If you think a Blockbuster manager is a leader within our society ... well, I just don't know what to say...

Kudos for the signature thing.

Yeah, I'm kinda miffed about how someone whines about what is wrong with society by taking the side of a liar.

Look, what happened to this guy sucks. No person in the world should ever be treated like this at a Blockbuster. Such a large corporation should treat their customers like gold. Instead, they dick you in the ass, just like Best Buy. Most places don't care for customers who ask questions that make them think, or carry out sophisticated tasks. I wouldn't have shouted, or carried on that long, but if it's their policy, I would've tried to use the gift certificate for sure. I just hate stupid people, and stupid people who lie. Sorry....

What you say is true, but it's also hindsight on your part. I'm sure chanster wouldn't have done business at this store if he knew the guy was going to lie to him and give me a hard time. He only found out what a jerk he was when he tried to pricematch according to the policy posted in the store.

Funk,

Please don't take my quote out of context and try to make it sound like something that it isn't. I never stated that a Blockbuster manager is a leader within our society. What you could say is... "I'm sorry for getting my facts wrong."

Hey didn't you hear?

The customer is always wrong.

Yeah, the guy lied, and it was definitely wrong for him to carry on his charade. That doesn't make your actions correct though. You called CC and proved him a liar. You could've announced loudly that the manager was a liar and walked out. I'm sure there's more than 1 Blockbuster in the Chicago area you could've gone to after that to use the card.

Creating a scene with a shouting match only took away whatever victory you had for exposing the manager as a liar. He may be a liar, but to everyone else in the store you looked like a jackass. You sold your dignity for $5. That pricematch is a pyrrhic victory at best. Instead, not only did you expose him as a liar, you exposed your own immaturity and lack of self control as well.

I didn't want to spend MORE of my time to go to a difference blockbuster and get in the same argument. I wanted the movie at the $14.99. I don't see a problem with causing a confrontation. I don't care how other people view me.

You still have a GC that has to be cashed at a Blockbuster at some point. Or you can stick to your guns and never cash it. Either way, I don't see how Blockbuster lost your business. They already have the money from the GC and you said you don't shop at BB.

But maybe the view I have isn't the same as yours.....

:thumbsup:

Have customer's rights gone so far down the tube that we're worried about being ARRESTED for disputing policy? :jawdrop:

His Blockbuster didn't say that they didn't price match or that they didn't price match that particular title. They said that the CC sale was over. Which is wasn't. End of story.

Seriously, I don't see anything in chanster's description that even implies that police intervention would have been appropriate. Frankly, if a store threatened to call the cops on me for attempting a price match, I'd say "bring it on". And I'd be making three calls on my cell phone while waiting -- to the local news, to BB corporate headquarters, and to my attorney.


If BB wants to give customers a headache, they have to be prepared to get it right back.

Starting a shouting match in a public store, no matter how right you feel you are, is disturbing the peace. This isn't a matter of store policy, but rather if they did call the cops it would be because the person was breaking the law and acting like an idiot.

Oh, and if you really think a call to the local news would net you anything, good luck. I worked in one of the smallest towns on the face of the earth and even there a shouting match/disturbing the peace at a Blockbuster wouldn't warrant any time. And if they did somehow care to cover it, the person making the disturbance would appear more in the wrong I think.

One question that bugs me, has anybody considered that someone at Circuit City screwed up and gave this guy the wrong information? I'm not trying to stand up for someone at Blockbuster, but everybody has jumped to conclusions that he lied. Are you trying to tell me some Circuit City worker couldn't have possibly made a mistake and then the second time around a different worker was reached by phone? Seems just as likely to me.

Yelling at each other like little boys? Psht. You should have bottled your anger, and came back with a baseball bat. Yelling accomplishes nothing.

Of course that's possible. But when chanster called on his cell phone and got a clerk who knew the correct price (which was $14.99) and the Blockbuster manager heard this, the Blockbuster manager REFUSED to make the pricematch. The shouting match started AFTER this incident.

The Blockbuster manager could have easily said, "This store is independently-owned and we don't pricematch" or some other nonsense, but he didn't. It sounds like he decided not to follow store policy on his own whim. Why bother having a store policy...or any store rules for that matter if the manager can arbitarily change them?

(Suppose you rented a DVD which was very popular and you were late returning it. Is it okay for the manger to say: "You know. We've been waiting for this DVD to be returned. People have been waiting to rent it. I'm going to triple your late fee because a lot of people were upset that they couldn't rent it because you were so deliquent in bringing it back. I think that's only fair because you inconvenienced so many people."?)

Most people feel foolish after being involved in a "shouting match", but sometimes just giving an idiot a good tongue-lashing feels good--it dissipates your frustration instead of resorting to the above mentioned baseball bat. (And it's kind of fun for the spectators in the store who just came in to pick up a boring movie.)

I hate blockbuster. They are everything that is wrong with a "chain" store. Hire and promote kids that have no business running a retail store front. Pay like shit, so you get shit for service.

I started my website 3 years ago, and it's plenty of pissed off BBV employees that visit, but they are the first ones to tell you, either BBV sucks or some of the employees are ok, but MOST suck.

I work part time at Best Buy and you should hear some of the crap the reps send customers through sometimes to get a price match. Calling the store, waiting on hold for what seems like an eternity, wating to see if its in stock, holding up the line, etc.

In a big city like Chicago, with dozen of locations, which CC, or BB does the person call to check? The closest one? Their favorite?
It's a BS procedure.

That being said, I think the manager was being a fellatiosaurus rectus for not doing the price match and then presumably LYING about it. Would I have been pissed? You're damn right. Would I have got into a shouting match? See below :)

I was tempted to do the same thing when Best Buy (before I started working there) refused to price match CC. However, because I'm a big (6'5", 240 lb) black man, and I was in Schaumburg, (and I've seen how the cops react to similiar situations) I let discretion prove the better part of valor. I went to Target and PM'd with NO incident.

:)

Chanster, that's funny, reminds me of my experience at Blockbuster (in Chicago) a few years back. We had credit that we wanted to use to rent some dvds, went up to check out, the person behind the register says their computers were down and can't process the credit.

Told us we would have to pay cash. Well, we told him we didn't think we would need cash because we have the credit so we happened to not have enough with us.

He went to ask some other employees. In the background, an employee snickers "tell them to go to a atm". I was furious but I'm not one to argue with fools, if I am going to argue I would with someone with intelligence.

This was a Saturday night and we were planning on watching a movie but instead we left and never stepped in another Blockbuster again.

The thing that a lot of people seem to be missing, is that by sticking to his guns, Chanster got what he wanted. He he left, he would have had a GC that he didn't want, and no movie.

This manager sounded like a jerk, I think we can all agree on that. By letting everyone in the store know he was a liar and walking out, Chanster would have gained nothing. By being firm, he got what he deserved.

As for shopping being a privalage, that's a bunch of crap. It's a public store, he has to serve everyone. If I opened up a store, but refused to rent videos to black people, that would be against the law. You can not pick and choose who you serve. Remember, the manager admitted that they had a price match policy, he just arbitrarily refused to honor it. That is not right.

-Videophile

Sounds like a Chicago thing. While watching the "cursed" Cubbies lose to the Marlins, we were discussing how the people of Chicago are stereotyped (unfairly?) as being overly aggressive. So, is this shouting match just normal behavior for the area? We are, after all, just products of our environment :)

Videophile, it's one thing to be firm and "stick to your gun" but it's a whole other thing to start a shouting match in a public place over $5. You can stick to your guns, be firm and still be polite. Stooping down the manager's level is just sad and uneccessary. But if a person's dignity is worth $5, who am I to argue?

What's funny about this story is that it's over THE LION KING. Not Pulp Fiction, not Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but the friggin' Lion King! Please...god please...tell me that this WASN'T a purchase for a child!

"Daddy, tell me again how you got me this DVD!"

No, it's actually not a load of crap. Please post where in the Constitution or Bill of Rights it states that shopping is a right. A public store (or any other business for that matter) most definitely does not have to serve anyone. Whoever told you this is wrong.

Yes, you cannot discriminate against a customer because of their race, religion , handicap or sexual orientation, but just about anything else is fair game. In fact, there are more laws allowing a store to trespass or otherwise ban you from shopping there than there are laws protecting your 'right' to shop there. A store is private property, you have no rights to be there.

Some restaurants and clubs have dress codes that prohibit who can and can't enter, for example. All business have the right to refuse service to anyone they choose, for any reason, aside from race, religion, physical ability or sexual orientation. Shoppiing is a privelage, not a right. You are not entitled to shop.

You should have shot his dog!

renaldow, thanks for the back-up.

If you think shopping is a right, try walking into a store like Nordstrom's wearing a giant diaper, socks, shoes and a shirt and see how much of a right you have to shop.

I'm surprised you've never seen the sign in most places that state, "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone." Period. A store manager can refuse to price match if he wants. Having been on this forum for a few years, I can not recall the number of stories about managers following/not following company guidelines/procedures.

The end result is the same. No two stores are alike. No two managers or employees are alike. Policies will be interpeted 30 different ways by 30 different people. And no where in any law in any state in this country does it say that you have a right to shop any where you want.

My only disagreement with this thread's author is that he allowed himself to get into a shouting match with the store employees. He would have said more by taking his money elsewhere than by shouting.

Wait a minute...
 

Thats what I hate. Cartoons are NOT JUST FOR CHILDREN! Why is it when its an animated feature its automatically kiddie fare gimme a break? I have a lot of disney animated films, and I HAVE NO KIDS. I do agree that the person who argued over the 5 bucks is raising his blood pressure for nothing, but please get rid of that mentality that cartoons are just for kids please.

BBV is eeeeeeeeevil!