BravesMG

I really do like the impulse aspect of renting in-store. My favorite program was Movie Gallery's "Powerplay" that was rolled out last year. I think it was $30/month or so for unlimited 3-out rentals of both games and movies. I was in there every other day while they had it, then both Movie Gallery locations in my area closed a few months ago.

Gizmo

Same thing happened to me. Except change '06 to '04.

kjdotts

$5 for five-days...is Blockbuster nuts?

When I do rent at a B&M, I always go with my local Family Video. For $9.95/30-days you get unlimited half-off movie rentals. Therefore, old titles are $0.25, most newer and popular titles are $0.50 and new releases are $1.25. Most everything except new releases are five-day rentals, new releases are two-day rentals (but you can upgrade to five-days for I believe $0.50). Even without the $9.95 deal they are still much cheaper than Blockbuster. The selection is better also (at least in my area). They also offer free children and exercise video five-day rentals (up to three at any one time).

We usually will do the $9.95 deal for a month and then wait a few months before doing it again. We rarely rent from the new release section, however, when we return a few months later many of the new release movies have cycled to the cheaper sections. I also frequently get a "Come back to us" type coupon in the mail a few months after my last rental. The coupon is usually for a free two-week half-off membership and one free rental.

Pistol Pete

Try $1/day no minimum and I'll consider it. If we don't watch it immediately, I rip it and return it the next day. Then I delete the copy when we are done with it.

I don't understand the attachment people have to bits.

Abob Teff

I will agree with that ... no self-respecting person would rent from Blockbuster. Wise-man say "If you already have VD, keep seeing the town whore."

And yes ... I worked there too. Between the completely out-of-touch corporate mentality and the sociopath that I worked for, it was one of the worst places I ever worked. If it weren't for the customers, it would have been the worst.

calhoun07

Here's a detail that's being left out in most of the communication about this...

Say you rent the movie for 4 days for $4.00 and keep it a few extra days and accrue the $1.00 per day fee on your account. And say you don't pay it the same day you return the movie. Now, under the new plan, your credit card will be charged for that balance on your account the SAME DAY.

And if you let something sell to your account and return it after the 10 day period to return it for a full refund, you will get store credit for those items ONLY. So if somebody has three games that sell to their account, their bank account will be out $180.00 for the three games (if they are new $60.00 games) and if they wait past ten days to return them they will only get the store credit. NO REFUNDS to their bank account.

The company is going under, and going under FAST.

Oh...and they are doing away with the Rewards Card program. Current members will have their benefits until they expire but there will come a point they won't be able to renew any more. And ALL Gold Rewards members have their accounts expire at the end of May. Blockbuster is no longer providing them with free Rewards accounts to say "thank you" for being the top 2% of their renters and their years of loyalty.

jfoobar

Guys, BB charged ~$5 for most of the movies people rent last week as well (at least in my area), at least in my area. Yeah, for that $5 you could keep it longer than 5 days, but I doubt most people bother to do that. They take it home, watch it and return it within a few days.

On those rare occasions that I rent from BB, I go for a new release I am too impatient to wait for Netflix on. This new pricing won't affect me at all. $5 for catalog titles seems a bit steep though.

jpb07

They were greating people at the door this morning and verbally conveying the new info. I couldn't resist to make a crack back pointing out the desperation in the move. I doubt this company sees Black Friday at this rate.

I got screwed a bit....I have free game rental coupons for March and April that I received before the change went into place. Instead of the terms in effect, I'm screwed out of a rental day since they are 4 days now. The girl pointed out that paid rentals are cheaper since they are 4 days for 6.99 now with $1 extra per day rather than 5 for 8.99....and that the due time is midnight instead of noon.

Should have seen the auto charge to the card screwjob coming last month when they were rechecking everyone's cards. As just about any of us could have projected, this change is essentially the return of late fees justified by comparing the $1 per day Redbox model.

The store credit bit is a lawsuit waiting to happen...but by the time it works through the system, BB will be no more. Theoretically couldn't you dispute the charge with your card company?

OscarBluth

Because you went to the flagship Blockbuster location where the opening shift employees wrote this new company policy? I bet they couldn't stop texting their friends about how clever your crack was.

calhoun07

Theoretically, yes. You would would be signing any forms of affidavits they require you to fill it out, but yes. Obviously Blockbuster has enough legal verbiage in their membership forms that pretty much say you will be charged for those items on your credit card, so you did authorize it. But if you want to go ahead and dispute it, it's within your right as a consumer and under Federal regulations (Reg E for those curious.) Then it's no longer between you and the bank or the bank and Blockbuster...the issue is now between just you and Blockbuster. Whether or not they want to invest the time to prove you authorized the charges is their call, but I would think it would be a long shot.

whotony

If I have time tomorrow I'll scan all the paper work I was given on this and see if I can post it here.
From what I see there, you have up to 30 days after autosale to return, then at that point it is only store credit.

"Member have 10 days from autosale to return items and recieve a refund to any or check cad charged (less any additional daily rates accrued) or 30 days from the auto-sale to recieve store credit back to their BBV account (less any additonal daily rates accrued). Members will not be charged a $1.25 restocking fee."

calhoun07

Why are they even still bringing up the "restocking fee?" They haven't charged that in quite a while.

whotony

How's that?
corp stores were still doing that for any disc that was returned within 10 days of it selling to the customer.

jpb07

Not at all...I guess I would have kept my big mouth shut if they weren't trying to sell this new steaming pile of shit as the best thing to every happen in rental history. I just made the comment to the effect of all this will do is give them an extra month or two until they go to way of Circuit City.

I personally have had no problem with BB stores in the past...never ran into issues with their policies or what not. In fact the only problem I've ever had with the company is when they "expelled" my online membership because I was renting too much back in the days of unlimited in-store returns which didn't count against your "movies out." (I think at my peak I rented roughly 50 movies in one month....and 2 games.)

jpb07

That sounds about right. I remember back in my college days they tried to charge my card for late fees. (Made the mistake of trusting my now-wife's friends to return 4 movies.) I disputed it, they sent me a little card to remind me of the fees, and I just opened a new account at the store across town.

whotony

Can't do that anymore.

Heat

Have you ever checked out Family Video's pricing?

$1 for two old titles for five days
$3 for older TV shows, per season, for five days
$1 for one "newer" old titles for five days

New releases are normally $2.30 for one night, or $2.80 for three nights. New releases would be anything released in the past few months, including TV shows by the disk. Blu-Ray new releases are $4.30 for one night, $4.80 for three nights if I remember right. I don't think they have any Blu-Rays of older movies yet.

All movies are due back by midnight. If you are late it is as if you had rented it again for the same amount of time, thus a newer old movie ("nearly new") would be $1 for another five nights.

It's all about volume. Get those movies out at a reasonable price rather than renting a few at a high price. There was a time when this town had three Blockbusters and three Hollywood Videos. Family Video came along and literally drove them out of business with their more competitive pricing. Now there are no Blockbusters and I think one Hollywood Video is hanging on, and this is in a town of 115,000 people.

I appreciate that Blockbuster is trying to make their movie pricing system easier to follow, but $5 to rent an older release is nuts.

dino88

^I think it's $3.85 for a blu-ray here. Just a dollar more than a new release dvd (plus that weird nickle).

Games are also a much better value. $7 for 5 nights, whereas Blockbuster charges $9 for 4 nights. I always get the monthly half off discount ($10), so games are only $3.50 for 5 nights. Older games are rent one, get one free.

The only thing I use Blockbuster for any more is buying used dvds and games when they are running a good promotion. Needless to say, they have been getting very little cash from me lately.

calhoun07

You can if your driver's license number is different than the DL you used to set up the account. The only way the system can search other stores is with the DL number.

And the other key is the DL number has to be keyed in EXACTLY the way the CSR typed it in when they set up your account. So if your DL number had spaces or dashes in between numbers and the CSR typed in each dash or space and they try to find it without putting in the spaces, they won't find your other account and you can go on renting.

So, basically, YMMV.

calhoun07

Well, I live in Kansas City and I guess this was a test market area for the new pricing (daily/five day plans) and they did away with restocking fees about a year ago here. I had no idea that wasn't nationwide until recently.

btbrossard

I think the Stalins over at BlockBuster take DNA samples now.

whotony

calhoun07

Dude, they haven't even gotten away from 90's DOS based operating systems. It's a wonder of technology for them to even locate an account in their master data base with the ID number.

tasha99

This caught me by surprise. I went to BB a few days ago to rent The Office season 3. It was 4 discs and they wanted $20!!!! It's $12 on half.com for a used copy that I can keep forever. I basically laughed and walked out of the store with nothing. No plans to go back.

maxfisher

It's amazing that an organization the size of Blockbuster can look at the competitive landscape, with Netflix, Redbox, low dvd/blu-ray prices, etc., and think that a $5/5 night model is in any way viable. It's so astoundingly idiotic that you almost have to wonder if the company's executive team is a bunch of undergrads working for course credit.