Blockbuster late fee

[missyc]

As you all know we have had some bad weather in FL causing some unexpected closures for schools, businesses, etc.
Well today I got a notice in the mail from Blockbuster on something that was due back the day after Frances rolled through. They were closed that day! I returned them the next morning.
I called the store and told them all this and they fixed my account. Fine. Except that I wonder how many people don't realize that this was that day and just pay the fee. Everytime a storm is coming the shelves are completely wiped clean. Even the old movies were pretty much gone.
Anyway, just had to gripe about it for the poor people who don't remember (especially with so much going on) and will pay that fine. It's less than $5 for the fine, but could sure add up for that store.
By the way, this is a franchise store whose policies suck anyways! I usually drive past it to go to a different Blockbuster.

 

[disney4us2002]

I'm not sure what you mean by franchise. All of ours stink as far as policies; I figured it was a hq thing. I hate that all movies and games are due back by noon. That is just a big pain in the tushie because really that means return them the night before as the morning of is out of the way (for dh) and difficult for me to get to with all my daycare kiddos. I remember getting the late fee waived once for terrible snow but that was the only time. I bet they make half their profit from late fees!!

 

[KarenC]

I read once that Blockbuster revenues include $750,000,000 a year from their late fees!

 

[Figment22]

I hate that all movies and games are due back by noon. [/B]

A few months ago our local Blockbuster changed its due time from noon to midnight. I like it much better now. I also haven't brought anything back near midnight, but if the store is closed and you just drop the DVD in the box, how do they know if it's past midnight I don't think there's any sort of timer on the drop box.

 

[Beth76]

I'm not sure how it works at Blockbuster, but I used to work in the video dept of a grocery store. We had to do something special with the returns in order to reflect an unscheduled store close. It's quite possible that they do the same thing and it just didn't happen with your account. I wouldn't be so quick to assume that they're taking advantage of people.

 

[Nickunited]

Blockbuster is very expensive!

 

[princesspumpkin]

The late fees used to bug me too. Now, I take advantage of their $24.99/month offer of unlimited rentals (2 at a time). No more late fees.

 

[ZachnElli]

I moved over the summer 1200 miles and I've learned they don't all have the same policies. I loved our old Blockbuster. We had a bad snowstorm and I didn't get it back on the day we had the storm but the next day. When I rented the next time and they reminded me of the late fee, I casually mentioned that was the day of the storm and I wasn't driving in it, they took it off my account. I didn't ask for them to do that or even expect them to do that. Also, after new releases had been out for a couple of weeks, you can keep them for a week, but our new Blockbuster doesn't do that. It's still the 2 day rental. I can't get them back that fast, I'll go to Hollywood Video instead for the 5 day rentals.

 

[snoopy]

If I counted up all the late fees I've paid over the years.....oh, I couldn't do it, it would depress me too much.

This is why I love netflix!

 

[Goofball]

I highly recommend www.netflix.com. I know I'll never set foot in Blockbuster again since I subscribed to it. It's great!

 

[ryansmom]

No fans of Blockbuster here! They regularly mail us late notice post cards even though we returned on time. So when my dh calls them they say "No, problem. It happens all the time. We'll take it off your account." Geesh, all the time?

 

[QueenTrident]

The late fees used to bug me too. Now, I take advantage of their $24.99/month offer of unlimited rentals (2 at a time). No more late fees.

We did too, until they forgot to renew us and wanted to charge more than $50 in late fees for a few movies we had out. I fought with them for about an hour over it.

 

[amid chaos]

I got so sick of Blockbuster several years ago that i cut up my card right there in the store....I have not been in the store since.

 

[Micca]

We used to rent from Blockbuster every weekend. Over time, we have built up such a library of DVDs(almost all Disney) that we enjoy watching what we already own. Our BBuster was always super nice and knew a lot about movies.