An anonymous reader, who we’ll call J, had an upsetting experience at a Movie Gallery in Orlando. J dropped five movies into the after-hours drop box at 9:30pm, thirty minutes before the store was scheduled to close. The next day, late fees were charged to J’s account.

J called Movie Gallery to contest the late fees. Their surprising response, after the jump….

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After confirming the date J returned the movies, the Movie Gallery rep informed J that they had an employee who had been closing the store early. J was only one of several people to complain. The honesty is rather refreshing.

Movie Gallery obviously refunded the late fees. To apologize, they gave J two free rentals. Then, they gave J’s daughter free candy. J got home and realized there was another movie that needed returning, one that was now legitimately late. When J brought it back, they let the late fee slide.

J’s email to us:

I’ve been a long time reader of your site, I’ve enjoyed it and benefited many times over years thanks to your site. I figured I’d share my own story I experienced tonight, one of good customer service, something that has seem to be lacking in Orlando these past few months. On Wednesday night I returned 5 moves to the Movie Gallery on Hoffner here in Orlando at around 9:30pm, they close at 10p. The lights were on, the TVs still going so I figured they just locked the doors to go to the bathroom. After waiting a min or so, I dropped the movies in the afterhours drop off (hoping they would count it before they finish closing) and went home. Come today (Friday), sure enough there were late charges on my account. I spoke with the Rep and told her my story, she wanted to make sure it was Wednesday and then she apologized profusely. Apparently they’ve had an employee closing up around a half-hour earlier than they were suppose to (and fudging their timecard) and they received a few other complaints today over the same nights the employee in question worked. They quickly refunded my late fees (Cool!), they gave me free rental on two of the four movies I picked and even gave my daughter the candy she wanted without charge, no additional explanation needed and they didn’t further speak about the employee (commonly, people will talk about the other employee, something that usually annoys me) in question and even still, I realized I forgot to return 1 movie, went back to the house and brought it back and they even cut me a break on the late fee for a movie that I *did* forget. In the days where customer service is lax, and where you have to argue even when you are in the right, these people went above and beyond to make a customer happy. Usually people get praised for doing their job, these people get the praise for going above and beyond.

Candy and honesty, a refreshing combination. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER

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