Complaint Review: Blockbuster Video

Michael,

Having worked for Blockbuster for a considerable amount of time, your story is actually a common one I've experienced in my tenure at various stores I've managed. In short, you are right in the context that all stores are bound by the same protocol more or less. Customers easily make the assumption that we are networked in one way or another, so it is not impossible for the elderly, an immigrant, the mentally challanged, children, those suffering medical illness, or otherwise functional adults to have performed the same act. Some simply don't care at all, and for all intensive purposes could have been taken advantage of by an unscrupulous employee.

You would have been well within your right to have filed a report if so desired against this particular store based on the level of customer serrvice you received. Your point is a pillar of fundamental management, that objectivity must be maintained, while not allowing personal allegiances to fellow employees to play a factor. Ultimately it is the customer that ensures a store's success, as well as provides potential referrals of their own satisfactory experiences to their friends and family.

I concur with you that these things will, and have taken place, and really it is not for anyone else to judge through any form of criticism outside the policies that all Blockbuster employees strive to maintain. The primary reason I responded to your complaint was in large part due to how management placed their employees before you, the consumer. Blockbuster would in no way, shape, or form, be what it is today without your patronage. It is in lieu of treatment such as this that we lose a majority of our core business to smaller establishments that strive to maintain customer relational excellence. Right or wrong, I'm of the old school philosophy that it is best to maintain a strong measure of discernment under the principle of the customer always being right, but I'd much rather be on the winning side of my customers with repeat business than to become the scandal of the community. You won't find that with every other employee, who is merely watching the clock, or simply trying to divert you to someone else because they don't have the answer. I hope others will learn well from your experience that persistence is the one defining element a customer has to resolve most anything. My apologies for your inconveniences.

Regards,

Michael,

Having worked for Blockbuster for a considerable amount of time, your story is actually a common one I've experienced in my tenure at various stores I've managed. In short, you are right in the context that all stores are bound by the same protocol more or less. Customers easily make the assumption that we are networked in one way or another, so it is not impossible for the elderly, an immigrant, the mentally challanged, children, those suffering medical illness, or otherwise functional adults to have performed the same act. Some simply don't care at all, and for all intensive purposes could have been taken advantage of by an unscrupulous employee.

You would have been well within your right to have filed a report if so desired against this particular store based on the level of customer serrvice you received. Your point is a pillar of fundamental management, that objectivity must be maintained, while not allowing personal allegiances to fellow employees to play a factor. Ultimately it is the customer that ensures a store's success, as well as provides potential referrals of their own satisfactory experiences to their friends and family.

I concur with you that these things will, and have taken place, and really it is not for anyone else to judge through any form of criticism outside the policies that all Blockbuster employees strive to maintain. The primary reason I responded to your complaint was in large part due to how management placed their employees before you, the consumer. Blockbuster would in no way, shape, or form, be what it is today without your patronage. It is in lieu of treatment such as this that we lose a majority of our core business to smaller establishments that strive to maintain customer relational excellence. Right or wrong, I'm of the old school philosophy that it is best to maintain a strong measure of discernment under the principle of the customer always being right, but I'd much rather be on the winning side of my customers with repeat business than to become the scandal of the community. You won't find that with every other employee, who is merely watching the clock, or simply trying to divert you to someone else because they don't have the answer. I hope others will learn well from your experience that persistence is the one defining element a customer has to resolve most anything. My apologies for your inconveniences.

Regards,

Michael, thank you for your detailed dissertation on why you were right and Blockbuster was wrong. Reading it was quite entertaining. At this point I have only one question for you.... Did it ever occur to you that you could have exercised better judgement and returned your video on time (or informed the store that you were going to keep it late instead of ignoring their reminders), in the amount of time it took you to write this silly rebuttal? C'mon now, use a little common sense ... you are clearly in the wrong, and your in-depth analysis of the situation only hurts your case. Next time, grow up a little and put those college-"attained" (your word) skills to work, and at least learn how to return something to the store that it came from!

In posting to this forum it was my hope to discuss what has become most strikingly apparent to those who have become disenfranchised with Blockbuster Video's unethical business practices, or patterns, particularly evident in terms of customer service among other things. In lieu of the naievete' of a rather pretentious respondent, it seemed timely to provide an update in the context of their responses.

1) You are a former employee of Blockbuster (twice) - so it is obvious you are rocketing up the career ladder.

If you are attaining your education in a town that caters to the local university, Blockbuster Video happens to be the best you can hope for in terms of employment while an undergraduate. You will find that a substantial amount of associates employed at Blockbuster are typically supplementing their income, while attending college. So, I'll credit you with a rather obvious assumption that can be made of the typical undergraduate preparing for their career.

2) You rent a NASCAR Racing Game (High intelligence level)

A transplant of 5 years from Chicago, certain sentiments of the southern region are welcome, sometimes unavoidable. "Intelligence" can quickly be put into check if one assumes, or lends themselves to stereotypes. I've learned more about racing than I care to know of indirectly, but also that it involves more than driving a circle. Apparently most NASCAR drivers have some form of mechanical engineering degrees, some of whom I wouldn't try to hold a candle to, and much of the technology found in modern automobiles can be attributed to such things as NASCAR. You'll find you have more to be thankful for to NASCAR than you know. The game itself provides enough realism to dictate that reality to dissuade individuals such as yourself from believing otherwise.

3) a FORMER employee told you ONE TIME that you could keep a game for as long as you wanted with only a weekly charge in direct opposition to the PRINTED policy and your training and experience as a Blockbuster employee.

Again, assumptions.... Haven't you ever heard that expression about such a dangerous word? Having worked for Blockbuster more than 5 years ago, the policies of the corporation have changed enough to make the most casual consumer weary. Earlier this year I placed a call to the store I'd been renting a video from in relation to extending the rental period, in which the associate informed me the proper charges would be assessed at the time of return. True to his word, that's exactly what happened, never a late reminder sent to my home. It was my error to assume the same thing would take place without calling the store, although the associate I spoke with really was not safeguarding my best interest by violating company policies, unknown to me. At best, I was prepared to pay late charges if need be, but never imagined that I would be assessed the complete charge for the game in less than 30 days, which is not the general policy of your typical video store in my experience.

4) You keep the game way past the due date and receive POSTCARD reminders from Blockbuster also stating the return policy and you Ignore them!

Exaggerations appear to be a hallmark of your responses, as I hope the above clarified some things for you. Also, the rental was for one week. I returned it nearly 7 days after the due date. I would not consider that excessive enough to be charged for the game in its entirety. My oversight concerning the reminders were the explicit date set that Blockbuster threatened to charge me for the merchandise.


5) You finally return the game to the WRONG store!

Normally you will notice on the cover of the game, or video itself the address of the store the game had been rented from. In this particular case, the address had been covered (promotional new release), and was not easily visible. Running numerous errands that day, having consistently rented from the same store in the past, it became the first time I'd ever made such a mistake. Even after trying to correct the mistake later, the store had already misplaced the game. Nonetheless, as any associate will tell you, and having worked such stores, it's surprising how often people do this. This being the case, it has "always" been the policy of Blockbuster to return such merchandise to their respective stores. In corresponding between both stores during this process, rather than work towards a resolution both stores actually pointed fingers at one another, deriding one another in terms of store performance. As a consumer, this certainly didn't help my confidence, but only to validate that the worst may have happened.

6) You have your 'Wife' fight your battles for you.

Let me break something down for you, as once again you've appeared to disassociate from your body, thereby losing your sense of objectivity. By the time Blockbuster got through messing up my account, I was out of nearly $100. When your bank has been overdrawn by such activity, the last thing in the world you need when you've been fair and honest in your dealings with a company you've frequented for years is to be called a liar. Every post on this website seems to indicate this is a daily practice given the amount of erroneous charges consumers incur. After "Four Weeks" of trying to track down missing merchandise, being shuffled from associates to various supervisors, I had reached the limit when it had been implied by a supervisor that my wife as a witness was lying. All bark and no bite, he was quite apologetic upon our arrival, as she was there not to say a word (but to keep me from possibly decking the guy). This wasn't about money anymore, it was about the principle of the matter, and coming to an agreeable solution. The point in bringing my wife was to "personalize" the circumstances, such that any provocation or implication concerning our truthfulness assuredly would have been "seriously" dealt with.

7) Blockbuster DID credit you the money!

If it weren't for persistence, "nothing" would have been done. Both stores knew the product simply didn't vanish, and that I wasn't going anywhere until it turned up. The offering that had been made after a long process was to potentially credit the account, since there were those who believed that in all likelihood the game had not been checked in properly, and would turn up during the next inventory, which is exactly what happened (The game had been placed mistakenly in a defective area).

Somehow Blockbust is WRONG? The only mistake Blockbuster made was assuming you had an IQ above room tempature! It is people like YOU that make it difficult for LEGIMATE consumers to get a response for ACTUAL poor business practices!

I'll let you answer your own question whether there is "any" fault on the part of Blockbuster , as I've already borne out my own. That's the whole point you're missing, it doesn't matter if I took the video to a Blockbuster in Cuba. There are protocols and guidelines for every store to follow. To imply this is an isolated event , undeserving of attention is quite ludicrous. Whether a consumer is "thought" to be in error or not does not justify poor customer service, nor does it provide the opportunity to manipulate, or stonewall a consumer that may not posses tangible evidence. In fact thinking, without maintaining a fair objective line of thought was one of the major flaws in relation to blockbuster's poor customer service. Perhaps you'll grasp that concept if you ever aspire to be a manager. Because if you don't, I can assure you it's people, "like me" , that will put you out of a job.

I don't have a problem with you responding necessarily, just make sure you thoroughly understand my intent before penning another flaming post.

A job ultimately cannot define who you are, or your sense of value, if one does not have an innate sense of purpose which is divinely inspired. Until you're aware of what you were created for, be it janitor, or executive, everything in life will be meaningless. It is the people performing work which they were not intended to do that gives rise to such websites as this.

OK - Let me get this STRAIGHT!

1) You are a former employee of Blockbuster (twice) - so it is obvious you are rocketing up the career ladder.

2) You rent a Nascar Racing Game (High intellligence level)

3) a FORMER employee told you ONE TIME that you could keep a game for as long as you wanted with only a weekly charge in direct opposition to the PRINTED policy and your training and experience as a BlockBuster employee.

4) You keep the game way past the due date and receive POSTCARD reminders from Blockbuster also stating the return policy and you Ignore them!

5) You finally return the game to the WRONG store!

6) You have your 'Wife' fight your battles for you.

7) Blockbuster DID credit you the money!

Somehow Blockbust is WRONG? The only mistake Blockbuster made was assuming you had an IQ above room tempature! It is people like YOU that make it difficult for LEGIMATE consumers to get a response for ACTUAL poor business practices!

GET A LIFE PAL!