Blockbuster changes "NO LATE FEES" policy

Qui-Gon John · 09-01-2006, 07:36 AM

Now if you keep the movie longer than 7 days they charge you the retail price for the movie, (same as before), except they don't count the rental fee you paid towards that.

EXAMPLE: $21.99 movie, $4.49 Rental Fee. Used to be if you kept it then the charge after 7 days was $17.50. Now it would be an additional $21.99, so the title would cost you $26.48.

Also, if you return it within 30 days from when you rented it used to be completely credited, now they still leave you with a $1.25 restocking fee. Pretty lame considering they'll just put it on the shelf for rental once again. It was already open when you rented it.

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Seth=L · 09-01-2006, 09:06 AM

Thats OK because I don't go to any video rental stores anymore. For the price you pay it is deffinitly not worth it. Using Netflix or Redbox vendors is a much more reasonable way to rent. I use Redbox vendors and that thing costs one dollar a day plus tax. These things should start sprouting up at many Mcdonalds and grocery stores all over the country. The Redbox Rocks!

Qui-Gon John · 09-01-2006, 09:33 AM

Well I have BB Online. Mostly from the stores I just use my coupons for free rentals. Is there a web site with info on these REDBOX's?

Seth=L · 09-02-2006, 09:22 AM

www.redbox.com

They are owned by Mcdonald's. At one time I was interested in investing, but once I learned they were owned by a much larger parent company I lost interest. I can't find any stock information on the Redbox at all other than Coinstar owns 42% of the Redbox.

Qui-Gon John · 09-02-2006, 12:18 PM

Their locations seem pretty limited, at least currently. Just 8 cities, that I can see, NY, Wash/Balt, Houston, St Louis, Denver Salt Lake, Las Vegas.

Seth=L · 09-02-2006, 09:24 PM

not really, we have one in fort, wayne IN, and are supposed to get more. They seem to only focus on dense populated areas or places they have many redbox vending machines in close proximity. They have a locater to help you find one on the website. If something doesn't cause them to fail we should expect to see a lot more of them pop up at various locations. People are always lined up at the one here so they are getting business.

Qui-Gon John · 09-03-2006, 09:45 AM

Well I looked for my area, So Fla, nothing. And their map doesn't show any in obvious places, like Calif. I hope they do grow and expand, I'd definitely give them a try.

Seth=L · 09-03-2006, 10:58 AM

I haven't had any problems thus far, I really like the conveniance.

The way they catalog DVD's and the user interface is awesome. Most people, even elderly people have limited problems with the redbox. The only thing that bothers me is only one person is able to utilize it at once. And some folks get a little confused when the movies that are due to come out on tuesday already have a file in the machine, so the customer selects a movie that isn't in the maching and gets irratated because they can't get the movie. So then I have to explain to them why it isn't in there to speed things up a little.

Carl Johnson · 09-03-2006, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qui-Gon John

Also, if you return it within 30 days from when you rented it used to be completely credited, now they still leave you with a $1.25 restocking fee. Pretty lame considering they'll just put it on the shelf for rental once again.

You think that it's lame for Blockbuster to charge a $1.25 fee for privilege of returning a movie 22 days late? It sounds to me like Blockbuster is being overly generous with their new policy. They would be well within their rights to charge $1.25 per day in fees.

Qui-Gon John · 09-03-2006, 12:23 PM

Lame when they said "No Late Fees".

Lame to call it a restocking fee, when they just slide the little plastic retainer in it and put it on the shelf, same as every other return.

I always return on time or just a day or 2 late, well within the 7 day window before getting charged, so it's not that much of a problem for me. Of course, anyone who would keep a movie and pay that much for a copy that was previously rented out, well their certainly not getting their money's worth. When they could have probably bought it elsewhere for $5 to $10 less than what they'll wind up paying.

RyanJE · 09-03-2006, 06:26 PM

if they didnt ever charge late fees then esetially you could "buy" any movie you wanted at the rental price. I mean why ever return it then.

Qui-Gon John · 09-03-2006, 07:52 PM

Ryan, prior to the recent change, if you never returned it, you would be charged the regular BB price, in 2 payts, $4.49 when you rent it, and $17.50 after 7 days. So your description would be wrong.