Complaint Review: Blockbuster Video - Richmond Virginia

I have had a number of movies and more games that were reported to me as "not turned in" and when I went to the BB store, we found them on the shelf. This has happened at more than one store. That is why, from now on, I take my movies and games and make them check them in as I stand there. Also, I have a note on my membership that requires them to check my ID as they reported several movies checked out by me when I was not even in the country. It pays to beware and it pays more to make sure they check your games or movies in.

I am in the process of putting a foundation together and sending a message not only to scumbuster but to everyone else that you won't take me down. On to the credit card issue I will look at that when I get the time. And patrick the issue has nothing to do with BB and the gumball machine b/c I know where they bought it from.

Dawn, Thanks for the support, but I'm afraid you're just wasting your breath with Steve. I have tried to reason with him on this and the other Blockbuster reports, but to no avail. He has an agenda against Blockbuster. You see, he went in and tried to have his gumball machines located in their stores in Philly. They said "Sorry, but we have our own gumball machines". This has upset him, so now he comes on all the reports stating how he is going to bring them down. We may have another James on our hands.

Dawn, Thanks for the support, but I'm afraid you're just wasting your breath with Steve. I have tried to reason with him on this and the other Blockbuster reports, but to no avail. He has an agenda against Blockbuster. You see, he went in and tried to have his gumball machines located in their stores in Philly. They said "Sorry, but we have our own gumball machines". This has upset him, so now he comes on all the reports stating how he is going to bring them down. We may have another James on our hands.

Dawn, Thanks for the support, but I'm afraid you're just wasting your breath with Steve. I have tried to reason with him on this and the other Blockbuster reports, but to no avail. He has an agenda against Blockbuster. You see, he went in and tried to have his gumball machines located in their stores in Philly. They said "Sorry, but we have our own gumball machines". This has upset him, so now he comes on all the reports stating how he is going to bring them down. We may have another James on our hands.

I have been renting from Blockbuster for at least 11 years. I have never had a problem with them while I cant tell you if the contract is online I can tell you that when the no more late fees program started there were disclosure notices right next to the check out counter. And yes you can take it home with you and read it. I read about the extra seven days you get and the restocking fees. By the way, Patrick and I believe Paul gives out some good advice so dont knock them. They are just helping some of us not so educated consumers.

Steve, The membership agreement (contract) is not available online. Why would it be? It is for membership enrollment at the store. All you need to do is go down to a store and simply pick up a blank one. Most of the stores have them set out for the customer to fill out on their own. Why are you sending it to your attorney? Were you unknowingly charged money on your credit card? All I can say is, if what Blockbuster is doing is illegal, they would have wound up in court for it a long long time ago, as they have been doing this for years.

Steve, The membership agreement (contract) is not available online. Why would it be? It is for membership enrollment at the store. All you need to do is go down to a store and simply pick up a blank one. Most of the stores have them set out for the customer to fill out on their own. Why are you sending it to your attorney? Were you unknowingly charged money on your credit card? All I can say is, if what Blockbuster is doing is illegal, they would have wound up in court for it a long long time ago, as they have been doing this for years.

Steve, The membership agreement (contract) is not available online. Why would it be? It is for membership enrollment at the store. All you need to do is go down to a store and simply pick up a blank one. Most of the stores have them set out for the customer to fill out on their own. Why are you sending it to your attorney? Were you unknowingly charged money on your credit card? All I can say is, if what Blockbuster is doing is illegal, they would have wound up in court for it a long long time ago, as they have been doing this for years.

Steve, The membership agreement (contract) is not available online. Why would it be? It is for membership enrollment at the store. All you need to do is go down to a store and simply pick up a blank one. Most of the stores have them set out for the customer to fill out on their own. Why are you sending it to your attorney? Were you unknowingly charged money on your credit card? All I can say is, if what Blockbuster is doing is illegal, they would have wound up in court for it a long long time ago, as they have been doing this for years.

Is the contract online YES or NO I want to read it and see what it says I am also forwarding it to an attorney

Steve, Obviously, you do not get the fact that when you sign your membership form, you AGREE & AUTHORIZE Blockbuster to charge your credit card for any monies due on your account. Until you can grasp that concept, I cannot help you further.

The reason why I haven't posted as much is b/c I'm busy with all my locations instead of you Patrick being on this site 24/7 trying to protect the companies a*s. Blockbuster is a corporate store so then why should they be allowed to put a gumball machine in their store. To make their profit and then when a gumball gets jammed in the machine or the machine isn't cleaned it would take twice as long to do what they have to do. They also lose another asset. Setup a computer terminal machine so that the customer doesn't have to wait for anyone to babysit the rental and move on. Like I said also its a contract yes but the company doesn't have the right to charge at all. Its proof that a customers signature is on the document so when the company gets audited for not putting it in the system then yes the customer is correct.

Steve, Quite frankly, I'm suprised it took you this long to post something on this report. How many times do we have to go through this? "THE COMPANY HAS NO RIGHT TO CHARGE ON THE CREDIT CARD. Thats the law. I don't care what the policy says and the contract which if anyone does sign." Sorry Steve, a contract (ie membership agreement) is a binding instrument. It states that any charges on your account not paid for in person may be charged to the credit card listed on your account. How else can BB protect itself from fraud? How many people would come in, sign up, give false information, rent 5 movies, then disappear without a trace? "If I ever do rent from BB then I will read everything." I thought you said you would never rent from there again. "You people are brainwashed and by reading other comments from the consumers thats the way I see it." I'm sorry, brainwashed? From the local video store? That's a good one! "If it goes to court that the company is charging a credit card a lawyer steps in and wastes tax money." Steve, let me put your fears to rest. It does not go to court. Why? Because your signature and authorization were already given. "The commercial that I remember seeing about busters with those guys changing the banner of the store by saying no more late fees thats an insult to the public and nationwide tv." That's your opinion, and you're entitled to it. I, however, was not insulted. "The company should set up a check in system where if the employee is no where around the return of a rental then it can get scanned in automatically. So your telling me that the company can't invest in that." How many times do I have to explain that such a system would not work? There would be no way to control whether or not the product is in the box. Admit it Steve. You're ticked at Blockbuster because they wouldn't let you put your triple-head gumball machines in their stores because it would compete directly with their own gumball sales.

THE COMPANY HAS NO RIGHT TO CHARGE ON THE CREDIT CARD. Thats the law. I don't care what the policy says and the contract which if anyone does sign. If I ever do rent from BB then I will read everything. You people are brainwashed and by reading other comments from the consumers thats the way I see it. If it goes to court that the company is charging a credit card a lawyer steps in and wastes tax money. The commercial that I remember seeing about busters with those guys changing the banner of the store by saying no more late fees thats an insult to the public and nationwide tv. The company should set up a check in system where if the employee is no where around the return of a rental then it can get scanned in automatically. So your telling me that the company can't invest in that.

Donna, First, let me say that yes I am an ex-employee (Store Manager). However, I believe your story, and let me tell you why. And then I will try to assist you. There are two possibilities of what happened to your movies: 1) they were not checked in properly and were put on the shelf. 2) an employee "helped" themselves to your movies, did not check them in, and took them home. I'm hoping it is #1 as there is something you can do, but I'm afraid it's most likely #2. Unfortunately, employee theft is a problem. What's worse, customers are usually the ones held accountable for the loss in these cases. Before I became a store manager, I did witness some instances of employee theft. Those employees were dealt with by being terminated. OK, so let's assume it's #1. Here's what you can do. Call the store you rented from and ask for the Store Manager (the key is to ask only for the Store Manager at this point, they have the most ability to assist you). If you are told they are not available, get their name and the time they will be in the store next. Weekdays before 5PM is usually best to call. Ask the manager to check your account history, and give you the titles and copy numbers (very important!) of the movies you are being charged for. (By the way, you are being charge the purchase price of the movies, not late fees.) Then ask the manager to review the last full inventory log (if one has been done since you returned the movies, should have been one at the end of June depending on the store). See if any of the copy numbers match up from the auto-shrink. Usually, when a title is shrunk out of the system, it drops that copy number from the database. If no luck, have the manager check every possible place that rental product might be, under the counters, in damaged items storage, in the customer mismatch file, in the Wrong Store file, etc. Hopefully they will turn up, but since you indicated it was a "couple" movies, odds are they are not in the store. One movie I can believe, two or more is highly unlikely. The only other thing I can think of is are you absolutely certain you returned them to the same store they were rented from? The manager can verify that for you. I hope you can find them. If you do decide to continue renting from Blockbuster (or any video store for that matter), might I make a suggestion? Return your movies during normal store hours. Take them inside, and have a clerk check them in for you immediately. That way, you know for a fact that your movies were checked in. If there are any problems (more than 7 days past the original due date, etc.), then they should be able to inform you of it right away. I hope that I have been able to help in some way. In closing, I wish to make a comment about a common misconception regarding the membership agreement. I'm not saying this to be mean, or argumentative. I just wish to point out this detail to you. When you first sign up for a membership at Blockbuster, you sign at the bottom of the application. The rental tems and conditions are printed on the reverse side. By signing this application for membership, you are agreeing to those terms. It also states that the membership terms can be modified without notice at any time. If you are in disagreement with the new terms, you have the option of terminating your membership. When the new terms went into effect on 1/1/05, you agreed to them from your previous application. Go ahead Steve, give it your best shot.

This reply is to the original author of this thread. Call me crazy or whatever but I think Blockbusters new policy is fine. I see all these people whining about Blockbusters "no late fees" I think a week over the due date is plenty of time to return them. Second, when the new policy came out I do believe when I went to the Blockbuster in my city I saw a pamplet there explaining the rules and I also read the disclosure. Why people dont read before they do something is beyond my understanding. It clearly states in the literature that there is a restocking fee! Also there are stores that change policies and they dont ask for your permission. The fine print generally says if you dont want to comply with the set regulations turn in your card.

I think the issue here is that the movies were lost, not that you kept them too long. It takes two weeks, I believe, before the restocking fee hits, and even then that's reversible. Now the question might be, did you lose them or did Blockbuster? I am an employee of the company and lost movies that were dropped in the box is indeed a strange phenonenom, and people do believe that we employees take them, or something. It would be a national mass conspiracy if we did. Usually I will error on the side of the customer and check them in. Here is my advice to you. The collection agency blockbuster uses is not a real collection agency. Don't be afraid of it. Will it affect your credit? I am not sure, I can only speak from personal experience that I owed them a late fee for a year once and it was never reported on my credit report. What you should do, if you feel you are a good renter, is not grace them with your business anymore. Getting angry and all is fine, but honestly they have already lost a lawsuit about restocking fees and what not, hence the new commercials that tell customers in verbage and writing that movies will be charged, sales are not final for 30 days, and restocking fees apply to reverse sale charges. It is the new policy and for the most part, extremely popular. People who bring back a 2-day rental three weeks late pay 1.25. No more. It is a policy contested in court, the courts had blockbuster change their advertising and they are in compliance. If the new system does not work, by all means, go to Hollywood or any other chain who does old fashioned late fees. I am sure you will find a company who penalizes according to your needs.

I have posted on this report about what BB should do and they won't. I'm still confused about the practice that this company still does and yet they still pocket the money. I hope all stores all over the US and I guess Canada shuts down. Its coming.

I have posted on this report about what BB should do and they won't. I'm still confused about the practice that this company still does and yet they still pocket the money. I hope all stores all over the US and I guess Canada shuts down. Its coming.

I have posted on this report about what BB should do and they won't. I'm still confused about the practice that this company still does and yet they still pocket the money. I hope all stores all over the US and I guess Canada shuts down. Its coming.