Blockbuster and other brick-and-mortal rental stores seemingly give you fewer reasons to patronize them all the time, but Christopher discovered a step in the positive direction by the company: He says if the store doesn’t have what you’re looking for, it will send it to you and let you keep it longer than a normal rental. [More]
Thrifty Charges You For Gas Even Though You Returned It Full
By March 17, 2010
Manny returned a rental car full of gas to Thrifty, yet they still ended up charging him $12.67 to top it off. Even after several days of escalating, they have yet to refund him his cash. [More]
Walmart Closing Down Vudu's Porn Channel
By February 24, 2010
To no one’s great surprise, Vudu has announced that now that it belongs to Walmart it will be shutting down the adult section. No more streaming HD porn from Vudu, everybody. Their announcement after the jump. [More]
The Greatest Craigslist Room Rental Ad Ever
By February 18, 2010
Maximize your Craigslist profits by crafting copy that really stands out. Like this guy’s rental listing that begins, “$500 HOLY CRAP! IS THAT A ROOM FOR RENT ON MY CRAIGSLIST??!?!?!?” and continues, “Do you want to be homeless? Then you better come check this room for rent out. It has WALLS and a CEILING. BLOCKS THE F****** WIND AND RAIN FOOL!” [More]
Rent Out Your Household Items For Fun And Profit
By January 28, 2010
What items do you keep around your house, but don’t use very often? A shovel? A laundry drying rack? A food processor? What if you could rent these items out to people in your area, and in turn rent seldom-used items from them for a few dollars? Rentalic.com is trying to make these exchanges happen nationwide. [More]
Largest Ever Single Residential Property Deal Collapses Under Debt Mountain
By January 25, 2010
The company that paid the most ever for a single residential property in the US is giving up and giving the development back to its lenders, says the WSJ. [More]
YouTube To Rent Movies
By January 21, 2010
Tomorrow, YouTube will start renting online movies at $4 for 48 hours. At launch, the selection will consist of five titles from the upcoming Sundance Film Festival, says the Associated Press, but Google hopes to get studios on board in the coming months. Studios will be able to set their own prices and rental periods, however, should they participate. [More]
Netflix CEO Explains Why They Made The 28-Day Delay Deal
By January 19, 2010
Earlier this month, Netflix made a deal with Warner Bros. to delay new DVD releases for 28 days. Over at Hacking Netflix, the CEO of the company goes into some detail on why he approached Warner Bros. to begin with (it was his idea, not theirs), and why he thinks it will work out better for everyone except those customers who signed up expecting all new releases all the time. [More]
Should You Be Let Out Of Your Lease If Your Apartment May Plummet Into The Sea?
By January 12, 2010
It’s nice to have an apartment on a cliff overlooking the ocean — until the cliff decides to stop existing. That’s what is happening to one apartment complex in Pacifica, CA. [More]
See What Your Zipcode Likes To Rent On Netflix
By January 11, 2010
The NYT has taken some data released by Netflix (the top 50 rental titles for each zipcode) and made some interactive heat maps out of it. It’s weirdly fun. [More]
Is Blockbuster Sending Out Gimped Versions Of Some Blu-rays?
By January 11, 2010
William claims Blockbuster sent him a not-so-special edition of The Hangover on Blu-ray that doesn’t let him access an unrated version of the movie. [More]
Redbox Customer Rents Blank Disk
By January 8, 2010
Russ says he rented a movie from Redbox and ended up with a blank disc. He also says he can’t get an answer from Redbox on what to do next.
I rented three DVDs for my kids at a San Antonio, TX location, then drove back home with them to Austin. When I took one of them out of its case, I noticed that it was a just a blank CD-R. The previous renter had taken the I.D. label from the original DVD and messily placed it on the CD-R.
FedEx Office Charges $40 An Hour For Dirty Unheated Meeting Room
By January 6, 2010
When you rent a meeting space, should it have heat? Chairs that are clean and not broken? We think so! Reader Mark does too. FedEx Office doesn’t. [More]
Redbox Won't Take Reader's Money, Bans Credit Card Forever
By December 16, 2009
What can you do when a company bans not you, but your only credit card? John explains that he returned some Redbox movies before his vacation. Then his vacation got really exciting, and his credit card was briefly and accidentally reported stolen. He straightened things out with the credit card company, but Redbox was not so forgiving. He owes the company $15, but they won’t accept his money. Now he’s unable to borrow from Redbox, and their customer service is no help. [More]
Blockbuster Doesn't Believe We've Returned Their Stupid Movie
By November 27, 2009
Reader and admitted Geek Squad employee Mike says he and his girlfriend rented and returned The Ugly Truth at Blockbuster, but the floundering rental chain insists it can’t find the movie so his girlfriend is stuck with late fees that Blockbuster supposedly did away with years ago. [More]
Sony Hunts For Morons Willing To Pay $25 To Rent A Movie
By November 12, 2009
Has Sony got a deal for you if you’ve got a Sony Bravia HDTV that can connect to the internet: Rent Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 30 days early for the low, low price of $24.95. Movie blogger Colin Boyd gushes about the fantastic offer on his site (citing a ZDNet story), Get the Big Picture:
Netflix Will Screw You For The Right Price
By November 11, 2009
Hollywood studios are sick of you renting their DVDs and want you to start buying them again. The way to trick you into this, they figure, is to withhold the discs from rental companies for a month, forcing you to get all antsy and run out and buy them.
You Will Probably Never See A Blockbuster SD-Card Kiosk
By November 10, 2009
Here’s an idea: When your top rivals are renting dirt-cheap DVDs from ubiquitous kiosks, or streaming thousands of films as a free bonus to customers who rent mail-order rmovies, what do you do? If you’re Blockbuster, you start a trial run of kiosks that will allow consumers to rent DRM-protected videos on SD cards, and play them back using a proprietary box that will do nothing else. Yeah, that’ll show ‘em.
