Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Blockbuster's "No Late Fee" policy = SCAM

my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

»	Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE » Community » Film-Yak » Blockbuster's "No Late Fee" policy = SCAM (Page 2)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2

Author

Topic: Blockbuster's "No Late Fee" policy = SCAM

Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 07-10-2005 11:03 PM

One day rentals kick ass! I remember going to video game shops back in the days of the 16-bit and even 32-bit gaming. I could almost always find what I wanted. If not, it would be returned soon. I rented tons and tons of games. Now you rent the game for a week. Good luck finding what you want to play. Plus Blockbuster rarely puts up more than one copy of each game. This makes it very difficult to find the game that you'd want to try before you buy. So these days people must resort to downloading games instead of renting them to see if their $50 would be well spent. And once they're downloaded, you have them forever, so no need to buy them. Blockbuster has singlehandedly increased piracy thirtysevenfold.

| IP: Logged

Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 07-10-2005 11:25 PM

quote: Adam Wilbert
Bobby, you sound angry about something...

I'm angry there is no Santa.

No, not really. My idea about calling the restocking fee "asshole tax" is just calling it what it really is. I do things at times where I'm being an asshole. If I forget I had a rental DVD in my house for nearly a month, I'd happily pay the $1.25. That's getting off cheap -even if they called it "asshole tax." At least I didn't have to pay for nearly a month's worth of rental late charges, which might be more than what the DVD itself is worth.

On the Netflix thing, I do agree Blockbuster's campaign sounded like the Netflix model. I even thought of Netflix the first time I saw the Blockbuster's "no more late fees" commercial. Still, I always figured there had to be a catch. It just sounded too good to be true. And even if Netflix' business model actually works, I'm not sure how they make any money off of it. Somehow the subscription fee has to balance out the equation of a single DVD disc perhaps taking a couple years worth of rentals to pay for itself.

I didn't think of the positive cash flow, compounding interest angle favoring Blockbuster.

quote:
But, not fully disclosing the terms of a new agreement to your customer(s) then using THEIR money to pad your bank account is playing dirty pool!

Agreed. That is dirty pool, especially when the campaign sounds too good to be true.

| IP: Logged

Bruce Hansen
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 847
From: Stone Mountain, GA, USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 07-13-2005 12:27 PM

I think that at least part of the problem, is that some people will believe what ever they want to, without checking the facts. They hear just a part of something, make the rest up in their heads, and then blindly believe it all. I have said, for many years now, that we should teach classes in school, about not believing something that you hear, just because it is what you want to believe; CHECK THE FACTS. There are a lot of people out there that will use this failing, to get people to believe things that are just not true. If your information is faulty, you WILL make a bad decision.

| IP: Logged

Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 07-13-2005 06:25 PM

quote: Bobby Henderson
I'm angry there is no Santa.

Wait.... are you saying there is NO SANTA??!? [Confused]

| IP: Logged

Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 07-13-2005 10:36 PM

quote: Bruce Hansen
There are a lot of people out there that will use this failing, to get people to believe things that are just not true.

That's what we have an Attorney General's Office for.

It's unfortunate that our Attorneys General have to spend so much of their time protecting people from scams like this instead of more important things.

What's more unfortunate is the fact that it's not illegal to take negative interest loans from your customers without telling them. That's just plain WRONG! [Mad]

| IP: Logged

Matt Fields
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 545
From: Ohio, United States
Registered: Jun 2005

posted 07-14-2005 08:37 AM

quote: Randy Stankey
Even if they only get 1% interest it still adds up to $300,000 per month.

Bank interest rates are based on years, not months, so 1% APR on 30,000,000 would yield about 25,000 a month - 300,000 a year. You could do a little better depending on how it compounds. They could do better then 1% in some money market funds though.

Lots of businesses make interest off of customers money. I don't find anything wrong with it. That is exactly how a bank works.

The dirty thing Blockbuster did was say there were no "late fees" when there are, they just choose not to call them "late fees".

| IP: Logged

Jeremy Jorgenson
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1002
From: Chicago, IL, USA
Registered: Feb 2005

posted 12-18-2005 02:37 PM

From IMDB's Movie/TV News - 16 December 2005

found here: http://us.imdb.com/news/sb/2005-12-16/#4

quote: IMDB
Blockbuster Admits Some Stores Have Ended No-Late-Fee Policy

On the heels of reports that attorneys general in Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee are looking to allegations that some Blockbuster franchise stores have begun charging late fees again without notifying customers, Blockbuster issued a statement on Thursday acknowledging that about 160 of its 515 franchisees have dropped the "no late fees" policy. The company said that the independent stores had done so because they could not afford to buy the inventory needed to allow customers to keep the rented movies for lengthy periods of time.

| IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2

Printer-friendly view of this topic

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.