Blockbuster Is Horrible: Another Example (1 Viewer)

[Andy G]

I rented "Hart's War," which was produced on a 2-sided disk--widescreen on one side and full screen on the other. I of course intended to watch the widescreen side (like other members of this forum and any serious HT enthusiast, I routinely avoid any rentals that are fullscreen). The widescreen side had a scratch which my DVD player could not handle. It was already after 10:30 PM, the kid was in bed, the movie was mostly over, and I wasn't going to jump in the car to exchange the damn thing. So I flipped the disk over and watched the remaining 10 minutes in (oh, no!) fullscreen.

Next day, I'm renting another movie at the same Blockbuster. I hadn't returned Hart's War yet (I typically hold 2-day rentals for the full term so Blockbuster can't make another rental fee from it) and asked whether Blockbuster could make any accomodation (on the $4.76 rental cost) for the defective rental the night before. The Blockbuster drone, who happened to be the manager on duty, asked what the problem was since I watched the entire movie anyway. I explained that my preference was not to watch the fullscreen version. She winced, and then asked what I would have done if Blockbuster rented only the fullscreen version. I replied "I would not have rented the movie." She then said, and I'm not kidding, "Are you serious?"

Long story short, the manager-drone argued "no harm, no foul"; I commented on her attitude; and she finally gave me a raincheck for a free video. But this experience further soured me on this company. Here, as elsewhere, Blockbuster drained business away from the independents, which ultimately folded, and then raised (and continues to raise) its prices. At the same time, the employees (and, shockingly, the managers) have assumed a terrible attitude toward the customers who unwittingly made the company into the giant it has become. Unfortunately, I have no other options (yeah, I know about the web-based rental outfits but find this a hassle) and will likely continue to patronize them, though begrudgingly. Ugh.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

On the plus side, atleast they're BUYING widescreen now. For a while, that wasn't assured...

 

[Dick]

Andy, what's the big hassle about net rentals? I signed up with both Number Slate and Netflix (as between them they literally have every DVD known to man) and the only work involved other than the initial sign-up is keeping titles in your queue (no more time spent doing that than browsing the aisles in a video store, right?) and dropping the envlopes into the mailbox along with your other mail. You pay $2.-$3. apiece and have a selection a hundred times greater than Blockbuster offers. What hassle?

 

[Andrew_Sch]

Yeah, if you watch more than six or seven rentals a month, you really can't go wrong with Netflix. We're lucky to have a shipping center in-state, so there's only a day or two turn-around, but even when they were coming from California last year, it was only about a three-day wait, and we got 8-10 movies a month. They can't be beat for price, reliability, and especially selection. Plus they give away free one-month trials, so you should at least give them a shot.
EDIT: Yes, my check from Netflix is in the mail and should be arriving here shortly.

 

[Paul D Young]

She then said, and I'm not kidding, "Are you serious?"

 

[JamieD]

I'm sorry, but since they probably don't know/don't care/aren't told to care about the difference between Full and Wide Screen, and you didn't actually return the movie, and you DID watch it.. I sort of understand where they're coming from.

I had the same thing happen with The Shawshank Redemption (before I bought my own copy), brought it in that night, and they exchanged without saying a word.

As much as I empathize with those who aren't big fans of Blockbusters, I can't say they're that bad.

 

[Andy G]

Thought about it and, just this morning, signed up with Netflix. It feels good to have taken a first step in withdrawing my business from Blockbuster. If Netflix is as good as I've read ('cept for the spamming), we may just dump Blockbuster forever.

JamieD: Your point is well taken. I don't fault the manager-drone for trying to figure out if I've scammed them. Yesterday's incident was merely the last straw. My dissatisfaction has been building for quite some time and is driven principally by--

--astronomical price increases after the local competition is eliminated
--poor customer service occurring right under massive "empowerment to satisfy" counter displays
--limited selection (they'll never have the DTS version of anything except if its on the DD disk)

 

[LennyP]

Thought about it and, just this morning, signed up with Netflix. It feels good to have taken a first step in withdrawing my business from Blockbuster. If Netflix is as good as I've read ('cept for the spamming), we may just dump Blockbuster forever.

It's great that you went for it. I first signed up with a 3DVD $20 plan, then upgraded to 4DVD $25 and now went up to $40 for 8 discs out at a time. I get about 36 discs a month, one for every day at least, and it's the best deal since it's not 2-3 dollars each like with other plans, but just about a buck!
The only problem is they don't have any new releases, except for an indie that I managed to get recently, Storytelling.
So, if you want a new release, you'll have to head on to ballbuster, but go on Tuesday right when new DVDs come out and if you're a gold member (or is it now for any member) you rent one, get one Favorite free, so I always get a new release and then something from a relatively big favorites section and each rental comes out just $2. This is not a promotion and is available since at least 1999 but was Sunday to Thursday, greedy bastards shortened it to Monday-Wednesday only, still, right when new releases come out.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

This is not a promotion and is available since at least 1999 but was Sunday to Thursday, greedy bastards shortened it to Monday-Wednesday only, still, right when new releases come out.

Actually, I am a Gold Rewards Member and still get this free rental Sun-Thurs. My understanding is they also have a regular REWARDS program and that is Mon-Wed.

Where they have gone on the cheap is, when they first started getting a lot of DVD's I could rent a 2-nighter and get any 5-nighter free. A few months ago they restricted that to only include titles on the floor racks (non-new releases) vs. titles on the wall racks (new releases). Before that I could get my free rental from either spot, (Blockbuster doesn't really have FAVORITES on DVD, just VHS, for DVD it's either New Release or Non-New Release).

Anyway, what's bad about this is they are now keeping so many titles on the New Release wall, forever. Just one example, Vertical Limit. I rented this, from BB, in June of 2001 and they still have it as a new release.

Another practice they started is they seem to be keeping movies as 2-nighters a lot longer. For a while they only did this the first 2-3 weeks. Now it is not uncommon to see movies at 2 months since release, and still 2-nighters.

They killed good rental deals, those b@$t@rd$!

 

[Rob Tomlin]

The biggest problem with Netflix, and it has been this way for a long time now, is the fact that they are constantly out of stock on many movie titles.

 

[Paul_Medenwaldt]

asked whether Blockbuster could make any accomodation (on the $4.76 rental cost) for the defective rental the night before.

And if i've had a problem with a disc being defected "i bring in the disc so they can see the problem" and they are more then helpful with replacing the disc and giving a free rental for a future night or reimbursing your account for the defective disc.

Usually if you don't make the employee feel like an idiot, such as giving them the 3rd degree on full screen vs widescreen debate, they are easy to deal with.

Saying that managers at BB should have a understanding of FS vs WS and should be able to communicate the difference. I don't fault the teenagers their though, most of them just want a job and are just happy they are not working at McDonalds.

Paul

 

[Andrew_Sch]

The biggest problem with Netflix, and it has been this way for a long time now, is the fact that they are constantly out of stock on many movie titles.

That's true, but at least they CARRY them and have more than one copy, unlike another certain rental giant. It's always best to keep upcoming releases at the top of your queue so you're first in line. We got Tenenbaums to ship out the day it was released with no problem.

 

[Andy_S]

Actually, Netflix has gotten much better recently. I have a lot of new releases in my queue and are all show In Stock. There are a few hard to find ones that are Out of Stock. Besides, I'm able to do fun stuff like add the AFI Top 100 Movies in my queue and go through the list at my liesure. I have the 4 out at a time plan and 1 of those 4 are AFI movies.

 

[John Telleria]

Netflix has gotten much better recently. I have a lot of new releases in my queue and are all show In Stock.

It must be nice having your dvd's being shipped from a less-busy Netflix distribution center. I also have a lot new releases in my queue and rarely see any of them in stock. About the only time I can get a new release is on the Monday or Tuesday the week a new dvd is released. Like today I was able to get The Time Machine. It's been this way for awhile now. I'm in Arizona and have dvd's being shipped from their Santa Ana, CA distribution center. Availability of new titles seems to have gotten worse when my dvd's started being shipped from Santa Ana instead of San Jose, where they had been coming from. On the positive side, shipment times have been cut a day coming from Santa Ana.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

Well they finally took Vertical Limit off the new release wall. But they still have MADE on the new release wall, hasn't that been out for like at least 9 months?

 

[Dick]

Netflix doesn't have all the desirable titles. They are woefully lacking in the Anchor Bay Hammer releases, for example, and didn't bother to acquire THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MISS JANE PITTMAN or THE CRAWLING EYE, etc. But if you can afford both, also go for Number Slate, which has most everything Netflix doesn't have, but which lacks some titles Netflix offers.