I do have to, I'm glad .

The biggest reason I stick with Blockbuster are the monthly coupons for video game rentals. 1 Video game/month for 2 weeks is pretty sweet, on top of seeing movies. Especially when they're PS3/Wii games that cost $50. For me, it's like Gamefly + Netflix at a much cheaper rate, although admittedly the selection is pretty poor.

@TheRedSeven: I just did the same. I really liked the service the way it was and I was looking forward to being able to rent PS3 titles through the service in the future. If they don't wise up and change the service back I'm cancelling and finding another rental plan.

Family Video FTW! Prices are so much more reasonable with them.

I've been a Total Access subscriber for two and a half years now, because I got grandfathered in on the unlimited in store exchange plan. Last week I got charged a late fee for the first time in two and a half years, and that got me outraged. Then the next day I got this email from blockbuster. Needless to say, I've already started a Netflix free trial, since I have a TivoHD and can stream on there anyways.

I'll probably leave blockbuster soon. This is just ridiculous, because now the only leg up that BB has is that for three of my discs, I can exchange them instantly instead of waiting a day.

Well they had better hurry up and get game rentals as part of the plan!

For those wondering why people still rent from Blockbuster stores, one big reason is you can hit the store and get anything you want last minute. With Netflix that isn't possible, you'd have to wait for the mail. And no, not everything is available for download.

@Telekinesis123: Gamefly FTW man.

Just realized that this change took place and it's the last straw, they've been raising prices and making their plans worse for a while, it's time to meet up with Netflix.

This is why I canceled my BB last year. Every few months they changed the rules, usually w/o notification. I guess we as customers were obligated to pic up the photocopied scraps of paper on the counters next to their PS3 adverts explaining the changes.

Typical corporation. We are losing customers, raise the rates!

@Joeb5: RedBox is -not- worth it.

The selection is terrible to begin with, and the only thing that is ever in stock is straight to Redbox junk and children's movies.

Around here, the Wal-marts and super markets have 2 or 3 machines chained together and you still can't rent anything unless you check it out at three or four pm or wait for months.

And I like Blockbuster because I can return scratched disks/bad movies to a brick and mortar store and get a different one -that- night. But this is a bad change, imo.

well i have been a blockbuster subcriber for a year and a half and i still pay 17$ a month for 2 dvd and unlimited in store exchange in place of 30$ and i never received any email that they were changing the plan
i'm not complaning but i dont understand why some people get the increased and not me

@ct_price: I haven't seen any throttling since Aug 30, 2008. And by throttling I mean "The Hills Have Eyes" was supposed to arrive on Aug 30 (a Saturday) and it arrived on Tuesday, Sept 2. And recently, on Monday, Jan 19 - MLK, Jr Day, which was a no mail service day, they 'received' 2 movies and shipped 2 movies to me that I received the next day.

So, yeah, Netflix has definitely improved. I noticed the other day that they show the new episodes of the 3 CSI's the next day. I haven't checked it out to see if there any commercials or on-screen cbs logos, but, I am hopeful there aren't any.

OTOH, if by throttling you mean new movies are classified as "Very Long Wait" for us existing customers, then yeah, they are still doing that. And I have no problem with it. I am a patient man.

I guess you can call it a "service shrink ray" giving you less services for the same price. You didn't really expect more did you?

Sounds like they got a computer upgrade and now they want to show off their real time inventory system.

@CoarseLive:
I'll answer why I'm still with Blockbuster.

I switched when Netflix was more expensive, and discovered a lot of positives. I'm in Lincoln, Nebraska. RedBox doesn't exist where I am. Grocery stores rent movies, but never have that much. When I switched, Blockbuster shipped their movies out of Kansas City and Netflix out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The time difference was huge when weekends were considered. I don't know where Netflix would ship from now, but I know that my return mailer for Blockbuster is the same city I am in.

At the time of my switch, Netflix only allowed a queue of a few hundred movies. Right now, my blockbuster queue is over 700 (Or, essentially, every movie I'm interested in watching.

Being an older subscriber, I still get the choice of 2 free movie rentals or video game rentals in store. (That may not seem great, but it has allowed me to try a lot of different games without shelling out 50 bucks. Games fall into three categories. Don't like, like but no desire to play again, and want to own. There's a lot in the first two.)

As for the latest change...it's a mixed bag. On one hand, you can get a movie and let it sit on your shelf because you're no longer in the mood to watch it like you thought you were. On the other hand, it is nice freeing up the slots and getting the process started, without having nothing to watch.

Will Netflix eventually destroy Blockbuster? Maybe. But I dread that day. Because 10 seconds after Blockbuster folds, Netflix will jack their prices up because they'll be 'it'.

@ct_price: It's not just that, for the volume that high users (who oddly were the ones paying more all of a sudden for a plan that was supposedly unlimited) could and frequently did get 60 movies a month - that's 33 cents a rental, give or take

@tnpre: You *can* do that, but that will get you blacklisted.

Not a shock. I mean, we've all seen the 35 dollar "value" plan for the service that used to be half that (unless you were grandfathered in, in which case, lucky you - just don't use that service). They blacklist people for listening to employees about how to utilize the service. They don't have the ability to call people who decide about accounts (so they say).

Netflix may not have in store exchanges, but they have more value for their equivalently priced plan, and better service by a country mile

All else being equal, they're still offering more than Netflix. You don't have the option of impulse renting with Netflix, although with Blockbuster you do have the option of nixing exchanges altogether and getting the same service as Netflix for the same price. Without in-store exchanges, you still get discounted rentals. What Netflix offers is, it looks like, downloading to your computer instead of waiting by mail. Sounds nice, but I don't know how or how well that works.

Blockbuster has been scaling back in-store exchanges because the idea is a failure. Last time they raised their rates (which are now equal to or cheaper than Netflix rates), they said it was because the exchange plans were killing their brick and mortar operation. The two services are really two separate animals.

@sumgai: Because I'm broke. $20/month from Blockbuster gets me 3 Blurays out at a time, unlimited trade ins. I can go through 12-15 movies per month. $20 on Apple TV gets me 4 HD movies. The convenience is not worth the huge extra cost.

@CoarseLive: Redbox has a terrible selection and doesn't stock Blurays. And from what I've heard, even if they carry a title you want to watch, good luck trying to find it, they never have enough copies in the box.

@mizike: The minimum charge on game rentals as far as I know is $9.99 here in Canada. All games are either 6 nights or 2 nights depending on how new they are so for the 2 night rentals I would just get charged the $2 late fee quicker (lol, I just say that hoping some BB rep is reading, yeah it is a late fee!).

I'm not sure if I'm following so your saying there is an option to only rent it for 2 nights if I want and pay less but in the end I can still end up keeping it for a month?

@KidU:

I go long stretches where I don't rent anything for months then I rent like crazy for 3 months depending on whats coming out so a subscription for me is not a good solution, and besides if I had this subscription I would feel I needed to get value out of it and I'd end up playing more games than I should.

For anyone complaining that redbox movies are hard to get a hold of, just go online and rent them in the morning. Just make sure you can pick them up that day.

and the selection is small but they have pretty much any recently released movie worth watching.

@tnpre: They instituted a delay of three days at the end of last week.

Blockbuster's been quietly moving to throttle customers, even when they're not heavy users. It used to be that I could mail a disc and see it logged in the next day, and the next disc would be sent on the next business day, and arrive the following day.

Now I end up sending three back in over the weekend, having one disc sent out on Monday to arrive Wednesday, a second sent supposedly Monday to arrive Thursday, and the third sitting in limbo for anything up the three days (and others have reported stuck times of weeks.)

What this procedure does is effectively limit the customer to three discs in any given week, which of course saves them a little bit of postage.

According to one CSR on the phone, they also do limited processing on Monday and Friday.

Fulfilment can also be weird -- they'll list DVDs that turn out not to be available from the local center, often the first disc in a set.

I've sent screen shots of my queue to consumerist before, I have anywhere between 14-20 movies in my queue and none of them are available. I asked Blockbuster for an explanation and they said 'please keep up to 15 available movies in your queue'. Well, no kidding, the problem is finding them.

Looks like I'm going to be cancelling my Blockbuster subscription. That's the only reason why I've kept it, because of being able to have movies from the store and have the next ones on my qeue sent to me.

Oh well, Blockbuster just lost another customer.

Wow, we discovered yesterday that our Blockbuster store is closed. Done, gone, bye bye. And now this, double the reason to cancel and give netflix a try.

The store was on my way in/out to work and right next to our grocery store, so Total Access was fantastic. But every year during TV season we talk about canceling and this time I think we really will. We'll sign up for netflix after May.

@chrisjames:
Netflix watch instantly works very well, I hook my laptop up to my tv and the quality is really no different than watching a dvd. You don't actually download the movie, they are streamed realtime so you don't have to wait for a download. The amount of movies available online is constantly expanding, and they also have a good collection of tv shows. I just have the one at a time Netflix plan for $9/mo w/ unlimited online viewing, and probably watch just as many movies/shows online as I do on dvd. Pretty good value.