Complaint Review: Blockbuster

While I completely agree with everything that Stephen has said to defend Blockbuster, I think there is a bigger issue that lies at the heart of all the complaints against them. I have been working at Blockbuster for about a year now and I worked at another video rental prior to that and everyone that has complained about one thing or another shares a common quality. All of their problems result from a lack of responsibility and awareness on their part and their refusal to accept their own faults and the consequences that come as a result.

People who dispute their late fees refuse to accept that they could turn in their rentals late, thereby making a mistake, and therefore by accepting the consequences of that, they concede that they messed up. Instead, they blame the problem on the employees who "intentionally neglect to check movies in on time just to cause late charges to be assessed." Just a couple weeks ago a customer attributed his late returns to the leap year...or daylight savings time....he couldn't remember what the problem was.

The giftcard complaint on the table right now is another case of someone not being able to accept their own mistakes and needing to attribute it to someone else. First of all, giftcards don't start to decline in value until TWO YEARS of inactivity, and I still have yet to come across one that has started to lose its balance. Second of all, only very recently have states started passing laws that require merchants to honor giftcards and gift certificates that have expired, as I'm sure yours probably did. You're lucky that the store attempted to redeem the giftcard at all. Lastly, and most importantly, on the back of each giftcard it completely and clearly explains the whole policy about giftcards, which could have prevented this whole problem.

All of your problems that you have with Blockbuster would disappear if you would just learn to take responsibility for your actions...or lack of action, in this case, and just grow up. There are always an infinite number of opportunities to learn the company policies ahead of time so they don't have to bite you in the a*s later. It will save you the embarrassment of complaining about something about which you have no grounds to complain; and it will save the employees the aggravation and irritation of having to deal with your bitchy self. The company, and especially the individual store employees, are not out to get you. They have no reason to try to "steal" anything from you. If you would just take one second to learn about something before throwing accusations around, things would be a whole lot better.

Actually Glenn, no I do not and never have worked for Blockbuster and I have said as much in every post I have made in these "boards".

You may also take notice of the many posts I have made on reports dealing with appliances and appliance service, which is what I do for a living. THAT is what my job is-I am a Certified Master Technician and I deal with customers like the ones posting in these forums on a weekly basis and I feel the obligation, and the right, to post replies in defense of people and companies who are defamed by ignorant people.

As for your remarks... they are completely out of line. The Blockbuster you worked at ripped people off? That is sad and unfortunate, but guess what? That absolutely does NOT mean that ALL Blockbuster locations rip people off, OR even that most locations rip people off.

Secondly, a large company that only cares about money? As opposed to what? That huge corporations that could care less? What worldwide distributor of ANYTHING would you honestly think does NOT care about money? IT IS A CORPORATION, not a family owned "mom and pop" shop. Incidentally, I happen to work in a family owned business. We are expanded into three locations and distribute to the entire country and you know what? WE pay very close attention to our income each year TOO. It's called running a business. If you honestly think that the "local" video stores do not care about their income, then you are completely insane. It just happens to be less expensive to run a shop like that than it is to operate a Blockbuster location, and they also happen to be unable to offer the selection, guaranteed rentals, concessions, longer hours of operation, and longer rental periods that ALL large chains offer. You pay more for the convenience that these large chains offer you. THAT is the difference.

Thirdly, the "ripping off" you described is behavior, NOT policy. You described actions of PEOPLE. What is unclear about this concept? A Blockbuster location is only as good as the EMPLOYEES. If you have bad employees, you get bad service and people run into problems. That has nothing to do with Blockbuster as a company. Working FOR Blockbuster doesn't somehow magically MAKE bad employees. What makes you think a local video store is above hiring a bad employee? ANY time you hire for low pay you can have this problem REGARDLESS of the size of your company. As long as PEOPLE can make mistakes and are willing to do half-assed jobs, then you will run into these problems. IT DOES NOT MATTER IF THE COMPANY IS NAMED BLOCKBUSTER OR "YOUR LOCAL" VIDEO STORE. END of story.

It's also unfortunate that you failed to inform customers of the policies when they bought gift cards. I have personally purchased these cards with no problem whatsoever, the fee was explained to me, and I then explained it to the people I GAVE the cards to... and you know what? They used the cards with NO problem and never lost a single dollar on them because they knew and understood the fee and didn't wait 10 months to use the card. You are wasting your breath trying to defend people like this. The plain and simple fact, when you break it right down to the bare bones is, this person DID NOT bother to even READ the package, or open it for that matter, for almost a year. That is nobody's fault but their OWN.

If the employees at the particular Blockbuster location that sold the gift card to the giver didn't explain it, then again, that does NOT in ANY way mean "Blockbuster rips people off". It means nothing more than that ONE time A SINGLE employee failed to explain ONE policy. Anything more than that, you are ASSUMING. That is ignorant and WRONG. How do you know that employee doesn't tell every customer the policies and simply forgot this one time? How do you know that Blockbuster location isn't completely efficient and reliable and this is an isolated incident? YOU DON'T. You are making broad, blanket assumptions about a MASSIVE company and defaming the company in the process. THAT is why I post. I run a business and THAT upsets me.

I'll repeat what I have posted in other replies. What happens at ONE Blockbuster location... wait, I'll go even further. What happens at 100 Blockbuster locations even, has NO bearing on the company as a whole and in NO way justifies these types of defamatory posts. There are OVER 8,500 locations worldwide. Do you HONESTLY expect each and every single location to be run with the same quality and efficiency? IMPOSSIBLE. Statistics, combined with the low pay and local hiring practices, prevent it from EVER being a possibility.

You can do a search for ANY company chain that is distributed nationwide ont his very website and find a multitude of complaints EXACTLY like this. ANY company. Even competitors like Hollywood video. Give it a shot. ANY company in ANY field... Walmart, Target, Burger King, McDonald's, Sears... it doesn't matter. It is a statistical FACT that if you have thousands of locations, pay low wages, offer little if any benefits, and hire locally, then you are going to have SOME locations that just do NOT work the way they SHOULD. That in no way means the company is trying to rip people off, that the company fosters this type of behavior, OR that the company is trying to intentionally make customer's lives difficult. Those are absurd, uninformed, and out right insulting accusations and all of you people MAKING them really need to WAKE UP. Seriously... WAKE UP!

Cheers.

P.s. Forgive any spelling mistakes.

I have read your report and the comments made about it, and as an ex-employee, I think I have some good advice. First of all, I believe Stephen must be an employee or a relative of an employee, or else he would not spend all of his time defending this company. He has commented on many reports about Blockbuster and seems to be unreasonably defensive about a company he has no ties to. Anyway, I worked at Blockbuster for a few weeks while in college. They rip off people in a variety of ways, which is probably why they are so successful. When we sold gift certificates we never explained the expiration policy. Not illegal, but a little deceitful if you ask me. Of course the policy is in fine print on every gift card, which most people don't even realize until they've already purchased it. No refunds, of course. Again none of this is illegal but personally I feel that if you gave the company money it should be good however long you wait to use it. But, then again, Blockbuster has a long history of ripping people so why would they give up this opportunity. I only worked at Blockbuster briefly, because any one with half a brain can get a better job. My advice to the consumer is rip up your card like I did. Instead of suppoting a large company who only cares about the money they make each year, support your local video stores. You'll find they care about their customers much more, so they are less likely to rip you off.

Sorry, I don't work for Blockbuster, but your post is just ridiculous. You are completely out of line. A gift card of $20, and they deduct $2 a month for each month the card is not used? You tried to use it and it had no balance? Alright, that means you had the card for at least 10 months, probably more, before you "remembered" you had it. You also admitted it was still in the original package?

First of all, READ THE INFORMATION on the package AND on the card itself. I promise you it explicitly explains the policy of deducting a $2 fee each month the card is not used. Is it fair? Probably not. That is another issue. The fact IS however that it is explained and it is nobody's fault but YOURS that you didn't read, nay, didn't even OPEN the certificate for at least 10 months before using it.

The charge is a "service fee" for the privilege of having a card that can be used for ANYTHING in a Blockbuster store (that's ANY blockbuster store anywhere in the world), including rentals, and merchandise. It's like a debit card, like a checking account, and so that is why there is a service fee. It is NOT a gift certificate and they don't advertise them as gift certificates. They advertise them as gift cards, and the way they work is explained very clearly for those WHO BOTHER TO READ IT. It is NOT stealing.

Learn to read before you complain. This is YOUR fault, no one else's. You didn't read the package, didn't even OPEN the package, waited nearly a year to use the card and then were pissed because you missed your chance to do so. Just because it didn't work out for you does not give you the right to defame a company.

PS. Blockbuster is doing just fine. Last time I checked they were taking in over $5 billion a year.

Cheers.