RSS
Consumerist
mergers and acquisitions
Posts Tagged “
Blockbuster
”
mergers and acquisitions
netflix
Netflix Profiles To Stay!
Netflix announced today that they will not be removing the beloved profiles function that let users set up separate movie queues. Hooray! Speaking from personal experience, when two people share one netflix account, having two queues is essential to maintaining domestic tranquility. Looks like they listened to the 1270 people who left comments on the blog post announcing the feature's removal. An email to subscribers also thanked them for the customer emails and calls that advocated for keeping the profiles. The news was released on the Netflix community blog by one of the Netflix website production managers. Full announcement, inside... More »
Netflix profiles
Netflix Eliminates User Profiles, Infuriates Customers
Netlfix announced yesterday that they'll be eliminating the ability to set up separate queues or "profiles" within one account. Some customers, like reader Stephen are hopping mad about it. More »
9:29 AM on Thu Jun 19 2008
By Meg Marco
17,330 views,
228 comments
video wars
Does The World Need A Blockbuster Digital Download "ATM?"
At their shareholders meeting Wednesday, Blockbuster announced that they would soon begin testing a "ATM"-style machine that consumers could use to download movies "on the go." More »
annoying
Policy: Blockbuster Debits $1 To Test Your Card, Then Charges You For Your Rental
For every debit or credit card transaction at Blockbuster, the company will now debit $1 to "test" your card. If the transaction goes through, they'll then debit the full amount of your purchase. Blockbuster tells us your dollar will be returned in 3-10 business days. Reader Jason says he rented a game on Thursday and hasn't gotten the dollar Blockbuster borrowed back yet. Will he get it before the 10 days is up? More »
satire
Step Back In Time To The Blockbuster Living Museum
Before the days of Netflix and the internet there was the "video store." According to The Onion, Blockbuster was "a specialty shop where customers would exchange money for the short term use of videos in an archaic system called "renting." Now we can visit the Blockbuster Living Museum to relive those days of yore. Watch The Onion video, inside... More »
ominous
Blockbuster + Circuit City = "Exclusive Content and Content-Enabled Devices"
Blockbuster has recently drawn the ire of movie enthusiasts by inking "exclusive" rental deals with the likes of IFC. The upshot of this deal is that Blockbuster will retain the exclusive physical rental distribution rights for IFC titles for three years after each street date. Why is this important? Because Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes wants to buy Circuit City for the following reason: More »
beacon
Woman Sues Blockbuster For Telling All Her Facebook Friends What She Was Renting
Facebook's Beacon has finally resulted in a lawsuit. A Texas woman has sued Blockbuster for participating in Beacon, claiming that "Blockbuster violated the federal Videotape Privacy Protection Act by sharing information about her movie rentals and sales with Facebook without first obtaining her written consent," says MediaPost. More »
refunds
Blockbuster Cancels Your Membership If You Demand A Refund On Unplayable Rentals
Andrew is having some trouble with Blockbuster: the 360 and Wii games he rented were unplayable, and the store manager refused to refund his debit card or apply the cost of the unused rentals to a purchase, saying "It's not store policy." She even tried to upsell Anrew to their Game Plan, saying, "Five bucks additional wouldn't have killed you, with what you spent on the games previously." What? He finally convinced her to credit his debit account—"however, she terminated my ability to rent games from the store" as a consequence. Andrew, don't you understand? Blockbuster needs that money if they're ever going to buy Circuit City. Here's Andrew's story:
More »
Blockbuster has offered to buy Circuit City for a little over $1 billion, with the goal of creating "a chain that could sell portable devices and entertainment for them, much like Apple Inc.'s stores." [Chicago Tribune] (Thanks to everyone who sent this in!)
worst company in america
Round 22: American Airlines vs Blockbuster
This is Round 22 in our Worst Company in America contest, American Airlines vs Blockbuster.
American Airlines: canceled 3,300 flights last week to make sure some wires were properly wrapped and tied, disrupting travel plans for hundreds of thousands of travelers. Granted, their lives would have been much more disrupted had any of their planes caught fire, but as this repair was on the FAA top list of things to check for, it should have been part of routine maintenance. That aside, American was the most-complained about of the big airlines for the past year, ranking in the tops for complaints about customer service and overall flight problems.
Blockbuster: is a crappy video store dittoed across the face of America. The worst thing about them is that they never have any movies that we like and sometimes they edit controversial movies to make them more mainstream-friendly. And based on reports from our readers, some of their in-store personnel seem to have discs stuck up their bum.
More »
blockbuster
Hacking Netflix reports that many Blockbuster locations don't use a centralized network to keep tabs on Total Access usage. The tip was originally reported by Kevin Tostado, who took down his post after a ball-busting conversation with Blockbuster in which they asked him to cease and desist. Fortunately, Google's marvelously efficient spiders reached Kevin's site before Blockbuster and preserved the post.
More »
Running Low On In-Store Exchanges Under Your Total Access Plan? Try Visiting A Different Blockbuster Location
Hacking Netflix reports that many Blockbuster locations don't use a centralized network to keep tabs on Total Access usage. The tip was originally reported by Kevin Tostado, who took down his post after a ball-busting conversation with Blockbuster in which they asked him to cease and desist. Fortunately, Google's marvelously efficient spiders reached Kevin's site before Blockbuster and preserved the post.
More »
rude
Blockbuster Cancels Your Account, Will Let You Have It Back If You Pay $18 More
Long time reader, first time tipper. I'm sure you've heard plenty about Blockbuster and their shady Total Access dealings, but I thought I'd send along my experience with them.More »
deals
IFC Seals Devilish Pact With Blockbuster
IFC has inked a "devilish" multi-year exclusive distribution deal with Blockbuster, says Chicago Sun-Times blogger and editor of RogerEbert.com, Jim Emerson. More »
video wars
"Why Blockbuster Will Never Survive"
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. More »
offline
Sorry, Blockbuster Is Not Available
Reader Amy is wondering if anyone knows why Blockbuster Online is, well, not online.Any idea on what's going on at http://www.blockbuster.com/?Haven't the foggiest, Amy. More »
Tried to log on this AM and it says "Sorry, BLOCKBUSTER Online is temporarily unavailable while we make some changes to the site. We're working hard to bring you an ever better BLOCKBUSTER Online experience. Check back soon!"
Nice, since I am a Blockbuster Online member and now have zero access to my queue or know what's coming to me next.
backlash
You Really, Really, Hate Blockbuster For Raising Prices
Here's a collection of reactions to Blockbuster's rate increase culled from our tipline:I responded by immediately canceling my account - I gave them the benefit of a doubt the first time, but this is too much. More »
video wars
Blockbuster Total Access Is Raising Your Rates
Reader Graeme says:Looks like in addition to bad service Blockbuster wants another 2 bucks per customer who were grandfathered in by the old pricing system.More »
