Several readers in the Oklahoma City area wrote to us about a recent issue with Redbox. Kiosks all over the area were full and unable to accept DVD returns. Redbox made up for the outage by offering area consumers a free rental. Except the free rental code was only good for six hours after the message was sent out. [More]
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Redbox Customer Rents Blank Disk
By 1.8.10
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.
Disney Claims "Up" DVD Missing Captions Were A Mistake
By 11.22.09
Many Consumerist readers wrote to Disney about the missing captions in rental editions of the Pixar movie “Up,” either because they were personally affected or they found the omission offensive. In their response, Disney at least acknowledges the unique issue and promises to make up for the mistake of consumers submit proof that they rented “Up.”
DVD Price War: Harry Potter, Star Trek For $10
By 11.6.09
Walmart announced yesterday that it will be slashing prices to below wholesale on 10 of the most popular DVDs that will be released soon, says the LA Times. Target announced that it will be matching Walmart. Amazon has not yet responded.
Yeah, Blockbuster Is Pretty Much F*#$%$
By 9.16.09
Back in the day there used to be these things called VHS tapes. They used to cost a lot of money — so there were these places you could go to rent them. The last surviving relic of this bygone era, Blockbuster Video (also known as the company that was almost stupid enough to buy Circuit City), announced in a regulatory filing today that it plans to close over 800 stores by the end of next year. This is nearly twice the number they previously announced.
Redbox Sues Warner Bros. And Asks For Help From Consumers
By 8.20.09
Concerned that rentals are hacking into DVD sales profits, Warner Bros. has restricted rental companies such as Redbox and Neftlix from offering its movies until 28 days after movies hit retail shelves.
What Should I Do When Redbox Has Indigestion?
By 8.14.09
John, like many people, enjoys renting movies from Redbox kiosks and does so frequently. Recently, the machine wouldn’t accept his disc back. It’s not a huge inconvenience, but he started to wonder why he, the customer, needs to go out of his way due to a problem on the company’s end.
Blue Redbox Experiencing A Severe Identity Crisis
By 7.3.09
Chris spotted this Blue Redbox at a Wal-Mart. Poor, confused box.
Watch Out For Throttling If You're On A Blockbuster Rental Plan
By 6.4.09
Robert’s recent experience with his local Blockbuster just underscores how ill-equipped the rental chain is to compete against Netflix and new-star-on-the-block Redbox. Whether Robert has caught them deliberately throttling his account, or he’s just the victim of a poorly implemented system, it’s not the kind of customer experience you should have to settle for anymore.
By 5.15.09
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If we owned a Blockbuster franchise, we’d seriously think about just renting out the space to a bunch of Redbox kiosks. Blockbuster reported a 42% drop in revenue for the first quarter of 2009, which CEO Jim Keyes blamed on people going out to watch movies at theaters instead. Regarding the Redbox threat, Keyes said they hope to have 3,000 kiosks functioning by the end of the year. Redbox, on the other hand, has about 12,000. [Reuters]
Redbox Kiosks Crank Out Cheap DVD Rentals, Doom For Hollywood
By 5.12.09
With its ubiquitous DVD rental kiosks, Redbox has been known to toy with our emotions. The machines have taken up all the choice grocery store spots where your favorite stale gumball machines used to sit. And company execs taunted us by dreaming up that awesome Free Movie Mondays promotion only to vow to take it away by the end of the summer.
Redbox Starts To Wean Customers Off Free Movie Mondays
By 5.8.09
A few readers contacted us, with tears in their eyes, to let us know that Redbox is ending their “Free Movie Mondays” promotion as we know it. Redbox kiosks, which seemingly sprouted overnight in every grocery store in the country a few years ago, let you rent newly-released DVDs for $1 per day. The free movie promotion sent a free rental code out every Monday in an e-mail or text message. After May 11, new codes will only be issued once per month, ending in August.
