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:

I’ve been a regular personage at a Blockbuster in Mishawaka, IN for some time. Just recently I moved into a new house, so I was rather excited to know that your store was within walking distance to rent movies. Not having a car, this meant plenty of rentals of video game software for my 360 and Wii.
 
However, just recently I rented Halo 3, and when I brought it home, it was cracked. They graciously replaced it with a “free rental”, so I went to another one of your stores and rented Halo 3 there. I returned it on time, and proceeded to rent Rainbow Six Vegas 2, and Oblivion, both for the 360 again. When I got it home, neither worked. When I opened my 360 Oblivion had a scratch on it, which 360’s are known to do. Rainbow Six’s disc looked just fine. It however wouldn’t load. When I called your store that night because it was already too late to head back over, they told me they’d grant me a “free rental” and return the games for replacements. Now here’s where the problem begins.
 
I went over just a few minutes ago, and brought the games in, and told them what was going on. When I couldn’t find anything else to rent and asked for my money back, even though I’d rented the games on my debit card, the manager (Adrian I believe) told me “It’s not store policy.” I asked if I could put the money toward purchasing a product (a used copy of Halo 3, for 39.99), and she told me she couldn’t allow that either because it wasn’t store policy. I had my receipt from the rentals, that clearly said debit card, and she still wouldn’t put the $17.10 toward the purchase.
 
She finally refunded the money, however, she terminated my ability to rent games from the store.
 
They also tried selling me on their “Game plan” which means you get unlimited replacements for ONE game for 20 some odd dollars and said “Five bucks additional wouldn’t have killed you, with what you spent on the games previously.”

(Photo: Getty)

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