Written by Anthony Burch
I worked for Blockbuster Video for the better part of six months. I was used at several different stores as a shift manager, and had to deal with many, many different kinds of customers. While the job was criminally easy at times, I came to despise the job, the corporation, and the customers who gave it money.
As a way of exorcising the demons in my video rental past, I now present my completely unbiased and totally honest list of the ten biggest lies Blockbuster Video tells their customers.
10. “Sorry, I can’t do that”
If you tell a Blockbuster employee to credit something off your account, or change your payment method after he’s already confirmed it, or one of any number of irritating special requests one could possibly make to an employee, he will more than likely tell you that he is sorry, but the computer system will not allow him to do that.
This is untrue.
While Blockbuster still uses a Point of Sale computer system that is literally more than twenty years old (abbreviated, appropriately enough, to “P.O.S.”), it still allows the average BB clerk to do pretty much anything that could conceivably need to be done. The reason for his refusal to comply with your request is relatively simple: he is personally angry at your stupidity or dishonesty (keeping a videogame out for six days, then coming back and demanding a refund because it didn’t have an instruction manual) and feels it should not be positively reinforced.
No matter what your problem is, the average BB clerk can, technically, solve it – but the more complicated it is, the less he or she will actually want to. Hypothetically, refusing a customer any sort of service would be a no-no in the world of customer service, but given that an average BB computer looks like some sort of hacker workstation to the average citizen (blue screens, no mice, keys that make a satisfyingly loud noise when they are punched) , the Blockbuster employee is easily able to blame everything he can’t or won’t do on the computer system. Hopefully, the average consumer will not realize the full extend of what the POS system can do, and will have no choice but to accept the employee’s assertion that it is the computer, and not the employee, that is being unhelpful – which leads us straight into number 9.
9. “The computers lock down five minutes before closing time – we can’t do anything about it”
I heard this lie from the coolest manager I ever worked with – a guy with a vanity license plate reading “WOOKIEE” and a son with the middle name “Vader.” He hated customers even more than I did, and he used the above lie as a foolproof way of ending the night early. It is, of course, total bullshit, but it’s a damned good lie.
Promising that the computers will automatically lock down sounds absurd enough to be true, and technical enough to dissuade the unwashed masses from questioning it further. Also, the customers are forced to action: if you don’t hurry the fuck up and find a movie that will fit whatever mood you’re in at 1:00 in the morning, the system will shut down and you won’t get anything. The customers leave faster, the store closes earlier (thus preventing possible last-minute robberies), and the staff get to go home sooner. This lie, all things considered, contributes to a win-win-win situation.
8. “Sorry, the restroom is broken”
Seriously, it’s not. The restroom is unhygienic, disused, and probably caked in several layers of bodily fluids, but it is still technically functional. The reason BB staff lock their restrooms and tell customers the plumbing is broken is because the restroom is the one place in the entire store where the staff cannot see you.
As a result of this fact, restrooms are the perfect place to steal shit: during my time at Blockbuster, thieves often grabbed DVDs or videogame hardware, stuffed them into their pants, and entered the bathroom. Inside, they literally had all the time they wanted to remove the numerous security strips and magnetic locks affixed to every piece of merchandise.
One female customer in particular took her baby into the restroom with her and removed the packaging for an Xbox 360 controller, a new DVD copy of Gridiron Gang, and a copy of InStyle before stuffing all three items into her purse. Everyone working the shift that night obviously knew what the woman had done, but we were powerless to stop her thanks to lie number seven:
7. “Theft is bad”
Like many other corporate chains (Target and Wal-mart come to mind), Blockbuster must appear to despise shoplifting in all its shapes and forms, whilst doing pretty much nothing to stop it.
If you stuff eighteen DVDs, a Grand Theft Auto strategy guide, and a box of Red Vines into a backpack and walk out, congratulations – you’ve just committed the perfect crime. Even if the metal detector by the door goes off on your way out, you’re fine. Even if the security camera catches your face, you’re fine. Even if DVDs are literally poking out of your dungarees at the feet and waist, and even if every step you make is punctuated by the loud, repeated clapping of plastic case against plastic case, and even if an employee personally comes up to you and asks to see all the items you are carrying, once you leave the store you’ll still spend the rest of your arrest-free night watching your stolen copy of Red Dawn.
Blockbuster employees are trained not to stop, accuse, or pursue criminals, no matter what. This is partially for legal reasons (if a Blockbuster employee accuses a thief of stealing as per company policy and the thief shoots him, Blockbuster can be held accountable), but partially because Blockbuster doesn’t want to waste its time getting in battles with every two-bit pickpocket in the US. In the same way that videogame companies tend not to crack down on pirates, so too does Blockbuster ignore theft. Literally the only situation in which a Blockbuster employee can take any action against a thief is if the thief confesses to attempting to steal something. The BB theft response system quite literally punishes honesty – if someone admits to having stolen something, the employee is to immediately call the police and wait with the thief until their arrival, at which point said thief will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Yeah, that‘ll fucking teach him to fess up and apologize.
6. “Sorry, we don’t have that movie – I’ll call the other store and check if they have it”
There’s nobody on the other line, dude. Yeah, you saw me look up the phone number for another store, and you probably watched me dial some numbers, but I actually just called my cell phone. You might think I’m talking to another Blockbuster employee over at 19th Avenue and Union Hills, but I’m just speaking over the sound of my voicemail message, making occasional pauses to heighten the realism before disappointedly sighing, hanging up, and pronouncing, “Nah, I guess they don’t have it. Sorry.”
If you’d asked for a better movie I probably would have really checked, but you didn’t, so I didn’t.
5. “Yeah, we’re big movie buffs”
While under the employ of the Blockbuster Corporation, I worked at no less than six different stores in the greater Phoenix area. And in all my time, I did not run into a single store manager who had seen any of the following movies:
-City of God
-Fight Club
-The Wild Bunch
-Gone with the Wind
-Citizen Kane
-Casablanca
-THE FUCKING GODFATHER
On my first day, my store manager asked me what my favorite movie was. After responding, “Blade Runner” and watching her nod in faux-understanding, I asked her what her favorite movie was. She replied, “Rumor Has It.”
In retrospect, I should have quit right there.
When I later asked her why she hadn’t seen any movies of historical or artistic significance, she used these exact words:
“Gas station attendants don’t need to know how to work an oilrig, do they?”
No, but they do need to know the goddamned difference between unleaded and diesel. Jesus.
4. “No, I won’t write down stuff you say to me and then repost it on the Internet”
“Did you like Terminator 3?” -An employee
“Uh, maybe if I’d never seen Terminator 1 or 2.” -Me
“What? You didn’t-“
“You’re talking about comparing a decent action movie to two of the best action movies ever made.”
“What’s my favorite action movie? That’s a good question, I’ve never thought about that.”
“?I didn’t ask-“
“Probably Blade 2.”
“?”
“Is it possible to understand Road House 2 even if I haven’t seen the original?” -A customer
“-Are you from Pakistan?”- 50 year old, balding customer with glasses and a pedo-smile
“I-what?” -Me
“Your ethnicity, are you from Pakistan?”
“Uh, sort of.”
“Oh, I thought so. You ever thought about modelling?”
“?What.”
“You’ve got a real face for it.”
“I-“
“-Yeah, my son in law does it. Makes a pretty good living off it. You’ve got a face for it, I can tell you.”
“Uh, if you need anything else, let me-“
“-And you don’t have to be gay to do it, either.“
“IFYOUNEEDANYTHINGELSEJUSTLETMEKNOW”
“Is this Final Fantasy Seven? The one with the V, and the two lines?” -An employee
3. “There are no late fees”
Perhaps the biggest marketing move in Blockbuster’s history has been the so-called abolishment of late fees. While, technically, there is no longer a service charge referred to as a “late fee” at any Blockbuster store on the planet, there are plenty of other small fees and price changes to make up for it.
Firstly, rentals themselves are now more expensive than ever: in Arizona, a movie rental costs 5 bucks, and a game rental costs 9. In states like California or New York, I assume some sort of first-born bartering system is used.
Secondly, there is a late fee if you keep a movie a week past its suggested due date: the $1.25 charge is referred to as a “restocking fee,” but trust me – it’s a late fee. There is nothing in the process of returning a movie from the night drop to the store shelves that costs even the smallest amount of money; if the $1.25 is truly financing “restocking,” I have to wonder where that money is going. I sure as hell didn’t see any of it.
Thirdly, the tradeoff with late fees if that if you keep a movie for a month past its suggested due date, you have to buy it. This is probably the most reasonable aspect of the no late fees policy, and is therefore the one frequently argued against by deadbeats who refuse to return copies of Fast and the Furious 2 within a reasonable period of time.
2. “Blockbuster Online is better than Netflix”
Every Blockbuster Online mailer counts as a coupon for a free instore rental. It’s a pretty good deal, admittedly, but the problem is that it’s a wholly temporary one: while Blockbuster Online’s current monthly fee is pretty much on par with Netflix’s, it won’t stay like that for long.
Blockbuster Online was created solely to steal Netflix’s online rental idea and drive them out of business: as such, if/when Netflix is bankrupted by Blockbuster Online’s Bauman-esque ripoff artistry, Blockbuster Online will raise its prices significantly, and probably get rid of the whole “free instore rental” thing. Thanks to the combination of No Late Fees and the Blockbuster Online free rentals, the BB Corporation is losing money – once their main source of competition is gone, they’ll do whatever necessary to get that cash back.
1. “Yeah, that’s a really good movie”
If there is only one thing you need to know about Blockbuster, it is this: the movie you are renting, or the movie that was suggested to you by an overweight female clerk who has had two husbands, one child, and half a dozen miscarriages, will not be good.
The fault for this does not completely lie on either employee or customer, but weighs equally on both parties.
As mentioned earlier, Blockbuster employees, for the most part, know next to nothing about movies. As such, their recommendations will be at best useless and at worst harmful: whichever new release has the prettiest cover will likely be the one immediately recommended by the manager on duty.
On the other hand, the vast majority of those who frequent the shelves of Blockbuster Video are slobbering, slack-jawed idiots who harbor no true love for cinema, no desire to probe deep questions about life, and no ability to enjoy something that might require the slightest bit of effort. In one respect, I can understand this: these people have worked hard during their day jobs – why shouldn’t be allowed to relax and escape with some harmless Hollywood entertainment?
The problem arises in what they watch. Relax and escape, yeah, but at the very least adopt some goddamned standards. If you’re looking for a comedy, don’t rent Phat Girlz. If you want a drama, don’t get anything with Ben Affleck. And for the love of God, do not rent something just because it is new.
I literally cannot tell you how many people come to Blockbuster on a daily basis, just so they can rent the new releases. Not because they’re interested in them. Not because they look good. Simply because they are new.
And while they spend their time and money on dreck like Behind Enemy Lines II and The Break-Up, these people literally refuse to anything that:
-Was made before 1995
-Comes from a different country, even an English-speaking one
-Might be mentally or emotionally disturbing
-Has subtitles
-Has voice-over narration (I literally talked to a customer who didn’t like any movie that had voice-over narration: that’s like fucking saying you don’t like movies with a number in the title)
Of course, there are always those precious few customers who actually want something different, but they are extremely rare. And by the time they show up, most Blockbuster employees are already burned out: my first few months on the job, I tried to expand people’s movie vocabulary by exposing them to unusual fare like Oldboy, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Brick, and so on, but my efforts were all for naught. The things I recommended to customers were either immediately returned to the shelf once I left their field of vision, or watched on a whim and then endlessly complained about (“the pedophilia stuff in Hard Candy was so gross that I had to turn it off after ten minutes”). It literally gets to the point where, as an employee, you don’t want to share good films with customers because, in the words of one of my old co-workers, “they don’t deserve them.”
This attitude snowballs into a general loathing of all Blockbuster customers, and then all consumers, and then all of humanity in general.
Long story short, I was fired from Blockbuster for calling a female customer a “cunt.”
She was totally acting like one, though.
You forgot to include the fact that they edit movies with objectionable content and don’t tell you about it. At least, I’m assuming they still do that–I know they did as of a few years ago when I stopped going there. That’s right, you’d walk into Blockbuster, pull a movie off the shelf thinking it actually was the whole movie–and if you’d never see it before you might never know–but the movie might have a scene cut or shortened to remove content that the bible-thumpers in Dallas HQ objected to. Directors originally hemmed and hawed over this, but the production companies reigned supreme in their recognition of the huge amounts of lost revenue if BB didn’t carry the movie in their store.
I will also take this opportunity to bitch about the fact that, years ago when I actually used to go there, I returned a movie two days late… four weeks later, I got a letter from a collection agency for the $6 or whatever the late charge was. I hadn’t been in the store, so hadn’t had an opportunity to settle my debt… But did BB call me or send a polite letter reminding me? Nope… straight to a collection agency… for six-freakin-dollars!
Hard Candy, great movie 🙂 anyone who can’t appreciate the awesome irony of the movie sucks ass, just wanted to say that since I came across this blog while googleing (Hard Candy KeyChains) which I still haven’t found…interesting stuff to know though, thanks for the info! 🙂
So completely true… I worked there for about the same amount of time… People would refuse to rent Hero because they could not be bothered to take the two damned seconds to turn on the English dubbing… However, one thing I will say for fairness’ sake, they eventually modified the P.O.S. so that many credits could not be done without some type of supervisor approval… However, supervisor login was immediately revealed the moment they got sick of entering it for you, see the second credit of the day… Brings back horrible horrible memories… You are awesome.
Rodiskull is right. The POS P.O.S. system needs manager approval to issue credits.
I’ve never tried the “computers automatically shut down” lie… nor have a tired calling my cell phone instead of a different store.
Damn… I hate calling other stores for movies. I might just do that.
BB online officially jacked up their prices day before yesterday. If you want the same service, its now 24.99 for “premium members.” the 17.99 only allows 5 free in-store exchanges.
and yes… I’m fucking sick of checking the drop box for “Premonition.” Lately the new movies really suck, yet everyone wants them. “300” comes out on Tuesday… I dread Friday night when I’ll have check the drop box over and over.
Great Article. But can anyone else substantiate your claim that BB is gunning to put Netflx out of biz ? I just canceled with Netflx due to the larger selection & freebies BB offered. If your claim is true , I will support Netflx, just to keep another player in the game & prices competitive. Thanks.
P.S. Blade Runner, Sexy Beast, Casablanca, The Thing “82”……somebody pass the popcorn.
You know what’s complete bs is the way they treat their employees..
good article…
i find it kinda weird that the blockbuster store near my house claims they “dont participate” in the (nation-wide?) no late fees program that blockbuster has. i dont see how that one works, but then again like you said its probably not even worth it.
C.Mitchell, as anyone who has ever studied economics or business will tell you, competition is always the enemy, and those who have the most to lose (BB Execs. for instance) will do anything within their power to kill said competition. Think about the oil producing countries. If they stand united, they can drive oil prices as high as they please. If one country breaks ranks and begins selling at a cheaper price, all of the consumers will go to that source. Lookup MONOPOLY (not the game) and CARTEL.
By the way C.Mitchell, I don’t suggest going out of your way to support either company, just go with the flow and use which ever company that has the best prices and benefits. We, the consumers, have the most to gain from their competition.
Dude you appear to either of been fired or repeatedly raped by your father. Most likely its the prior with generalized hopes of the latter Either way its an obvious disgruntled ex employees rant. You see this on pretty much every company in the world. I work in banking and even see these types of posts about it.
Go belly ache your petty indifferences to another group of “IDIOTS” who might not actually not see just how transparent you are.
Great way to generalize behavior of a few bad employees (OP included.) Hopefully most people who read this will be intelligent enough to realise that not all Blockbuster employees are as rude, immature and ridiculous as the former employee who posted this garbage list.
“Favorite” movie is completely subjective. And while the OP might think Fight Club belongs in a list with Citizen Kane and The Godfather, I’d disagree. That doesn’t mean one or the other of us is wrong. That’s what’s nice about opinions. Just because the OP’s SM wasn’t a pretentious pseudo film snob doesn’t mean she’s not a movie buff (perhaps the most subjective phrase on the list.)
I have more issues with this list, but I’ll limit my comments. I’ve already wasted enough time on these meritless claims.
In closing, and in response to the first comment, Blockbuster does not edit films. In the past, Blockbuster has chosen to carry only the R-rated, studio released versions of certain films, but they have never edited a film. Blockbuster has, within the last couple years, become a place that stocks “unrated” versions of popular films. Of course, that accusation is coming from someone who owed a debt for over a month and was offended when Blockbuster tried to collect.
Because of people who post these types of ridiculous info is why the buster closed so many stores. There was a cul
Because of people who post this type of ridiculous info is why the Buster closed so many stores since 2009. It was the mentality of the past 15 years. These were the clowns who ran the stores in the field There was a culture of bad service and adversarial behavior toward both employees and customers. The company will evolve by upgrading store appearance & systems, fix rental pricing to compete, add streaming, fix their crappy service, and get rid of these clowns. Good district managers will take care of employees and treat them right. Lots of fun, recognition and accountability. Blockbuster is a great company with an ingenious business model. If you are an employee who is disgruntled, move on and spend your time doing something positive. Go find a different job. The company doesn’t need anymore negative people. Long live Blockbuster BBI LLC Dish Network!
In response:
10) The average employee CAN techinally get rid of restocking fees but some stores only will permit the manager on duty to deal with credits. We generally as a company try to avoid credits at all times. We already have to do unavoidable credits every day (ex: online coupon already used, ect). I understand mistakes happen but a restocking fee costs less than a cup of coffee. Get over it.
9) I have no problem telling a customer we cannot process a membership a couple mintues before close if they haven’t already picked anything out. It’s not our problem you haven’t come prepared. Tapes need to be ran, we need to clean and get out in timely fashion due to the labor amount we are given.
8) You ALWAYS should have an employee take customers to the bathroom, this prevents theft. If it’s 11 at night then you would run a much higher risk of theft or robbery. It would be common sense to NOT let somebody go in the later hours of the night right before closing.
7) I have not heard much on this policy but it’s generally common sense not to chase after somebody who could be danger. Call the police, your DL and possibly LP.
6) If you actually did that then that answers my question as to why you only worked for the company a brief amount of time. It’s called customer service. Your job is fairly simple, you should be able to take a mintue to call another store for a film.
5) Some people watch movies more often then others. So? What we do with our free time is up to us 🙂
3) The end of late fees was one of the most stupidest things this company as ever done. They have gotten rid of MILLIONS of dollars of income. I agree on this point.
2) Same service but the kicker is that the stores were losing a TON of money from taking away product from our paying customers. They recently upped the price points on all of the unlimited programs. I’m sure it’ll help but the price change will only ANGER the current customers. I can hardly wait for the backlash 😉
1) People will rent anything nowadays just because it’s new. Trust me on this.
It’s disgruntled employees like yourself that give Blockbuster such a bad name.
3. “There are no late fees.” This is technically true. Customers bitch and moan about having to pay $1.25 after keeping a movie for 20 days but if you kept that same movie for the same amount of time from any other video store, you’d have a much bigger fee. A late fee continuously accrues over time, at Blockbuster it’s $1.25 whether it’s 10 days late or 25 days late. And if you keep it for more than 30 days, you pay for the movie. Come in 6 months later to return it, and it’s usually between $10 and $20. You go to another video store, you’ll have at least $50 and you still have to return the movie regardless or the fee will keep going up. Which would you prefer?
And points #7 and #8 contradict each other. The OP states in point 7 that Blockbuster denies customers the usage of the bathroom in order to help prevent theft. Well, in #8 he says Blockbuster doesn’t care about theft. So if Blockbuster doesn’t care about theft, then why are they even bothering to make up ridiculous bathroom lies to “prevent theft”?
I rest my case.
I couldn’t resist one more go after reading the update to this list, visible on the page that is displayed after clicking on the author’s name.
I’ll quote from the update:
“To all you commenters and Diggers who thought I was making #2 up as some part of a conspiracy theory, read this letter I was just sent by a Blockbuster manager who otherwise disagreed with most of this article:
“I just wanted to point out that starting today the Total Access program has been totally revamped, chilling similar to the author’s ideas. (No store manager had any prior knowledge of this change until today) ”
Actually, if you read #2 again, you should see that the prediction about price increases reads “if/when Netflix is bankrupted by Blockbuster Online?s Bauman-esque ripoff artistry, Blockbuster Online will raise its prices significantly”. Last time I checked, Netflix is still in business.
The changes that are “chilling similar” (is that anything like chillingly similar?) to the prediction are… well, simply the price increase. Which shouldn’t have been a shock to anyone. Did anyone really need a crystal ball to figure out that BBV would eventually have to stop giving stuff away and actually turn a profit?
“As an employee of a Blockbuster I am quite hard-pressed at explain this change to my CSRs, though the toughest to explain to will be our regulars already on the online program (they’ll get a 90-day grandfather clause). ”
BBV communication expressly forbade employees to tell customers they were grandfathered in. Reason? Some weren’t. Not to mention there is no expiration date on the grandfathering for those who were. Hence the term.
“I sincerely hope that Blockbuster will realize this change is for the worse as they notice huge drops in online activations along with cancellations and go back to the original plan. Not only is it much too confusing for our customers but will also create many unnecessary credits.”
Yes. Not losing money is terrible.
“Every Store Manager I spoke to today were quite angry over the changes because we had to take down all signs relating to Total Access, along with update all our laptops. ”
Then they are lazy idiots. These changes in Total Access are great for our stores. I, for one, was tired of seeing paying customers walk out because the latest releases had been snapped up for free by online members. Q3 bonus is going to be awesome!
It’s hard for me to believe the person who wrote the email in the update is a SM. Once they see their next SPR, hopefully they’ll realise that the changes were for the best. Total Access is still a great deal for the customers, and now it’s a better deal for stores. 🙂
Haha you’re basically dumb and I’m pretty much not, so I’m going to take the liberty to laugh because that’s funny. Haha
As a current BBV employee I have to say I agree with most everything in this article. While I do not think I am as disgruntled as the author, Blockbuster and its spoken and unspoken policies drive me insane. I do not see myself lasting longer than 6 months or so. Here are my thoughts and comments on the article:
10. During the district wide orientation we are told to do what ever we can to make the customer happy including creding restocking fees. At the store though, we are told by our managers to avoid credits at all cost and tell customers we can not perform those functions. For some of the more polite customers I may do credits, but if a customer who frequently brings back movies late (especially after the 7 day rental + 7 day grace period + the 3 extra days BBV does not tell you that you have) – I don’t think so! The whole POS system is so old and annoying it is hassle to go through motions for someone you don’t feel deserves it.
9. I’ve never seen this done at my store, but what a good idea!!Customer’s come in 5 minutes before closing a leisurely browse for the perfect movie. I just want to scream – GET OUT! No, we don’t have the brand new release at 12:55am!
8. We never let customers use are bathroom. Not because we are afraid of theft, but because customers need to be escorted and we stand next to the door while they are doing their business. Trust me, if someone is desperate enough to use the bathroom, it is usually not something you want to hear, see, or smell for $7.50/hour.
7. Although I do not encourage or condone theft – I just don’t care and neither do most of my co-workers.
6. I have never done this either, but again a good idea. FYI to customers-within the first week of a movies release, it is luck of the draw if you get that movie – unless you are waiting at the door when we open. (you would be surprised how many do) If we don’t have it most other stores will not either. Please don’t make us waste our time. Also, on that note, most employee’s don’t care enough to “hide” movies behind the counter from you, please stop thinking there is some kind of conspiracy when the “latest hit” is not in stock.
5. This is where I disagee. I love movies, I have seen all of the movies on the above list, but there are still movies I will never see, just because they don’t want to – even if they are considered “classics”. Although, somtimes I lie and say I haven’t seen movies because I do not feel like having a conversation with a customer or even my coworkers. I don’t need to prove my intelligence by having a “deep” cinema coversations.
4. I get asked so many crazy and weird questions, I could be here for hours!!
3. What a joke! The restocking fee is a late fee just given a “clever” new name. I do not think it is unreasonable to be charged $1.25 for having a movie 10 days after the 7 day due date. GET OVER IT!
Also, if you have had a movie over 30 days ITS YOURS!! PAY FOR IT!! Don’t be dick and argue about it.
2. When I read this I laughed out load. For 3 months we were told to PUSH the Online Total Access! I mean push! Secret agent shoppers came to the stores to make sure we were selling; employees were written up for not mentioning online to customers – I would say 75% of the customers in our store now have the online program. Then BAM! We were told to not to mention the online to the customers again, all the online signs were taken down and if customers asked about their changing online accounts, we were told to refer them to their online account. Customer’s were PISSED to say the least!! Blockbuster grossly miscalulated customer usage of the free in-store exchange.
1. Everyone has differnt taste is movies. Its not my job to educate the masses on cinema. I don’t care what they rent. I also do not like to be yelled at or chastised for recommending a movie they did not like. Because of this, I lie and say “that was good” or no I haven’t seen it. Why complicate my life for $7.50 an hour?
Also, there are usually 5 – 10 new releases every week. I have a life, I don’t have time to watch them all. (and no, we can not watch movies in the store, we are forced to watch an obnoxious marketing dvd on a loop) Most of the time I don’t want to watch these movies because they just look stupid or are not my taste. For those customer’s that come into the store on a daily basis – what kind of life do you have? Go out and mingle!
Sorry for all the typos – I just got off a 6 hour shift and ran to the drop box about 200 times looking for Are We Done Yet?
Jesus Christ people, if you hate your job THAT much, just quit and do the rest of us a favor. You are lazy, whiney, employees that think you should be paid more for your half-assed effort at an already easy job. It takes 2 seconds to call another store to see if they have a movie in, and sometimes, if they are a lower volume store, they have the movie in. It’s about 50-50, but even if they don’t have the movie in, the customer will at least appreciate your effort and be more likely to return, thus keeping Blockbuster in business so your pathetic ass can get a paycheck. Secondly, a “restocking fee” is NOT a late fee. As I explained before, a “late fee” accrues over time. You get charged a specific amount for every day the movie is late, or the movie just renews itself for another term on your account. Either way, in both these cases, the amount of the fee is based on the amount of time you keep the movie. A restocking fee is $1.25 no matter how long you keep the movie, as long as it’s within 37 days, and at that point you pay for the movie and it’s yours to keep. At other video stores, the fee continues to go up until you return the movie, even past 37 days. You pay an astronomical fee and don’t even get to keep the movie.
“There is nothing in the process of returning a movie from the night drop to the store shelves that costs even the smallest amount of money; if the $1.25 is truly financing ?restocking,? I have to wonder where that money is going. I sure as hell didn?t see any of it.” This is just stupid. The longer a person keeps that hot-new release past the due date, the longer Blockbuster is unable to make rental revenue off of that copy. The $1.25 is Blockbuster’s attempt to still make a tiny, tiny profit off a person who kept the movie for a month, thus preventing many customers from renting it. Point proven in the above post with: “ran to the drop box about 200 times looking for Are We Done Yet?” If people would return their movies on time, more people would be able to watch them.
Seriously, people like you are why customers choose not to rent from Blockbuster because they get treated like shit by lazy employees. And no, I’m not trying to say Blockbuster is the greatest company in the world to work for, it has its problems, but there is no need for bad customer service.
For your reading enjoyment:
http://www.ihateblockbuster.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7952
unhappy employees make a company sound horrible. every company has its flaws. if you dont like their clearly explained and fair practices simply go somewhere else. it will make the regular hard working employees life a lot easier. i’ve worked for blockbuster as a store manager for 10 years and its simple. people are a-holes. customers, employees, upper management. all aspects of life their are a-holes everywhere and all they do is bitch and moan. so get over it, if you dont like it go somewhere else, and not everything should be blamed on the employees at your local blockbuster. remember that when your kids are climbing our shelves as you stare blankly at our walls.
Well, while BBV needs to improve on their payrolls skills I do feel obligated to tell you that issuing credits or voids as a CSR do not require Manager overrides if it not listed under the “MANAGER ON DUTY” list such has overrings and goodwill credits. I am a CSR and I issue voids every now again if I accidently scanned a wrong barcode or if they don’t want it anymore. By the way, Blockbuster Video has the highest employee terminiation or voluntary quit rankings of any retail corporation.
A Blockbuster employee informed me this past weekend that they are updating customers’ accounts with their credit card information. I said I wasn’t interested (like the umpteen million times when they asked for my email address).
I was then informed that they were very soon going to require credit card information to which I replied this will be my last rental. I give out more detailed information about myself when I choose – not when a company that has been known for it’s irritating business practices tells me I have to.
Is it true that they are going to begin requiring a credit card to be on file?
Someone rented a movie on my account at 11:45 at night last month using a mailer coupon. Of course, the movie wasn’t returned. The store refuses to take this off of my account and will charge my credit card. They don’t believe me when I tell them I know nothing about that movie rental. I am the only authorized person on my account. I’ve been a good standing member of BB for 10 years.
Apparently BB has a no refund for fraud policy. I told the manager to cancel my account and she said would make a note of that on my account. Why can’t she just cancel the dang thing. It’s too risky to have an open account with BB if anyone can charge things to it and you are responsible.
After two years with BBV, and personally selling over 1,000 online activations, not to mention my store doing an addtional 1,500 or so, I am finished with the company. I was also an online customer for 18 months, and they are jacking up my rates? Here I am responsible for 2,500 online activations, maybe more, and now they want an extra $7 a month?
As for new movies, it is all they should carry. Why bother carrying “Citizen Kane” or “Casablanca”? The only reason to have it is for the school project that assigned, or for the random 90 year old who comes in. There are other movies besides what came out in the past week!!! They might as well just carry movies for two weeks, then throw them out.
On the topic of new releases, why are they up on the wall for a year? Isn’t “new” generally used to indicate some sort of recent time? Not 52 weeks, that is for sure. What BBV is conveying here is that a movie that came out on October 1 , 2006 is still new. It was a year ago!!!!
Go Netflix, Go Hollywood etc., don’t get run out of business by this money hungry group of dicks with their heads up their asses.
I thoroughly agreed with and enjoyed the article The Top Ten Lies Blockbuster Video Tells Their Customers. While not an ex-employee or a BB customer myself, I can nevertheless relate to everything said therein. All I can say is thanks for re-enforcing my own assertions that most of the population is either deaf, dumb or blind.Best wishes and better luck with your future endeavors….
I’m an ex-BBV employee, and this is a fabulous article. People who think the author’s just complaining or disgruntled are either mistaken because they’ve never worked there, or they’re not regularly on the sales floor. I took the job because I was waiting for a better one, and I quit when I finally got it, but those six months told me the company was crap. I loved my co-workers and supervisor, but hated the company (and, occasionally, the customers) for exactly the reasons listed.
Most of that list is true … and it’s because we fucking hate our customers!!
Oh … and the BB I work at is privately owned and that is why we still have a late fee policy. Also, I’m a CSR, so I can’t just dispense credits whenever I want … besides, most customers don’t fucking deserve a credit. In most cases, whatever they want the credit for was their fault!!
i have worked for BB for a year now, im a assisstant manager, i will honestly tell you, this stuff is true, there are customers who come in and ask us to do completely pointless crap which has no porpose, and makes no difference, and they know that they just do it to piss us off. There is this one old jack-as thats like…. ahundred years old that comes in and grabs 5 different movies, 4 copies of each of those movies, then tells me to clean every one and he will pick the ONE that he thinks looks best!!! And he does this just to piss us off cus he does it 5 mins till close, and all the time with this evil little grin of having made someones day just that much more miserable.
Do you people not get that WE as bb employees get treated like shit by almost every customer, i mean sure some of them are cool, but for the most part we get treated like a pile of dog shit every freakin day! We have a god given right to hate our customers, because they treat us like shit, and the corperate asshole expect us to take it and be polite without causing them to lose their precious money. You know what i think? screw money, it is the root of all evil. If i wanted money i would not be working for 7 bucks an hour and getting bitched at daily. the only reason i have the job is becus it gives me something to wake up to, sure my life is miserable, and the customers make it worse, but i drink myself to sleep each night, iv probly got lung cancer for the pack and a half iv smoked every day for the past 7 years. So all you non-blockbuster emmployees out there listen up, our lives are miserable, we are the true emo kids of society, wether we show it or not, we have about as much reason blow our brains out as a 40 year old man paying over half his pay check in child support to his ex-wife who takes the money and spends it on cocain, so her sons have to work to make money to feed themselves. STORY OF MY LIFE!! You people wana bitch at me about this shit, go go to hell, working at blockbuster is the most miserable thing a person can go through, but its what gives me a reason to wake up in the morning. so the next time your bitching at one of us emmployees, stop and look in our eyes, and see that our life sucks, we are miserable, but most of all, we HATE YOU!
i gotta say i work at blockbuster and the majority of that stuff is true and i’m a shift leaderBut some of it is kinda far fetched don’t get me wrong i agree to some of the stuff your implying about but honestly bb have a huge selection for customers and their quite exspensive but it’s worth the dollar cause you got so many plans to choose from to be honest with ya i hate the fucking sales there i always gotta sale shit but it’s my job and they tell us these fucking bonuses we could be earning but if we don’t get to a certain percentage we don’t bonus i think that’s bullshit thier just giving us something to work harder for and pocket all the fucking money i feel like their greedy bastards and very decieving but i work for the scandalas ppl so you know i need a paycheck!!I apppreciate ya telling ppl the truth but you at least waited until i left the mother fucker!LOL
Hey, i have to say that i have been working on and off with blockbuster for almost seven years starting when i was back in college, and i can agree that some of that stuff is true, but a great deal of those things are really depending on 1)employee, 2)geographic location, 3)time of day. I have worked in over 15 different blockbuster locations from georgia to alabama and trust me, i have seen it all. I am fully aware of all of the inner workings of blockbuster being a former manager for so many years. In any major retail chain or corporate environment, there are many things that you cannot display to the public, and i think six months is not really a long time to go through many of those things full circle to really say how it works.
The issue with the restroom, im pretty sure that some people already commented, but there is a lot of theft in some communities and you have to take in consideration that in some cases the restroom can be used, and not used because they either 1)do not physically work because many children destroy the restroom when left unattended, 2)the toilet really is broken. But if you are a good customer then, in some cases i will let them use the employee restroom. (Those are the breaks kid:()
In the case of theft, every form of theft is bad, so i dont think that should be displayed to the public. Yes, as a blockbuster employee, (which i am currently an independent business owner, and am still on blockbuster’s payroll) you are told not to attack a shoplifter, why risk your life over 13 dollars? In all reality, blockbuster does not want theft, but really doesnt have time in many cases to go after a couple of dollars that they will charge off anyway.
The big word we are looking for people is SHRINK. Which in simpler terms means the difference between profit and loss. In any business, you do not want to lose more than you are bringing in, and if your shrink is high then you arent making any money.
For #6, when a customer is looking for a movie, and you know that you or any other store has the movie, you have to call another store in front of them to let them know that you tried to find it. Now, i can tell you, on a thursday, friday, saturday night, you will not find a majority of the popular movies and it will be guaranteed that no other store will have it, thats why when i call another store i know they wont have it, so i call them on speaker phone to show the customer they dont have it. The way you guys did it, can not be done in front of a lot of people.
As for the NO LATE FEEs, it is true, legally that is true. Its not a late fee, its a restocking fee, which makes perfect sense when you really know what it means. The problem is trying to explain it to average people that will not understand. The rent a movie, keep it for a week and turn it in, you will be fine. 7 days after its due, it will charge to your credit card and will not be late, no fee, just the price of the movie. Now, if you return the movie, you get the sale price refunded back to your credit card minus 1.25 to put it back in inventory, see while you had the movie out, it was losing money sitting on your coffee table, so it is a restocking in inventory fee. Many businesses has it, but blockbuster now applied it to all of the rentals. Now keep in mind that the restocking fee process will not happen too many times after you see a 23.53 charge to your credit card for 6 movies, and you have lost over 100 dollars from your bank account or charge account for movies you havent seen yet.
Now lastly, for the suggestion part, saying a movie is good when it is horrible, the truth you have to realize is, everyone likes different movies. I do it all the time, and guess what i hate a lot of these movies coming out but you will come to find that a lot of people actually like this garbage coming out, like Ghostrider, and Steven Segal movies. Its all about selling and making money. There is always a car salesman pushing a car that he wouldnt drive himself, but that was his job to sell you that car. It is also my job as a blockbuster employee to make sure that you find a movie that you are going to enjoy and have a “Blockbuster Night”. Also i would many times be completely honest and say to not touch a lot of these movies and i have been working there so long that i dont even have to watch a lot of these movies to tell if they are good. Now the movies you have listed i have seen and loved many and didnt too much care for The Wild Bunch, so that is just depending on the employee and how well he can sell something.
I have to agree with the BBV crew about watching movies that come out and having a life, i also have a life and do not have time to watch a lot of this crap coming out, but people just do not understand about seeing a movie, my favorite line is “you work here and you havent seen this movie?” You are so right sir, and with almost 20 movies a week coming out i seriously refuse to sit and watch every one of them, but it is my job to watch some of them to suggest to you and have an opinion on.
To say once again i havent worked for blockbuster in about 4 months but technically i am still an employee, i am not a low life for working there, it actually is a good and easy job minus all of the changes blockbuster takes us through, and crazy customers but i started back when they still had tapes and late fees, so i have earned my stripes and can say bad and good things about this company. (Excuse my punctuation and grammar,it s 3am)
Wow, how could anyone ever publicly claim to work for Blockbuster at all, I guess only stupid people who can only work for Blockbuster and then only for six months.. Must have gotten fired for being so lame.
This is totally unbiased. But most blockbuster employees were just about on an even par with Tower Video employees; smelly, unedgeamacated, greasy haired weasals. And the funny thing about them is even if they end their employment with Blockbuster they will always be smelly unedgemacated, greasy haired weasels.. That’s the funny thing!
yes about your so called “truths about blockbuster” you a damn liar! we do let our customers use the abthroom maybe were not lazy like your fat ass and tell them no its broken, your so stupid if you HATE BLOCKBUSTER SO DAMN MUCH THEN KEP IT OUTTA YOUR AMN MOUTH! blockbuster isnt filled with lies yeah SOME stoes have late fees its called a franchise store well maybe if your store does have alte fees your just a bitch complaining about youe lil town get over it you fat girl!
OK SO YEAH BLOCKBUSTER CORP SUCKS …
BUT IM IN IT FOR ME …MY FREE MOVIES…
I LOVE FILM MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE ON THIS GOD FORSAKEN PLANET.
YEAH CORP BLOCKBUSTER IS RAN BUT A BUNCH OF MONEY HUNGRY JEWS THAT DONT GIVE A RATS ASS ABOUT ANY EMPLOYEE OF THEIRS WHATS SO EVER …
I REMEMBER BACK WHEN I FIRST STARTED WITH BLOCKBUSTER ITS WAS THE BEST PLACE TO WORK EVER…BUT AS U SAID THE TAKING AWAY OF LATE FEES WAS JOHN ANTIAGOS GENIUS PLAN TO MAKE BLOCKBUSTER YOUR CHOICE FOR ENTERTAINMENT…WHAT A DUCHE BAG… THIS GUY IS A TOTAL MARKETING ASS…BLOCKBUSTER IS HURTING SO BAD RIGHT NOW BECAUSE OF THAT MISTAKE THE CORPERATE OFFICE HAS CUT MANY POSITIONS AND PEOPLES PAY…THEY HAVE TAKEN AWAY THE ALLOTTED HOURS TO PROPERLY COVER A STORE(WHICH IS GREAT FOR THE THIEVES)…AND THEY PAY CRAP FOR THEIR MANAGEMENT STAFF ETC.
AS FOR THE BATHROOM… IT IS FUCKIN BROKE BECAUSE WE LET THE THIEVES STEAL ALL THEIR SHIT IN THERE AND THEY KEEP STUFFIN THE EMPTY CASE IN THE BACK BOWL CLOGGIN SHIT UP…
YEAH U CAN GO INTO ANY BLOCKBUSTER AND STEAL A STACK OR STUFF AND NO ONES REALLY GONNA DO SHIT TO U ….TAX WRITE OFF…
TOTAL ACCESS WAS GREAT WHILE IT LASTED NOW ITS A BIG FUCKIN RIP OFF…THEY FORCED EVERY EMPLOYEE TO REACH A CERTAIN PERCENT OF THEIR STORES ACTIVE MEMBERS SWITCHING THEM TO THIS TOTALLY GREAT NEW PROGRAM THAN AFTER THE STORES HIT THAT GOAL THEY SWITCH THE PRICE/BENEFITS OF THAT PROGRAM AND NOW EVERY FUCK THAT JOINED THINKS WE OWE THEM SOMETHING….
I HATE BLOCKBUSTER CORP ….
BUT IM IN IT FOR THE FILM
Awesome! I wouldn’t have guessed so many comments would have been logged. I tend to believe that BBV could care less. Thanks for the imput everyone.
ok so i just attended a corp meeting that might save blockbuster
they have a new ceo and this guy is gonna kick ass…ya know ur ipod zume iphone etc well blockbuster is going to tie into that with instant downloads just jack in pay ur 2.50 a bam u got a film for that last minute flight or that road trip with the kids…they are going to do a big remodel in the atmosphere in the store ie put in a lougne were people can sit and enjoy a tasty beverage that only blockbuster will carry and of coarse coke will make ..many more things that sound very interesting ……oh and dont worry hes not bringing back late fees
I worked for Blockbuster Video in Management for several years. I loved my job and I loved the company. But that was back in the early 90’s, during its heyday. I can remember our Zone Manager setting up “trips” for all the Managers to go on. We went to Arizona, The Queen Mary, many different places. Back then Blockbuster took care of its employees. Times have changed. Yes, I remember how annoying customers could be. Working in retail is not for everyone. But how pathetic most of the commenters are. If you don’t like the job, the bosses, the owners, the customers, whatever.. then QUIT… nobody is holding a gun to your head to make you work there.
Its sad that Blockbuster feels a need to “change” every few years. I stopped being a customer a long time ago cause I just got fed up with all of the changes. The only reason I go into a store now is to buy used movies. I don’t even have an online account. I use Netflix. As far as the comments from the article….. honestly I don’t care what the author’s opinion is of Blockbuster.. only that his ASS GOT CANNED. People like that do not deserve to have a job… even if its cleaning toilets.
Hey, I’ve got the GREATEST question of all….
I have a theory. Once and for all, prove me right, or wrong.
I think the people at Blockbuster purposely, and connivingly, determine how many copies of a “controversial” title it decides to keep in stock. AND IT HAS NOTHING TO DO with how well a movie did because FLIGHT 93 sucked and did worse than Letters from Iwo Jima at the box office!
What titles? 2 copies of Letters from Iwo Jima, 4 of The Good German, the US versus John Lennon (just two copies). Jesus Camp, another expose (1 single copy). Meanwhileee…. it has 5000 copies of “movies for the masses” like Leonard Part 6.
Please email me back at [email protected] and confirm (if I’m imagining things, tell me why). PROVIDE detail so I understand how the process works.
Found out yesterday, at the store, that I was not grandfathered
in.
I joined at the same time as a friend at work (Sept 2006). He
never uses the store, I swap 3 movies a week at the store.
He got grandfathered in, and I did not.
I sent an email to ask why and they stated: “We?re giving **our
most frequent renters like yourself** the option of either
continuing with limited in-store exchanges at a the same price
point or moving to a new plan if you’d like to continue your
unlimited exchanges and agree to a higher price point.”
So the decision on whether you are grandfathered in depends on
the number of store exchanges you have made in the past.
In other words, they are screwing their most active customers.
– Chris
Randy, you hit it on the nose. IN the 90’s, Blockbuster was a very profitable business. One reason was because it let it’s managers “own” the business. I had a management position elsewhere and was interested in a store with Blockbuster. I waited 4 years for a store in my area to open up, that’s how much tenure store managers had at that time. When I finally became a store manager, I loved my job. I maxed out my bonuses every year in every store I managed, from a low volume store to a max volume store. When Blockbuster became independant in early 2001, this was a mistake. Everything changed.
You no longer own your store. A push on sales was implemented. Don’t worry about store conditions, SELL, SELL, SELL!!! This was not me, so I moved on to better things.
NOW FOR THE SERIOUS STUFF!!!
What the Hell!! People get serious!! Every company is in business to make money. Some things work, some things don’t. If you don’t like what you experience, move on. If you don’t like your job, move on. The end of late fees was stupid for Blockbuster and good for customers. The amount of movies you get for the online program is good for customers.
The rewards program is a great program. Where else can you buy 4 movies for $20? Yes they might be used, but if they don’t work they can be exchanged.
Customers are what they are. Most are great. Some are assholes!
I’m still employed with Blockbuster part-time going on 15 years. I love movies and love suggesting movies to customers. The company may have it’s problems, but it’s not a bad place to work!!
Keeslar, what proof do you have that BB has “never edited a film”? Granted censorship is a serious accusation that should not be made lightly. But just because you have never noticed it does not mean that it has never happened. In fact, it is impossible to prove that *anything* has never happened. On the other hand, while such an accusation does require proof, it is very easy to prove that something has happened — namely, if you see it happen. I also witnessed BB’s censorship: I rented David Lynch’s brilliant Mullholand Drive, and there was a nude scene in which a certain part of the female anatomy had actually been digitally scratched out. BB management apparently considers the human body such a horrible sight that it needs to protect the public from it, while renting countless movies that graphically depict decapitations, dismemberment, disembowelment, people being burned alive, etc. etc. etc. That was ten years ago and I haven’t stepped inside a BlockBuster store since.
i cancelled my account they kept charging me for at least 10 months they say i didnt cancel right, thats why i have netflix.now and have had it since jan. i guess i have to fight them to get my money back.19.16 a month…. thats dirty !!!
This amuses me greatly. My girl linked me to this while I was at work at my BB and when I got home I just had to check this out. I haven’t been working at my BB for too long, only 5 months, and while sometimes I hate it, I generally like it. I actually hate a lot of the policies BB has, but I get over it. The BB I work at is one of the busiest in the area, being in the shopping area in the parking lot of the busiest Wal-Mart in my entire area. The area it’s located in isn’t exactly the nicest in the city. Those two factors combine to make one of the worst working environments ever. Not to mention the fact that they keep cutting our hours which allow only three people for Friday and Saturday nights and only one or two for the other days to be on duty. So we are in bad condition with a mess of a store and customers who could care less. But call me a sucker if I like seeing the usuals come in and tell me about a movie they saw that I might like or that one I told them about they really enjoyed. Yeah it sucks sometimes, but I like the people I work with and some of the customers are actually worth my effort.
10. I actually can’t do that. While I technically could I’m not allowed too primarily because if I gave credits for every little thing, we would be generally screwed and I’m a CSR. They tell us not to because we honestly can’t give you a credit for a movie cause it sucked or because it says it’s PG-13 and you think it should be R. Not my fault, not our fault, get over it. If your movie doesn’t work, yeah, we’ll credit it for another. If you don’t have enough money or changed your mind, sure, we’ll void it for you. But honestly, some of these people are ridiculous.
9. Never said it. We’ll take customers in 5 minutes before close. Heck some nights we’ll still have a line at midnight. The only thing we don’t do is accept new member applications after 11. But trust me, we do not have time to stop whatever it is we are doing for a new member. No time with them cutting the hours.
8. The only time I’ve ever said that is when the restroom is actually broken. I will get the key and escort them to the restroom when there are people in line. I will even make sure they have toilet paper. Sometimes people just really gotta go.
7. While we can’t chase the thief, I have personally seen customers refused from entering the store for being caught on camera stealing before. We do most everything we can, it doesn’t always work, but we try. There were cops taking statements just yesterday for some game thiefs. Will anything come of it? Maybe, maybe not. But at least we tried.
6. I won’t call, I really won’t. Sometimes I might, but I honestly don’t have time. I will however give a customer the number to another store in the area and allow them use of the phone if they need to so they can call and see if the other store has the movie.
5. I haven’t seen some of those movies, but City of God is my favorite movie. I may not be a “movie buff’ but I love movies. I love making them, I love making them, I love talking about them, I love analyzing them. Not all my co-workers are the same way, but it’s a risk I’ willing to take.
4. Okay maybe this one is true…… But more often I can be found recounting a story of something to my friends at lunchtime.
3. *shrugs* Meh. This little fee is nothing compared to what other places would make you pay. If they keep the movie for 25 days I see no reason why they should not be charged a fee. After all, we lose money from them keeping it for so long. If the movie isn’t in the store to rent we won’t make money from it. Get over it people.
2. Never had Netflix so I wouldn’t know. I do have Total Access though and I like it. I pay the stupid $24.99 a month because sometimes my 5 free rentals a week just won’t cut it. Plus I have access to way more movies than my store has. Seriously, how can my store have Devil’s Playground and Jesus Camp but not Hell House!?
1. Oh hells no. If that movie sucked, I’m gonna tell you. If a movie really had me on the edge of my seat, I’m gonna tell you to go with that one. If I haven’t seen it, I’ll tell you I haven’t. If someone else said they liked it and another told me they didn’t, I’ll tell you I’ve heard it both ways. If you say you like one movie, I might suggest another you might like. If a movie rocked my world, people are gonna hear about it…. even if they don’t want to.
I really just need to get ?NetFlix? because inevitably interacting with video store sales clerks is bad for my temper. A few years back Blockbuster video charged me a late fee for a movie (a movie I did not return late) so I spoke to the manager and, lo and behold, the movie had been re-shelved and not checked in. The manager apologized and said, ?We don?t have the sharpest tacks working here.? So the next time we had a late fee I tried to explain that, contrary to their records, we did not return the movie at 1am on a Tuesday. A different manager this time was not willing to admit that they may have again made a clerical error. So we avoided the late fee by not returning to Blockbuster. I have recently enjoyed the convenience of the movie rental machines at the grocery stores, only $1 per movie and my girls can pick it out while I get my groceries.
Blockbuster is improving there bottom line on the backs of there
disabled employees by changing there benefit package and making them
pay for it. The benefits have been covered for 7 years and that is what I paid for. In one month they tell us that we get less coverage and must make medicare our primary coverage and pay the same as a regular employee that makes full pay and gets raises. E-mail me [email protected]
Having been a customer of BBV, online and at several locations throughout Texas, I can tell you this – they are a corporation, with corporate red-tape rules and regs, with a corporate mindset, and a corporation’s complete disregard for humanity. Do I use them anymore? No. Their policies suck, their practices blow, most of their employees are rude, distasteful, ignorant schmucks. HOWEVER… if you want good employees, you have to treat them decently. I’ve found that where customer service is great and employees are friendly, helpful and seem to enjoy what they do, this is where you find the company that treats their people decently… and thus, the company to do business with. If they are good to their own people, chances are they’ll be good to their clientele.
So weird that this happens all across the nation. We’re a bunch a drones! Ah, well, after being at BBV for almost a year, I got a raise….from $7.50 to $7.55. Downright insulting >_<
That’s strange about not calling other stores… It may be because I work in a suburb and the area around the store I work in is good, but we don’t mind calling other stores because we all have a good relations with all the stores nearby.
Now when someone is calling another store to get someone to cover a shift… That’s another story completely.
Everytime I rent a foreign film at BB the guy at the counter asks me, “you know this is a subtitled movie right?” Hmm…so that’s what the word foreign means, idiot! He said most people return the DVD upon hearing that it isn’t in English. Get some taste people!
Brick was a fantastic movie! May I recommend Thumbsucker, The Chumscrubber and Dandelion too?
It’s sad when I see that every single freaking copy of I Know Who Killed Me is gone and movies that are actually at least semi decent still have all of their one copy on the shelf. Who the f*ck cares about I know who killed me?
There needs to be a good indie/foreign film store opened up so people who aren’t sh*theads can rent movies that are actually good.
I was a Store Manager for 6 years back in the 90’s when they had late fees. Now that sucked Rewinds balls. The Company use to be good and took great care of their employees. But they changed and the bigger they got the worse they got. The article about the top 10 lies at BBV was all true. But the worse part is the BS the company puts their employees thru. They were a little video store and then they got heavy into games and then candy and drinks and magazines. They drifted away from movies. Hell at one time we were sent to school to learn how to sell satellite TV. I use to tell my boss this line, OK thats one movie,1 drink,candy.magazine,game,game magazine,pvt.ppg, and 10 gallons of gas and a large slurpee. I left BBV and I have not been in one in 7 years. I go to the video store above my house where I know the guys name and all he has is videos. Easy job and lots of BS.
Oh there are so many more listings of the err or ways of BB and the crap they have pulled. Rules for a successful business start with customer service, not that the employess to do not have it, but I am sure it was never taught in any BB education class.
Dig out Bless the beast and the children sometime, a great older movie that goes back to the days of VHS and Beta…….
🙂
I have worked at Blockbuster for a little over 6 months, and I am a shift lead. Based on my experience, here is what I believe.
Let’s face it: Blockbuster is a retail corporation. Working in the retail environment can be tough. Things are always changing – at a rapid pace and in completely random directions. These changes occur all the way from the lowest store employees all the way to the CEO of the company. Most changes at the store level are based off of money. Not money for the corporation, money for the local management. Blockbuster employee’s do get a bonus. While this bonus may seem to be little or nothing for cashiers and low-level management, store managers have the capability to cash out $1000 or more every quarter, on top of their salary. District managers glean way more than that yet. It’s retail, so who in their right mind would complain about more money? Most store level changes stem from the necessity to increase sales, thereby increasing bonuses.
As for the customers, let’s be completely honest. It’s customer service. Any customer service job can be annoying, but most are rewarding as well. I have regular customers whom I have great conversations with every time they are in the store. I have customers who will only come into the store when they know I’m there, and they check with me to get my schedule in advance so they can plan their next visit. These relationships with customers easily equal and even outweigh the simple annoyance I face with other customers. In a customer service position, this is to be expected. After all, it is called customer service, not employee service.
Store level work is the careful balance of expertise with soft skills. Expertise being selling ability, and soft skills being customer service. The line can get a little blurred between the two when your manager wants you to increase his/her bonus (get more sales). I’ve noticed that some of the top sellers at the several stores I work at are top sellers because they have a great personality, and they aren’t afraid to lie to people. I don’t mean direct lies, I mean Bill Clinton lies. For example:
Cashier) With this program you will get one free movie rental for every movie you rent.
Truth) With this program, you can get one favorite rental (any movie that is over a year old) for every rental you pay full price for, but only Monday – Wednesday, and you have to get the free rental(s) in the same transaction as the paid rental.
Quite a large difference there, and it little lies like this often lead to customer dissension. Being a shift leader, I get to handle complaints from customers that CSR’s don’t know how (or are not allowed) to handle. 95% of these complaints stem from misinformation or miscommunication, and is only the cashier’s fault about %50 of the time. The other %50 falls on the customer who failed to listen (notice I said listen, not hear), failed to care, or failed to inquire about a misunderstanding. Such is the world of customer service.
The most frequent topics I hear complaints about are: overdue fees, rate of pay, changing prices/rental terms, and the annoying sales pitch.
Overdue Fees – There are entire signs hanging in the store devoted to nothing more than this subject, the policy is clearly stated in the terms and conditions of every new membership, and the website has at least one page explaining the process. Not only that, the receipt gives you information, the price is clearly posted on the sign where the rental prices are listed, and the process can be explained by any employee on hand. If you are caught off-guard by a $1.25 restocking fee, or a charge for the retail price of the movie after 10 days overdue, it is your fault as the consumer for not attempting to understand the terms and conditions of renting from Blockbuster. The information is easily and readily found by those who care.
Rate of Pay – Employees have a simple job of which the hardest part is customer service. It is a retail/customer service position. If you want a job that pays better and/or doesn’t involve customer service, get a job at McDonald’s dropping fries all day. They actually have less requirements for getting a job than Blockbuster does. If you continue to work for Blockbuster after repeatedly complaining about the pay or work, then you are suffering because of your own stupidity. If you don’t have a job at Blockbuster and want a job that pays decent, gives you part-time hours, and doesn’t involve dealing with annoying customers, don’t get a job in a retail/customer service environment like Blockbuster. This is a simple concept, don’t whine if you are too stupid to figure it out. Blockbuster provides valuable experience in both sales and customer service to those employees who actually care to see it as such.
Changing Rental Prices/Rental Terms – Did I mention Blockbuster is a retail corporation?
Annoying Sales Pitch – Go to Best Buy or Circuit City and buy something, anything. If the cashier did not try to sell you something you were not already buying, they are technically breaking the rules. For that matter, go to practically any other retailer and buy something. You think Blockbuster is the only company that wants customers to spend money? You are there to spend money, were are there get you to spend your money. It’s called retail for a reason.
As for the article to which I am technically responding, I almost don’t know what to say.
“Sorry I can’t do that” is a valid response coming from a CSR as doing credits can, based on the store manager, get you wrote up.
“Computers lock down 5 minutes before closing”, “Sorry, the restroom is broken”, ?Sorry, we don?t have that movie – I?ll call the other store and check if they have it?, ?No, I won?t write down stuff you say to me and then repost it on the Internet? … Isn’t this a customer service position?
?Theft is bad?. If you ever work for a company that tells you that you should fight, question, or stop someone who you believe to be a thief, I would highly recommend quitting immediately. Doing any of those things is a quick path to physical injury, a lawsuit, or making yourself look like an ass. In most states, it’s not even considered to be theft unless the person actually walks out the door with the product.
?Yeah, we?re big movie buffs?. I believe the other responses above mine correctly deal with this one. Who are you to dictate which movies are “must see” movies and which movies aren’t? I don’t dictate that to you, so I would appreciate it if you would respect me enough not to force your beliefs onto me.
?There are no late fees?. I think I already explained this. In short, learn to read and ask questions when you don’t understand simple concepts.
?Blockbuster Online is better than Netflix?. Blockbuster is a retail corporation. If you can show me any one retail corporation that is not interested in showing themselves to be better than their competition, I bet I can show you some investors who are going to be pretty pissed off at the company they have put their money into.
?Yeah, that?s a really good movie?. Did you even pay attention to your training? Honestly, one of the first things you learn is that you are supposed to give honest answers to customers when they ask what you think of a movie. And don’t pull that “That’s a relatively new policy” BS, employee’s who have worked with the company for years have told me they were told that when they received their training as well.
Anyway, I have gone on quite long enough. I’m not saying I love my job at Blockbuster, I’m just pointing out the facts of the situation from an unbiased viewpoint. There are two sides to every story. For every story you could tell me about Blockbuster screwing over the little guy, I’m sure the Loss Prevention department can tell me a story about some ass trying to scam the system. Hell, right now there are several fake coupons floating about the internet. A person is always interested in complaining about the $30 they “got screwed out of” because they didn’t bring back a movie on time, but they will never talk about the fake coupon that screwed Blockbuster out of $500,000 because you had 4,000 U.S. stores each give away $200 or more in free merchandise in less than a week.
With that said, everybody have a Merry Christmas.
Try this. . .don’t lie to the customer. Many of your customers are actually intelligent people. It sounds like you need to work in a field other than service. Does this company need you. . .no, you applied to work there. Does the customer need you. . .no. Without the customer, you would have no job. Blockbuster must have been doing something right, they are still growing. Especially since considering that their growth is in spite of having employees like you. There are jobs that you could probably qualify for: ditch digging, road work, roofing, or other similar occupations requiring no customer contact. Try one of these jobs, then you might appreciate working at Blockbuster.
I found out about Blockbuster’s editing habits when I rented the supposedly unrated version of “Murder Set Pieces”. The box said it was the most gory movie ever made so I was curious but when I watched it, it wasn’t any worse that many horror flicks. I went online to research it and found out my version had many gore scenes edited out (they showed stills) and someone said you can’t get the true unrated version from Blockbuster. I think it’s terrible for them to dictate what I’m allowed to see as an adult well over 18. Between that and them telling me more than once that my Coke Rewards coupon has already been used when I know damn well I am very careful to only print one copy when I redeem my points.
The two bottom lines of any company are customers and financials. Oftentimes companies offer deals to lure other customers from other competitors. Credit card companies are notorious for this and interest rates. Blockbuster’s former CEO did, in fact, have a tirade against Netflix and made some poor decisions regarding marketing. I am a current manager for blockbuster, and I have never used any of those “lame” lies that you so eloquenly posted. Granted, I have heard them from a very few, not so long-lasting, employees. Many of the “credits” as you put it are not able to be done anymore due to updates on the POS system and directions from corporate about what you can and cannot credit off. Most stores average about 2.95% credits to sales (regional rate), meaning simply that we do more than double the allowed (corporate policy) for credits. Mainly those credits are for “already rented this movie, was here an hour ago, can I withch?” “I already own this Previously View Movie and I just bought it a few hours ago, can I switch it out?” etc. There are all credits to benefit the customer’s overall experiance in the stores.
RESTROOMS- Let’s talk about that! There are several reasons we say “We do not have public restrooms.” 1) WE DONT HAVE PUBLIC RESTROOMS!! 2) Obviously theft and safety concerns exist. We have most of our restrooms in the back of our stock room. This is not a customer controlled area. We cannot gaurentee safety. Theft- Obviously.. no cameras. 3) Cleaning up everyone’s children’s/adults urine and fecies, and etc. that they are so kinds to leave behind as a repayment for kindness. The restrooms are for only employees use UNLESS an obvious emergency is present (pregnant person, child in obvious distress, etc). Let’s face it, do you want to clean up everyone’s pee pee from a floor?
Everything after Number 5 on your list goes further into complete absurdity. Blockbuster online does have higher price plans based on what the customer choses is the best benefit to them. Some customers are perfectly content paying Netflix prices and getting their service. Others prefer to know that they can use their mailers- limited or unlimited- in the store for free movies so they do not have to wait while their next movies are being mailed to them. That service does cost more for the simple fact that is costs more to the business to service those customers. I personally have had netflix for 2 years and had horrible service and long movie delays. I am GLAD blockbuster online came about- price increase or not- because I switched and LOVE IT. I have had a share of problems (some movies delayed, or showing not returned, etc) and called the service number and they were happy to fix the problem and also give me a free movie for my inconvienence. I say this not as an manager for blockbuster, but as a genuine customer as well. It is simply worth it to me to be able to come to the store and use my online to see another movie. Also, the 2 for 2 deal on the soda rocks!!!
RESTOCKING FEES vs LATE FEES-
Restocking does NOT refer to us putting the movie back on the shelf. It refers to the fact that a movie has been kept beyond 7 days PAST the original due date (per member agreement policy signed by all customers). When that occurs, that movie “charges” to a credit card on the customers account (mandatory in some states now) or to the blockbuster collections account. Either way, a charge has been made to some account in these cases. If that movie becomes returned before the 30 day limit, then we refund the price minus a 1.25 restock fee. The restock fee is to recoup the cost of the outside agency (Visa, Master Card, Collections Agency, etc) being charged the cost of the movie to begin with. Most agencies charge per transaction regardless is a refund gets performed at a later time. This is cost of business not a scam. Blockbuster does not recoup ANY loss for not being able to re rent the movie out to customers within 29 days. If we did the math, 4.58 per rental divided into 29 days. That number = the total lost profit of 1 movie when not returned. Previously, if a movie was kept out pat the due date, the FULL cost of the movie was recharged to the customer, them recharged again subsequently until returned, not taking into account the total cost of the movie to the company. YOU TELL ME HOW THIS IS A SCAM OR A LIE? TELL ME HOW THE CUSTOMER IS NOT GETTING A BETTER DEAL?
I dont know why you were fired/left the Blockbuster family, but I will say this, You obviously were not happy. We have so many new items (framed art, camcorders, games, movies limited editions items, blockbuster exclusive PS3 80 gig bundles) to where it is not only MORE customer friendly and rewarding, it is more fun to work. Our new CEO has made GREAT efforts to hire excellent people (his first new directive) and maintain customer/employee relationship at all times. I personally have covered with all employees on DAY ONE to tell the truth about a movie if they saw it and are asked by a customer. It is our policy to tell the truth about what our “opinions” were on a movie. Keeping in mind, it is an OPINION! Before bashing a company in this manner, maybe you should go back to school and learn real life.
Your right about raising prices. they raised prices from 17.99 to 34.99 in a matter of months. when you ask about what is going on in the store nobdy knows enough to tell you. Your site kind of puts everything together to where it makes alot of sense. I recently went back to net flix and can get 4 movies for 25 if I want to. One other thing I changed my rentals to 3 movies in the mail and 5 in store a month and I have recieved 1 movie in the last four days. this is bullshit. I went to the site to cancel my membership completely and the fuckers down cant do anything.
I like the honesty. You need to work on your language though…it rots!
It exposes your intellect a bit too much…we don’t need to know how
intelligent you are…we get it…you worked at blockbuster…your english doesn’t have to support what we already figured out…thanks though…
Dude, if you and your former employee buddies at Blockbuster don’t like customers and feel the need to trick and/or lie to them when they are paying customers then why do you work there? Work somewhere where you don’t have to deal with people. There are some people who are not good with live customers and there are some who are. You obviously are not one of them. Go be a meat packer or something.
This is to : You had me at nothing, Jerry McLiar (and others of like mind)
I’m not bitching, I’m laughing. Everything this guy has said is 100% true. I also worked there for the “better” part of six months, and if you don’t believe this then I guess you are too busy sucking corporate america’s dick. Enjoy that while you can, ’cause they always fuck you in the end.
While the article itself is comprised mostly of half truths, there is a little merit to a few things said. However, all of this was said by someone who that it was acceptable to call a customer a “cunt” in the customer service industry. That being said, this all really smacks of little more than a Clerk’s Ripoff with a Randell-esque rant.
Last night I talked to someone at a Blockbuster
store. They told me they are still getting a 3 at a time UNLIMITED in store
exchanges for $19.99. This person told me they were and still are a very heavy user. In other words they were never subjected to any of the
price increases or change in terms that Blockbuster imposed on some of us with
little notice. I emailed Blockbuster online about this. Here is the response I
received:
Thanks for contacting BLOCKBUSTER Online Customer Care.Based on usage,
some customers won’t see either an increase in price or a change in plan terms.
Some other customers will be given the option to move from a plan with unlimited
in-store exchanges to a plan with monthly limits on exchanges, but at no price
increase from their current plan. Finally, again based on their usage, some
customers will be given the option to stay on their current unlimited plan, but
at an increased price.All Blockbuster members have a choice and can always
change their current plan to another offering.
Sincerely,Edgar
Customer Care Associate
BLOCKBUSTER Online
So, on top of the “next business day” issue, the huge price
increase, and significant change in terms, I find out Blockbuster used some
arguably arbitrary criteria to allow some customers to keep the original terms
and price while the rest of use saw huge price increases and / or a material
change in terms. Again, I would suggest you contact the BBB and your state
Attorney General.I asked Blockbuster for clarification and specific details
about the criteria used. I will post those when I receive them.
I have been employed for blockbuster for years, it is sad that disgruntled employees get on here and put down a company that gave you a job when you needed one. If you didn’t want to work there why in the hell did you apply. Go sit on your behind and complain to someone who cares. If you pretended to call another store, if you refused to help customers, who let me remind you, if not for them you would not have gotten a paycheck, then you do not deserve to work for any company at all. You will never succeed in life, you will be worthless to anyone and everyone. Blockbuster has problems like EVERY company out there, and without the right people in place, thank God they got rid of the worthless ones on here, they too will never succeed. Blockbuster as a company IS GOOD TO THEIR EMPLOYEES, AND CUSTOMERS. Sorry you never saw that, or took the time to do your job right to know that. If you do a lousy job of course you are going to hate it, because you will never get the praise and respect everyone in any workplace thrives on. SHAME ON YOU for making such false remarks. get a life, if anyone will let you in.
I have been employed for blockbuster for years, it is sad that disgruntled employees get on here and put down a company that gave you a job when you needed one. If you didn’t want to work there why in the hell did you apply. Go sit on your behind and complain to someone who cares. If you pretended to call another store, if you refused to help customers, who let me remind you, if not for them you would not have gotten a paycheck, then you do not deserve to work for any company at all. You will never succeed in life, you will be worthless to anyone and everyone. Blockbuster has problems like EVERY company out there, and without the right people in place, thank God they got rid of the worthless ones on here, they too will never succeed. Blockbuster as a company IS GOOD TO THEIR EMPLOYEES, AND CUSTOMERS. Sorry you never saw that, or took the time to do your job right to know that. If you do a lousy job of course you are going to hate it, because you will never get the praise and respect everyone in any workplace thrives on. SHAME ON YOU for making such false remarks. get a life, if anyone will let you in.
Interesting rant. I worked for the company as a Shift Leader for over 5 years. I quit last year. I was excellent at what I did. I was even offered store manager position 3 times. I denied each time because I knew what would happen if I took the position. Have no Life and Go no where in life. Instead I focused on school and finished up my degree and now i’m going for my MBA. The customers never really bothered me even though almost everything you said is true. I’m actually posting this in response to the previous person who posted and said the company was good to the employees and customers. That is absolutely fictitious. I’ve seen the best of employees and people turn attitudes because of the way the company treated them. I’ve see beyond excellent service by employees go unrewarded and store management take credit. I quit because I hated store management and upper level management. They lacked support for employees who made the company what it is. Human Resources were a joke. They never did anything. Another reason for the extremely high turnover rate. I’ve seen employees complain about harassment and violation of employee rights. John Minor the HR manager never did anything. I was hated by 2 of my 5 store managers but they couldn’t do anything. The reason was, I was excellent at what I did. I made more sales in “Rewards, DTV, Online Pass, Game Pass, Movie Pass, and confection” in a day than they did in a month. Every customer loved me and I had a loyal base to the point when I transferred stores, they came along with me. Also for the fact I knew my employee rights inside out and I knew more than they did. The only reason they had a job was because I refused the position. I challenged their authority because they were idiots. I’ve seen the company “steal” money from customers thru late fees and refusal to do refunds. I managers conveniently “forget” to give receipts and later on deny a refund. My favorite was you could only exchange for the same copy of a Previewed DvD if it was defective, no money back and no other title. Even though right on the receipt it says otherwise. I seen bonus checks for $100 at most while store managers and district managers walked away with thousands for doing nothing. I knew every movie inside out in my store. I loved movies and that is the reason why i lasted as long as i did. As far for “alwayswithasmile” you probably a disgruntled employee yourself. Yet you are trapped and know that you are stuck at BBV. You probably have no education past High School and will not be achieving anything more in life then a SM position with a annual salary of $38,000. So Lay Off.
and for another note to show how good i was. Instead of taking the SM position I negotiated more money hourly. I was a part time Shift Leader making more per hour then every Assistant Store manager, Sales Manager in the entire upper east cost region.
I have a question for former (even current) Blockbuster employees. My husband returned the Blueray version of a Harry Potter movie on Jan. 19 or 20 of this year. On Feb. 9, three weeks later, we got a call from Blockbuster saying the movie wasn’t in its case and that we’d have to pay $34.99 to replace it. Aren’t movies always checked upon return to see if they’re in their case? We’re ABSOLUTELY positive we returned the movie, and I hate to sound paranoid, but it sounds to me like something fishy’s going on, like maybe an employee took it for himself/herself or a friend. The employee I talked to on the phone today said maybe it wasn’t checked when turned in, that sometimes they stick them in a pile when they’re really busy and check it later. Would they have a three week backlog of a pile of movies they haven’t checked? I wouldn’t think so. Thanks for any insight you can give me.
As a former employee that worked at a district training store, my manager told me that “technically” BB cannot charge a customer for a dvd case returned without a dvd in its case. He did say, in true BB form, that some stores will anyway.
So tell them straight that you do not have it and will not pay for it. If they try to charge you anyway, as to speak to whoever is above them, even if you have to go to corporate- because it is corporate that will have to honor the rules.
To Natalie:
I worked for Blockbuster for 3 years (my junior and senior year of highschool, and the first year afterward). Having said that, if I ever rent a movie from BB, I always walk the video into the store, hand it to the clerk and WATCH them check and scan it. I started as a CSR and left as an asst. Manager and one thing I learned is that the average CSR wasn’t necessarily stupid, just lazy as shit.
We used to do what we called FOS reports every day. FOS stands for “Found On Shelf”. Basically, we’d print out a list of every item in our inventory that is late, and then walk the floor trying to find it. On average, I found 30 – 40 movies every day, that were on the floor, that were not scanned when they were moved from the drop box, to the counter to be sorted for putting back on the floor.
I worked at the Blockbuster on Parmer and MoPac in Austin for the duration of my self imposed punishment (for what I’m still unsure to this day). And I have this to say about the article:
10: Totally True. But to be fair, most customers asking for this were douche nozzles and did not engender any desire in me to help them. But it doesn’t change the fact that this is accurate.
9: Again, true the computers are always able to process a rental until the CSR has been signed out and his money tray removed from the till. I can say we never made this claim when I worked there, but I can’t tell you how infuriating it is for some asswipe to come in 10 minutes before we closed, say he knew what he wanted, then proceed browse the Favorites (older movies) section for 20 minutes and wonder why every employee in there looked like we wanted slash his tires.
8: All I have to say is: LOL
7: Sad but also true.
6: As far as I was concerned this is not true. I did actually call a few stores within 10 miles to help people out. But I can’t say the same for every other employee.
5: Again for me, not true. Although, I did work with a lot of people who were clueless when it came to movies. I actuall AM a movie buff, and I actually care who gets the best cinematography award at the Oscars (sad I know). One thing he left out though, those “Employee Picks” were dubious at best. Because half the employees in more store grabbed 5 random movies and threw them on their shelf.
4: Before my time, I hardly used the internet in those days. (I’m conspicuously leaving my exact age out of this.)
3: BB started this well after I left.
2: See previous answer.
1: Again, I actually am a huge movie fan. So, I always tried recommending good flicks to people. They didn’t always take my advice though. I remember trying to get some high school kids looking for something funny, to rent Dr. Strangelove and turned their noses up when they saw it was in black and white.
Although, I can’t say I totally hate Blockbuster, three of my best friends came as a result of me working there. Two were co-workers, the third was a friend of one of the former two.
But, yeah…. I hardly rent there anymore and I would never work there again. It has left a lasting impression on me.
How sad is this:
Every account number starts with the number 2 followed by the 5-digit store code.
In my day, every rental VHS code started with 33 followed by the 5-digit store code, followed by BBV’s numeric code for the film, followed by the films copy number.
For DVD’s it was the same, but they started with 44.
I know my account number off the top of my head. =(
*sob*
Wow… I used to work for the military and even there (working 18 hour days getting pay prorated 2.50 X hour) employs didn’t complain this much.
Cheers…I laughed my ass off.
This article was completely bogus. I’ve worked at Blockbuster Video for a year and a half, and I can tell you almost everything this idiot said was a complete lie. I wrote an entire essay debunking this piece of shit.
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=45553593&blogID=360640906
To the poster above me. I read your article on myspace. You did not prove his article bogus in anyway. All you did was copy majority of the answers from the employee handbook. Furthermore, you might not do all the things cited but majority of stores have functioned this way. I commented on this article. Scroll up 2/6/08 2:02pm. Blockbuster does treat their customers like crap and tells a whole lot of lies.
I can only say one thing. If an employee of a company, ever called me a cunt, I would do everything in my power, to see that they were fired. I think the OP got everything they deserved. Well, may not everything. They deserved a swift kick in the ass also.
Hey Burch
I find your top ten list very disturbing. I have been employed with Blockbuster for 16 years and the lies YOU tell are your own and not Co. policy! This is not the normal procedure and you were obviously working in a poorly managed area.
10. Poor customer service (must be common in Phoenix)
9. Lack of management
8. Bathroom lockdown could be avoided if the employees are attentive. (I had this happen at one of my stores. A man was in the restroom too long and I knew what was up! I knocked on the door and ask the guy if he needed help. He said his stomach was upset so I just looked at him. He knew I knew and got his ass out and never got my games. It pisses me off when people steal, because I work hard for my paycheck and how dare anyone not work for what they get! Theft is unacceptable in my book because of my morals.)
7. You speak of this proudly, you must participate. Are you incarcerated?
6. Lazy! It’s a good thing you quit because you are in the wrong job; customer service is not your forte.
5. Its called hiring the right people! Get the right people on your Bus! Are you educated?
4. OK!?
3. This is the largest error made by Corporate! We have late fees in my area, because when customers have the movie at home we can’t make money! Remember that is why we are in business!
2. Competition is good; it keeps you on your toes!!!!!!
1. Opinions are subjective.
In conclusion, Burch, I can only speculate that you are young and uneducated. How do I come to this conclusion? Well you have no work ethic. Unfortunately the youth of today lack in the belief of doing their best and I find in rare occasions that there are some still out there. I have a 21 year-old Store Manager that has been raised right and respects her job and demands the same respect from others. Her store’s performance reflects her and her staff’s dedication! You are naive to think that there is a Co. out there that EVERYONE loves. Obviously you had issues working for the public and I hope you found a job on an assembly line or in a small cubical where you do not have to deal with people. And hopefully we will not have to DEAL with YOU!
I am currently a junior in college and I worked with Blockbuster for a little over a year. I would agree with just about everything on the list, particularly the point about theft. If you have worked at blockbuster and haven’t at least taken a bottled drink then there is something wrong with you. POS is stupid, customers are stupid, and the woman that left the comment above me (Sue) is, for lack of a better word, stupid. Wow Sue, 16 years…really…I mean really? Honestly, you need to calm down. You work for a retail chain that makes it’s money from rents and PRP sells. It doesn’t make the world go round so relax. I agree with your last point though Sue: Opinions are subjective…just like yours. With the advent of Video on Demand and Netflix , Blockbusters days are numbered. Hey Sue, there goes 16 years.
Six whole months huh? Maybe when you go into a Walmart the folks who work there think you’re stupid too??? Get over it! We’re ALL stupid to some degree. The problem with the world is that too many people think they are better than everyone else.
I loved this.
Your list of greatest movies is naive. Do you really think watching Citizen Kane and The Godfather trilogy gives you any right to make claims about cinema? Do you know the difference between a movie and a film? Do you know where that argument comes from? Probably not.
If you are really so into great films, you shouldn’t work at Blockbuster in Phoenix. A passion for cinema would probably land you in New York, LA, Toronto, Paris, or Berlin.
Do you have a degree? In anything? What gives you the right to judge someone’s film tastes? Do you understand that without the high grossing Hollywood films that you think are stupid, there would be no art films, no foreign film distribution, no independent film companies. Most European films depend on funding from the taxes they charge of American Hollywood movies. Know why? BECAUSE FILMS COST A LOT OF MONEY, even the low budget ones. Maybe you should learn some of the basic principles of the film industry before you declare yourself an authority.
After being a customer for over 10-years, I was denied movies rentals because I would not provide Blockbuster with an open end credit card that any employee of Blockbuster could use to buy their Wii, Ipod, or Xbox and I would be held accountable for the purchase because I freely gave Blockbuster the card. No, the bank wouldn’t protect me. Already been through this problem and the bank reminded me that I gave the credit card to the company voluntarily. Blockbuster will not tell its customers that the customer is sticking it out there a mile when they voluntarily give Blockbuster their Credit Card Number and expiration date. If used by an disgruntled or discharged employee, Blockbuster won’t cover your butt or your loss either. Renter Beware!!
as a former bb employee I have to say that some is true and that I am a movie buff, but not of current movies because I got bored of watching the new stuff and watch t.v. shows and older movies (ex. 80-50’s movies) and I’ll usually call other stores but mostly only when asked.
As for what Richard says – as of 2011 unless an employee has photagraphic memory or writes down your whole card # and experation date infront of you and you let them, there really is no way for an employee to know your credit card # because it is turned into all x’s (Ex. XXXX XXXX XXXX 8563) so this is completely a lie.
And just for the record, just because you slide a card that doesnt mean you paid for anything.
I quit Blockbuster some time ago because: their website did not display the newest releases, they started closing stores in my area and it was not feasable to drive for miles to get a free movie, which most of the time were not in stock, and most of my selections were always on short or long wait. I went back to Netflix. That work OK for a couple of months, since I was only on a one movie unlimited plan, but now my top 5 choices from them range from short wait to very long wait. “American Gangster” was on very long wait for a couple of weeks, so I drove 2 miles to Hollywood Video and got it and just quit Netflix. I suppose it’s bad enough for someone like me who pays $8.99 plus tax to have to wait and wait for movies, but I can imagine the person with the most expensive plan has to be either: very pissed as well, or doesn’t mind choosing movies he/she doesn’t really want just to order movies to make the plan worthwhile. In short: Blockbuster and Netflix can both piss up a rope until they can settle their inventory problems and supply movies that they advertise they can.
Does anyone understand that the 1.25 restocking fee is the fee blockbuster pays the credit card companies to refund the money that was charged already. It cost blockbuster money every time they charge to a credit card and then refund back. So blockbuster maybe will see 25 cents from that restocking fee.
I love working at Blockbuster mostly. The customers mostly suck, but that’s any retail job for you. I just wish it wasn’t such a big deal to sell Rewards memberships. When I first got hired, I worked about 30 hours a week, which for me, is a good to balance school with. Two weeks ago, I sold 10 Rewards in a week–an average of about 2/shift. That wasn’t enough apparently because they only scheduled me 20 hours last week. I sold 6 rewards last week. This week, I am on the schedule for 15 hours, and I get to be the drop box bitch for each of my shifts. Working at Blockbuster has only made me more determined to finish school as quickly as possible so I don’t have to be a sales person who doesn’t even make comission. But, the free movies are nice.
@Curtis, 81:
“Does anyone understand that the 1.25 restocking fee is the fee blockbuster pays the credit card companies to refund the money that was charged already. It cost blockbuster money every time they charge to a credit card and then refund back. So blockbuster maybe will see 25 cents from that restocking fee.”
Really? What about those customers whose credit card declines the PA? The customers whose credit cards are invalid and tell you “Please try the card again or call the issuing bank.”? The cards that, in other words, never got charged in the first place? That 1.25 is still on those customers’ accounts after they return their movie.
Just wanted to say that I work in a Blockbuster in Israel and that everything you said is exactly same, only difference is that not all customers have bad taste, actually I have allot of clients that always listen to my reccomendations, not to mention that allot of people love foreign films.
I worked when the break up came out on dvd, it was sad to see people taking that awful movie thinking it to be a funny comedy only to watch 105 minutes of jennifer aniston and vince vaughn fighting.
I can say that I recommended Brick to allot of people and most of them loved it, said it was really original, so not all hope is lost.
Blockbuster does not edit movies – never has. If you want to see naked people that bad go to an adult video store.
how do companies get top 10 songs, movies, videos and televison programes
Coral Springs BlockBuster BITES. Store 12020. The district dirt bag called me today because I had the “balls” to call him to complain. Since Jan 15 there were 351 rentals, and 7 were late. Well, we lost a dvd in the house, and they won’t take it back.
They “say” they sent letters. Well, they may have printed them, but they never sent them. I don’t deny I return stuff late. I don’t dispute the fees they charge, but it’s BS when an accident happens and they *WONT* fix it. 7 movies over 90 days out of 351 rentals is 0.02%
To show you how stupid they are. We joined BB before a credit card was required, so there is not one on the account. They are trying to get 27.00 out of me, and actually GAVE me the movie back; so now I have a free DVD! Because they will NEVER get 27.00 from me for it.
Hey, call and complain to this idiot District manager. Scott Feise 1-800-940-2232 ext 1593
@Mitch
Why does Blockbuster have to “fix” your mistake? You lost the dvd in your house, even if you brought it back and they refused it, that means you had the dvd for over 2 months. Pay what you owe.
I have 2 issues with them. 1st the piss poor attitude they gave me. A polite I’m sorry, but it’s too late would have been taken better than, too bad, you own it. TOO BAD??????? And these are people that want my business? The 2nd issue is they say they sent notices. I find it BIZZARE that not a 1 of them made it to my house. NOT 1. Hell, if I would have got 1, I would have realized that there was a problem, and returned the thing. Now, WHY would I lie about getting a notice, when I haven’t bother to lie about the movie? I told them when I walked in the door that it was late.
Common sense would have made a flag go up, Gee, we sent this guy 10 or 12 notices, why is he bringing it back now?
I have gotten 4 notices from BB, EVER, and brought the movie back the same day as the notice. That was like 5 years ago, when I was still learning the area, and didn’t know where the store was because it’s a round about way to get to it from my house.
And, lets get to the almost 28.00 for a used movie, that they sell new for 17.00. I think they deliberately don’t send the notices to make you keep the movies.
Royce, to answer your question, they don’t “have to”, but they should, because unlike you, I do not speak down to people, and I do not accept it from people. But it’s moot. I spoke with the Regional VP. Not only don’t I have to pay for the movie, not only did they take it back, but I got a $ 50.00 gift card out of them, and an apology.
The $1.25 restocking fee is broken out as follows:
On the 7th day after the movie is due back, an automated phone system calls the member to remind them that the movie is due back. This system costs the company roughly 20 cents per call (for maintenance, phone lines, support, etc). On the 10th day, a computer generated post card is mailed to the members’ home to inform them that the movie will sell to their account and they have 30 days to return it for a refund, minus the restocking fee. It is on the 10th day that the restocking fee is applied to the account as well. The cost of postcard and postage is roughly 30 cents. As mentioned previously, there is a fee associated with removing an autocharge payment from an account, in the event the member returns the movie within the 30 days. While not all members have accurate information, this fee is roughly 3% of the transaction – so a $20.99 movie would be about 60 cents.
Based on these numbers, .20 + .30 + .60 = $1.10. So Blockbuster is making about 15 cents off of the restocking fee. Whoohoo.
I went to a local blockbuster and when I entered the store I wasnt greeted at the door, the guy just looked at me and had this shitty look on his face,by the way Im a woman, I was like what the hell did I do,anyways I ignored him I browsed around the store, didnt find anything, I probably was there for about 10-15min, I think I was the only one in there, the guy who was working there never once asked if I needed help, so I just left, the guy there didnt even say anything to me, not even a goodbye, I thought he was very rude, this guy was so overweight, I remember him passing by me in the ailes, he was putting away some dvds, and he was breathing heavily, I thought he was going to faint or something, he looked pretty sweaty too, I didnt know it was a hard job to do! ha,ha. anyways this blockbuster is in Azusa,Ca. I wouldnt go there, I felt like I wasnt even there.
I went to a local blockbuster and when I entered the store I wasnt greeted at the door, the guy just looked at me and had this shitty look on his face,by the way Im a woman, I was like what the hell did I do,anyways I ignored him I browsed around the store, didnt find anything, I probably was there for about 10-15min, I think I was the only one in there, the guy who was working there never once asked if I needed help, so I just left, the guy there didnt even say anything to me, not even a goodbye, I thought he was very rude, this guy was so overweight, I remember him passing by me in the ailes, he was putting away some dvds, and he was breathing heavily, I thought he was going to faint or something, he looked pretty sweaty too, I didnt know it was a hard job to do! anyways this blockbuster is in Azusa,Ca. I wouldnt go there, I felt like I wasnt even there.
I went to blockbuster video to rent one movie. After paying for it I was given my rental, and three other movies. The guy tells me ‘These are yours” wow! I thought I earned movie credit for that money I have given them in the years. No way. They said they were mine because I brought the back too late and I was charged on my credit card for them. I ask, where does it say that i have to purchase the movies if they are too late, all I ever seen advertise by blockbuster is “A no late charge fee ever” (which now is called a restocking fee) If i knew that I had to keep them, and purchase them I would of no doubt do my best to bring them in. He tell me the manager that is stated on the receipt, and that they USE TO HAVE IT POSTED ON THE WALL. Well I looked at the receipt and could not find it. I then ask a customer behind me to please show me where IF PAST 30 DAYS THE MOVIES ARE YOURS. The customer could not find that sort of print on my receipt. Two other customers in front of me also looked but did not locate the PAST 30 DAYS YOU ARE SCREWED. At this point I ask the employee who took my money to show me were.. guess what. He did not see it so he calls his manager who had disappear to show him. The manager comes from his office and carefully scans the receipt with his eyes, and bingo he finally found it on the white receipt printed in light grey letters. I then ask him why isn’t it posted on the wall like it should be. He said they use to have it on the wall but took it down. hmmmmm Why would you take it down sir because people was actually reading it? No he replied because I don’t know why. hmmmm Block buster has closed many of it’s stores, and they are not doing the millions they use to so it seems they must get into the scam business. I am not worry because I will call my credit card company tomorrow, and get credit for it, and blockbuster will have there more movies in stock. I am going to stick to the bootleg movies I get them quick, and DVD quality…oh maybe that’s why blockbuster is going out of business. oops, too bad, too late.
I am a CSR at BBV and i find this very amusing, yet true.
@74 Sue.
Your #3 and #2 contradict each other, and show that you have no formal education in business, economics or anything remotely related. Thus your entire opinion is rendered insignificant.
In addition, I really really hope that 16 years is an exaggeration, because I would hope after 16 years you would be in a corporate office somewhere thinking up of new ways to rip people off. Yet there’s no mention of your position after 16 years, which leads one to assume that you are still a clerk earning that $7.50 an hour.
What a distinguished career you have.
Oh one more thing to put this issue to rest.
“No, Blockbuster does not edit the content of its films. We offer all movies for sale or rental in the exact condition we receive them from the movie studios.” – Directly quoted from their website.
What it fails to mention is that they use their position to force studios to create “edited for content” versions that they purchase and release upon an unsuspecting consumer. The deception lies in that they DO NOT put this information on the boxes they display on shelves, which should be required as they are NOT the original theatrical releases. Hence all these stories from people who rented a movie only to get a watered down, bible thumper pleasing, castrated version of the one they saw in theatres.
So technically, blockbuster doesn’t edit movies themselves, they force others to do it for them, just like they “don’t charge late fees”. Just semantics into fooling the consumer.
If you have a good product and good service, why would you need to deceive people with these not so clever schemes?
Oh and jacking up your prices by about 100% over the course of a few months is ridiculous.
I ? blockbuster!!!
I ? blockbuster
that was beautiful.
Wow, i’m sorry your experience wasn’t as nice as it should have been, working at blockbuster should have been fun… limited work, free movies, awesome customers. You should know the customer is only as nice as the person ringing them up. My guys and i are proud of the fact that half of the people walking in the store trust us with the reccomindations we offer and leave not only satisfied but like they have made a new friend. I don’t want to comment directly to the article but the whole credits thing well…we as employees rely alot on our stores income which is affected greatly by having to credit late check ins or nasty customer complaints, so we try to avoid crediting everyone for movies they didn’t like or sorry my kid lost it and it took me weeks to find it… we run a buisness, and we try to be as fair as possible, i don’t think it’s fair that someone keeps a movie out late and the next person that wanted it will have to wait leaving us with an unsatisfied customer and lost revenue. anyway if you wish to comment directly to my reply email me at [email protected], nothing about policy, just general comments. i have worked for a bbv store for over a year, we have a great staff and zero turnover for over a year now, that means we rock! 😀 keep it real and take it easy.
I work at one of the stores in Tn. I could probably come up with 101 complaints and rants about my experience. But for the most part working at BBV is not a career, just something to do while you finish school.
I try not to push my taste and prefrence in movies on customers. I notice what they have in thier hand and try to suggest movies that are similar. I ask them “What are you in the mood for?”… or “What movies have you really enjoyed?” I now have a small group of regulars that wait to rent movies when I am working just so we can discuss them. I am a huge movie buff and try to see everything worth seeing in the store. (Some of these B rated low budget films are crap and not worth the time)
I tell the truth… if a film is bad I recommend they wait until it’s off the new release wall. If I honostly don’t know I tell them I don’t know and even ask other employees or customers.
I hate getting lied to. Most customers don’t realize that we have the complete picture in front of us on our computer… A few more things for customers to keep in mind:
1) We know exactly what happened with your movie, when the movie was rented, what time and how it was returned, even where.
2) We do this everyday… we don’t need you to tell us how to do our jobs… but thanks for caring.
3) We don’t set the policy, we don’t send out the nastygrams for late fees, we follow the rules and procedures laid out for us…. whether we like them or not. We actually do more to protect you from the system then enforce the rules on you.
4) I don’t know you. I wouldn’t know how to look up your account without you in front of me. I would rather you didn’t have a late fee just to avoid the conflict with you. So why do you think I have some how singled you out and decided to make your life hell by charging stuff to your account?
5) Mistakes happen. More then likely I am not the one who made the mistake. I am simply the one who has been scheduled to work when you come back in and we BOTH discover the mistake. So chill out… it’s just a movie… I’ll fix it.
6) Customer service only goes as far as common courtisey and rules of civility extend. Cuss me, yell at me, talk down to me, disrespect me, THROW things at me, and/or act inappropriate in any way… and I will do everything in my power to screw you…. or at least ensure you take your unprofitable business and free rental coupons across the road to Holloywood.
7) I am not there to get a date. I don’t need you hitting on me. I can not be bought with a batting of eye lids or seductive language. Your pretty little eyes and smile will not get you free movies. So complete the transaction, take your movies, and leave the store. Thank you.
8) Yes you must pay your extended viewing fees this time. No you can not pay half. No you can not rent until your balance is paid. BBV does not run tabs.
9) Believe me I am postive we don’t have that movie. First… the computer says it’s not in ventory. Second I have touched, rearranged, inventoried, and searched for every movie in the store. Please believe me, when I say… “Nope… we don’t carry that one.”
For years I used to spend a couple hundred bucks a month at Blockbuster. Then one night when I went to exchange videos, the person at the counter checked in my returned videos but refused to rent me any new ones because I didn’t have a photo id. I asked if she could identify me by the videos I had just returned or by asking me some questions that only I would know (something another employee once did when I had no id with me). She said only a photo id was acceptable, no exceptions. I asked to see a manager. She said she was the manager. Her attitude was polite but firm, as if she had been trained for just this situation. I left her with my old videos, new videos, popcorn, candy and drinks. I’ve never been back.
The silver lining is that the incident caused me to look into Blockbuster’s stock (BBI). It looked like you might expect for a company that trains its salesforce to turn away paying customers. I sold it short. I closed half of the position today and the profit will pay my Netflix fees for quite a while. The rest I plan to hold until Blockbuster goes bankrupt.
I worked at Blockbuster as an Asst. Mgr way back before there were DVDs. It was only video tape (VHS) back then. I had to repair broken video tapes (scotch tape works best). I had to stay there late into the wee hours of the evening while they cleaned the carpet (like 2 or 3am). People returned videos with “urine spray” on them and you had to restock those disgusting tapes. God help you if you worked in a bad neighborhood and had to be open til midnight, then walk to your car. It sucked then and it sucks now. I can’t believe they are still in business.
Sorry to break it to you but this is full of crap, I work there, hate my job, but not one of those things is true……except maybe the late fee thing. Here in order are YOUR lies.
Lies about movies being good – When a customer comes up to me and asks me if a movie is good or not I will tell them the truth, I can’t tell you how many people have put movies such as “The Ruins” back.
Bathrooms being nasty – Considering I have to clean them every night I close, yeah they are clean.
“The computer is down” – nope never used that one either.
Not calling other stores – If I say I am calling another store, I do so
not stopping shoplifting – We have banned 1 customer from our store for shoplifting, and one of our employees actually chased down another.
and the big one…….
“Sorry I can’t do that” – If someone asks for a credit because a movie is damaged, they got the wrong thing, etc. etc. we do it! I have NEVER not ONCE told someone I can’t do something if they have a valid reason, if some jerk couldn’t bring a movie back after 50 days and wanted a refund? then I will say no.
So to me it sounds like A) You are full of crap and B) The stores you worked for should be shut down.
Oh and on this one…………
After being a customer for over 10-years, I was denied movies rentals because I would not provide Blockbuster with an open end credit card that any employee of Blockbuster could use to buy their Wii, Ipod, or Xbox and I would be held accountable for the purchase because I freely gave Blockbuster the card. No, the bank wouldn’t protect me. Already been through this problem and the bank reminded me that I gave the credit card to the company voluntarily. Blockbuster will not tell its customers that the customer is sticking it out there a mile when they voluntarily give Blockbuster their Credit Card Number and expiration date. If used by an disgruntled or discharged employee, Blockbuster won’t cover your butt or your loss either. Renter Beware!!”
Sorry but we only have access to the last 4 digits of the card #, won’t do us much good now will it?
Did someone at Blockbuster beat you as a child?
You remind me that morons breed left and right by opening your mouth.. I work for Blockbuster, and honestly.. only a few of those pointers were true.. I can honestly say that I do everything in my power to help out the people that come in there in any way shape or form that I can. I think you are very out of place to make this judgement towards everyone.. but the thing that got to me the most wasn’t your persistent finger wagging throughout this fine piece of literature.. no.. it was the fact that you took your opinion on movie taste and made it the superior choice? I HATE nothing more than when people act in this fashion. I have seen all of your list and honestly, they are amazing films.. Blade Runner is one of my all time favorites because I feel that Ridley Scott does no wrong.. but that’s just it.. there is no fact in what I just said, it’s just my opinion and I respect everyone elses. When you make statements like that you appear to be a moron. Have a nice life.
All I can say is make sure you watch them scan your movies back in. I rented 8 movies, 4 of them were new releases. I turned them back in on time in the drip box. One month later I found they had taken over $100 out of my checking account. So I called them and low and behold they were able to find every movie that I rented. Now for the part that they really screwed up my checking account. Yes they did pay me back my money and my NSF fees. I will never drop off the movies in the outside box and I suggest the same to everyone.
im a big movie fan, so yeah it would be nice for the employees to have any Knowledge about movies not just the simple new releases or pretty covers
just wondering if anyone wants to reply. is the minimum age requirement at BBV 18, because imma 15 year old kid looking for a summer job, and watching free movies and getting pay at the same time would be nice.
i have worked at blockbuster for about 3 years now, and i’d just like to say i love my job. alsways look forward to seeing my regulars and talking with them. this article couldn’t be farther from the truth in my area, however by your attitude i’m not surprised that is how yours was. i’m guessing that’s why you didn’t last more than six months. as for the credit card somebody mentioned, employees cannot charge to this. the only thing it is for is so that if you keep a movie and never return, they didn’t just give you $21. Employees have no access to it and at my store we do not even write them on applications. all we see is last 4 digits. as for selling stuff. we will not sell you something that we think will not benefit you. but if you’ve rented 10 movies for $4.29 each in the last 30 days we might try to persuade you to do the $21 movie pass so that you can get as many movies as you want for $21 instead of 10 movies for $42. as for blockbuster treating it’s employees unfairly i definately disagree with that. not only can part-time and full-time employees get a lot of free rentals, they also get benefits if they want, and bonus if their store does well (which i’m guessing yours did not). What other companies will give part-time employees bonus. maybe some do i dunno but still seems good to me. as for no late fees, personally i’d rather have a movie 7 days late for no extra charge, and up to 37 days late for $1.25 than to pay full rental price each day late. and by the time it’s later than that you have to keep it. it doesn’t make sense to complain about that because the alternative was full rental price a day so for 38 days you would be paying much more, and not get to keep the movie. i have heard from some of my customers that they loved that policy because they had huge fees at another video store. the phone thing is rediculous. like someone else said i know all of the people that work at stores around me, so i will offer to call some other stores if they’re interested in driving somewhere else to get what they want. i have called every store on my list for some people. and the bathroom who is so lazy that they can’t take 5 seconds to open the bathroom for somebody? as for movie recommendations, i’m not going to tell somebody that a movie is good just so they get it. that doesn’t even make sense for anyone, customer or company, put a little thought into it, ask what movies they like and if you’re such a movie buff, you should be able to come up with something that they will like, not just something you think everyone should see. so instead of telling someone who’s favorite movie is say hitcher, that they should watch casablanca, maybe you should take a second to realize different people like different things. not everybody is you.
i’m just glad to see that, judging by most of the people commenting poorly, that blockbuster’s customers at least didn’t have to put up with most of them for more than 6 months, and for those of you who did deal with these people, i’m personally sorry that i wasn’t there to get rid of them sooner, because that is definately the kind of attitude that nobody wants to deal with. and for the employees, of course you’re going to have a bunch of customers yelling at you, if you’re selling someone a program by lying to them they’re going to complain. i’m not going to ring up any programs for someone until i’m completely satisfied that they know what it is. i tell every customer that’s signing up for rewards for example that mon-wed any paid rental you get any movie rental up to a year old for free, you also get one of those free every month, and if you pay for 5 in one month you get any rental for free, new, old, or a game. Anyone who doesn’t explain this, deserves to have an angry customer come in and yell at them for not explaining it, because you are the one that signed them up for it, that’s your job. if you’re working there you should be able to tell customers about it, and if they don’t rent old movies, or they don’t rent 5 in a month ever, don’t sell it to them, it won’t help them.
for customers:
if you go to a store where the employees are like this you can talk to the store manager, but i’m guessing if someone at that store is this horrible than the store manager isn’t your best resource since they’re keeping them there in the first place. there is customer care number on your receipt among other places. they will contact, any customer complaints will be heard by district manager so if talking to store manager and nothing happens., that’s your best bet. well i’m going to avoid looking back at stuff i’ve missed since i’ve already typed a lot. hope you guys can find a better blockbuster to shop at.
i am employed at Blockbuster Video in Pennsylvania and I have been there for about a year and a half, and I have to say there is a reason why you only worked there six months. By the way, the fact that you are disclosing company information could result in a lawsuit by Blockbuster if you’re not careful. Its called a Nondisclosure agreement which you had to sign when you were first employed. Anyways, my point in commenting is that I work at Blockbuster as a shift manager and work another job and go to college so for you to whine and bitch about the company says to me you are either one unmotivated and lack any kind of discipline. Or two you have nothing better to do with your time than to bad mouth Blockbuster.
Some people grin and bear it, others smile and change it.
I don’t understand how someone can spend money renting something they know nothing about. When I rent a movie, I go into the store with a mental checklist of 4 or 5 movies, which 1 or 2 I will prefer, I know how well the movies were reviewed or in how much regard I hold the opinion of the friend who recommended something. I’m not there to spend cash on crap.
Great post, though I never knew Blockbuster had a restroom customers can use.
I used Netflix for almost two years. But, after a while the movies started coming really slow, so I went back to Blockbuster. Now, I get the movie pass every couple of months because they have consist crap coming in.
The one thing that will keep Netflix in business is they have a much better selection of movies. Whoever makes Blockbuster’s acquisitions needs a firmer handle on entertainment.
i agree that ppl forgot what a good movie is… they just want sex,violence and some ok plot these days. cinematography is a form of art, but its been made into something totally for-fun and mindless lately. Ppl should question their lives more, get outside that box, LIFE for christs sake, only then will they appreciate a Good film.
btw bbvpennsylvania, i dont think the author was working in BB for the same reasons as u (purely $ since u go to college), u can clearly see he knows and appreciates movies and this job was supposed to be something more of a fulfillment for him… at least he didnt prostitute himself like u do for the $ and spoke his mind.
He cant get sued, he discussed mostly personal, employee info and simple stuff that im sure anyone can research about and read anytime they want.
One day I wanted to rent Close Encounters of the Third Kind, so my children could see it. I went to the neighborhood BB to rent … they didn’t have it. Called two others in the area. The folks I talked to acted like they’d never heard of it.
I really like the folks that work at my BB in Dallas —though they have a god awful selection … but and the reason I stumbled across this post is as follows:
The clerk suggests a movie called How to Rob a Bank —he seems cool from the other times I’ve dealt with him … but this movie … i mean I am not mad but baffled —how could anyone have thought it was a good movie? much less a video store employee … I mean I assume they work there out of a passion for film than the measly compensation … I don’t get it … and will he give me a credit if I go in and tell him he’s a nuts?
Even though I agree that you are entitled to your opinion, I have worked for Blockbuster Inc for 10 years and I do not agree with most of your statements. Until you reach a level of upper management. it is impossible for you to understand all the reasons that we do the things we do. I am not always happy with the corporation, yet is anyone ever 100% happy with their retail job 100% of the time? Everyone has their days. I would be interested to know what your job responsibilities were because I can tell you that Blockbuster is in the business of making money just like any other company but they are the 1st retail company I have seen that is so very passionate on a day by day basis about their employees and their customers. All I can say to you is grow up and find a job that you like, because this is the world of retail.
As I sat here and read everyone’s post, it has reminded me of my horrid experience with bbv. I had subscribed to the online program thinking that it would be nice for the $12.99 a month. Unlimited rentals. I did this knowing that there was no store close by for me to exchange. At first I didn’t have any problems. I would get the movies in two to three days after I sent one back. Then after a while (Fall of 2007), I noticed that I was not receiving my movies at all. They were saying that they were shipped and they arrived but I had no movie. Another week goes by until I receive the resent movie. This occurred back to back. It ended up that I only received two movies for the month. Then they politely informed me that they were going to raise my monthly fee. With the movies taking so long to receive and the price increase, it was cheaper to drop them. While I was dealing with their inability to ship the movies in a timely manner, I had the unfortunate experience of buying a movie from them online. DON’T DO IT!! They are liars and cheats when it comes to their shipping charges.
I purchased a movie from their website. I wanted it for a christmas present so I paid for the priority shipping which was like $6.00 or something like it. A couple dollars more than the 7-10 day shipping. They had listed on their site that the priority shipping would be 3-5 days arrival time. So I waited. And I waited some more. 7 days later and no movie I contacted them. They politely told me to wait three more days for the movie to arrive. I replied stating that I did not pay for the 10 day shipping and I wanted a refund. The movie arrived on the tenth day, damaged. They had shipped it media mail, which I know is not $6.00 and was not what I had paid for. I haven’t been back since.
LOL I AGREE WITH MOST OF THE EMPLOYEES ON HERE. THERE ARE REASONS WHY WE DO THE THINGS WE DO . AND EVERYONES ALREADY PUT U IN YOUR PLACE HOMIE SO IMA JUST LET IT GO HAHAA
working for this company is horse shit. and every one of you people who were fighting about the lazy employees…..guess what if you work your ass off like i do everyday you realize that if your not lazy you get taken advantage of. so fuck off you cum sucking losers who feel the need to fight with the top 10 lies blockbuster tells you. fuck off seriously.
Im a grade 11 student doing a franchise research assignment and my group chose blockbuster. and i have a question that i cant get answered anywhere else. GARGH.
does the corporate office give the franchisee any support? if so, what?
Wow. No, seriously. Wow. I work at a Blockbuster, and while I do love having a job and I do love the money it brings (though it’s nowhere near enough for me to live on should I move out to live on my own – even with a roommate), it gets really old, really fast. Especially when our store currently only has six employees – seven, as of the other day, but he probably won’t get any hours any time soon – and we have so much crap to do. Corporate won’t give us more hours, not even when all of the local schools were on break. This includes the university in our town. We’re a small town, with only two major video stores and one small one between this town and the small blip on the highway that passes itself off as a town. We need more hours, which they won’t give, and yet they’re forcing us to hire more people.
I’m seriously thinking of moving on to a different job entirely. And if another person asks me if I have the Happening (which sucked) or Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (which thoroughly raped my childhood), I’ll scream.
you’re an idiot for posting shit like this. no matter how much you hate blockbuster you shouldn’t pretty much GIVE dumbasses like yourself step by step instructions on how to steal shit from our stores, or how we’re “not allowed to chase after thieves.”
you’re a dick.
Fuck you has a great point… why would you tell people how to steal from Blockbuster? If you are wrong, and you are on a lot of things they will get caught because of your stupidity and if your right you have extremely poor ethics! Your post sounds to me lke your pissed you got fired,which means you loved your job and your hostile because you are a shitty employee and they finally got rid of you. As for what you wrt some is true, but you left out some very important facts. So here are the top ten reasons you don’t know what you are talking about…
10) It is true that managers can do credits for most things, it is also true that CSRs cannot! Managers have the power to give refunds for most things, but it is corporate policy that we don’t in many situations and I don’t know about you, but its not worth risking my job to give a customer back $100 charge for movies that weren’t returned for four months. Besides the worst that ever happens at Blockbuster is that you own the movie! You aren’t charged $3.00 a day in fees with nothing to show for it, but I’ll mention this later in reason #3.
9) I have heard many people say that the computers shut down at closing, but this isn’t to be rude to customers, at least not in my store! It is because like many businesses we have a set amount of hours our employees can work each week and we need to make sure the customers are out of the store within 10 to 15 minute of closing, not necessarily before we close like you stated. Do you complain at bars when they tell you last call a half hour before they close? True our computers don’t shut down, but it is a polite way to tell people that we are closing and I always follow it up with can I help you find something, so they don’t feel so rushed.
8) Bathrooms… are you kidding me! Yes its true a lot of theft happens in bathrooms and this is true in most businesses because it is illegal to have cameras in there, but that is NOT always why they are considered out of order, sometimes they really are. Also we do not tell people it is out of order, we keep it locked and show people who ask where it is and let them in ourselves, this way wehave a general idea who is in there and if they looked to be commiting theft.
7) Theft… fist off its not a metal detector! It is a security device that reads sensors that are in our movies. As far as being taught to do nothing when theft occurs this is total shit!! I have never been taught that, as a matter of fact I we catch quite a few theives in our store and we do all that we can to prevent it. I won’t mention the ways here, because I have morals and don’t want to help criminals steal, but just know you are being watched!
6) If you really were so lazy that you would fake a call instead of calling the other store you deserved to be fired and you are an ass! I have never done this and if customers want to check, just call the other store yourself and ask. Unlike you I like to know I helped someone, even if its not a movie that I would recommend!
5) The staff at Blockbuster varies as do the customers. In my store we have employees who enjoy classics, foriegn films, independent films, comedies, and the new no thought involved entertainment type films. We are all different , but the right employee can answer your questions. Obviously we don’t know everything, we don’t eat, sleep, and dream movies, but if you put us all together you find that we know quite a bit and if we don’t (at least in my store) we will try to figure it out. Oh and about thefilms you listed, I have seen 5 out of the 7 and I work at Blockbuster, so I guess that wasn’t accurate either!
4) I’m not really sure what your point is here, but I assume you mean that employees have posted stupid comments that customers have made. Possibly true, I don’t know, I sure haven’t, but I also haven’t called a customer a cunt, so maybe you are just around the wrong people!
3) Here is the biggest issue that Blockbuster emplyees deal with everyday… explaining the late fee policy! It is a good policy, especially if you are a responsible person! You rent a film, you have a minimum of nine days with it and then if you choose you can keep it and own it, or if you accidentally keep t too long you only end up paying $1.25. Sounds reasonable to me especially since at most places you would be charged anywhere form $1.00 to $3.00 a day past your due date and you DON’T get to keep the film. The downside… yes if you keep it 30 days past the due date you cannot bring it back, well lets compare…. at Blockbuster you rent a movie with a due date of two days, a seven day grace period, and a thiry return period and you keep it for 45 days (6 days past the return period) you pay between $10 and $30 depending on the film and what it would retail for (more if it is a game, but lets face it games are much more expensive), and you keep the movie, same as it woul cost to go out and buy the films, which you would have had to do anywhere else in order to have it for 45 days. Another rental store with late fees charges you the rental, which is probably $2.00 cheaper and it is due the next day, but you keep it for 45 days with a $2.00/day late fee, when you bring it back you now owe $88.00 and you don’t ge to keep the movie! I think you see my point! The only other option is using Netflix or Blockbuster.com in which case you would have paid for a month and a half membership to keep one film for 45 days, so it would cost you between $30 and $60. Still a better deal at the store!
2) Ok I’m not overly sure where you got your info about Blockbuster.com. Do you work for corporate? How the hell do you know why they do anything, you only worked there for 6 months and you obviously sucked as an employee, because it is pretty hard to get fired from Blockbuster! I don’t know why they started Blockbuster online, but I think it was a good idea, there are a lot of people who don’t have the time or don’t live close to a Blockbuster or any other rental store, so this makes getting moviemore convenient. Also there is a much larger selection online. It is just not possible for a Blockbuster store to carry every film that is out there, but online it’s much easier. Yes prices will change and have changed, but any goob business needs to adjust their prices to stay in business, check around I’m guessing that you aren’t still paying the same price you were two years ago on many of the things that you buy.
1) It is true a lot of customers come to rent the newest films and many do not know why they are even renting it other than the fact that there was a lot of hype abou that particular film, but that’s ok, how can yu find out what you like if you don’t try it first. I don’t NOT tell people that a film I disliked will be good, actually I tell many customers that I didn’t like it, but they need to make their own judgement. If they choose to not rent it because of me that is their choice, personally I thgought The Happening was terrible, but I have spoken to some customers who liked it. The point is we don’t all have the same taste in films and we don’t all like the same things, if you didn’t like chicken and a waitress recomended it would you order it? Same with films, if you like action films and I recommend a comedy why would you rent it?
All of your points come dwn to customer service and it sounds like that was yor weak point, so yes I am betting that most of this was true when you were workng and I feel sorry for the customers that were treated so poorly by you, but that is not how it is everywhere and it comes down to hiring the right people, you were NOT one of thos and I’m guessing that you store manager was very happy to see you go!!!
I am a manager at a Blockbuster store in Australia. I must say I agree with about 25% of what you had to say. I have worked for the company for a lot longer than you did, with many different managers and at different stores. My job at Blockbuster is the best fucken job I’ve ever had. I laugh at some of the points you brought up such as closing 5 mins early, I make up similar excuses but I can vouch for most of my staff being fairly decent movie and game buffs. Oh and we still have late fees down under but it’s 50% off if you pay on return. Any way my point is that apparently it’s much better working for Blockbuster Australia than for Blockbuster U.S.A. =)
First off,
I work for a store in Rochester, New York. Which is a test market for Blockbuster. We change our policy almost once or even twice a quarter and the customers keep coming back. The fact is that all of our customers love the environment they come into. Our team at our store meets and greets all of our customers, and we all do a good job at knowing what we need to know about the job, movie and product knowledge and all that!!! There is the occasional lie to a customer about how the computers dont work five minutes to close because of the reasons stated above. And the whole credit issue. In our store only managers can do credits, because they have been trained to use their judgement, and have the ability to solve customer disputes. Just because you dont excell in the field of customer service, does not mean that blockbuster as a corporation doesnt excell. You are just angry beause you got fired because you’re an idiot. Like stated in the other posts, stick to criticizing everyone else, and not looking back at yourself for the issue.
Hello,
just read some of this article and its wrong. I work for blockbuster and we do call other stores i know the number by heart. I think this person has alot of facts wrong but its a waste of my time go to the store and find out your self and stop being so stupid. This guy was most likely fired for a reason. Also I have told people that a moive sucks all the time its just a rental I’d rather tell you it sucks then waste your time, and not come back next time.
I also work in a Blockbuster store in the Rochester, NY area, and I agree with the two other posts that the guy that wrote the original article really didn’t get all of his facts right. I have worked for Blockbuster for a long enough time to realize that Blockbuster is really starting to turn the corner. We’ve got a long haul ahead of us, but Blockbuster’s future is looking brighter and brighter all the time. Set top boxes, test markets, in-store downloads, electronics, gaming systems, accessories,, etc.
The things this person described in the article about the service that a Blockbuster employee provides is a bunch of baloney! It’s those kind of employees that are best to avoid hiring from the start!! I’ve never had an employee pretend to call another store, I’ve never kept a disgusting restroom, I’ve only had to tell a customer that the computer would “shut down on it’s own” once, because it was 15 minutes after we closed, and I had asked him to bring his movies to the counter twice already.
As a manager, my team has the know-how and the skills to perform credits when necessary. However, in the past I have run into situations where customers try to take advantage of employees that are “too nice”. Those customers would ask for credits for movies that “didn’t play” 5 visits in a row, etc. This is why credits are given at the employees discretion. I have never had an employee flat out lie to a customer and tell them that they “couldn’t” do anything unless they actually couldn’t do it.
As far as the whole theft issue goes, there are ways of catching thieves… And the best way that I have found for catching them is not letting them steal in the first place! In my past, I have found (and firmly believe) that the best theft deterrent is excellent customer service. Like Blockbuster tells us, greeting customers, using eye contact when they enter the store, and providing service on the floor are excellent ways to deter thieves.
Now. Movie buffs… It is part of our job to watch movies. And I believe that a large majority of Blockbuster employees take full advantage of this part of the job. I enjoy the fact that the staff in my store has a pretty wide range of favorite genres. Most of the time, there is someone working that can provide recommendations to any customer.
And the whole “No Late Fees” thing… Boy oh boy. Seriously. What do you think customers would do without the “restocking fee”??? THEY WOULD KEEP THEIR MOVIES!! The restocking fee is simply a deterrent to get customers to return their movies in a somewhat timely manner. If customers don’t return them, then there is nothing for the next customer to rent. It’s Blockbuster’s way of keeping a balanced inventory and keeping their customer happy. They can find the movie on the shelf, and then, if they choose, they can keep that movie for a LONG TIME, and watch it 15 times, and ONLY have to pay $1.25 for having kept it that long. Rochester is currently a test market for a different rental pricing structure, and the whole “No Late Fees” thing isn’t part of it. If I’m correct though, customers are given 2 days for a new release and a week for a non-new release, and then a week grace period in which to return their movie with no charge at all. If a customer can’t watch a movie in 9/14 days, then it seems only fair that there should be some sort of consequence. And I feel that paying $1.25 is not that bad.
What this ex-employee said really frustrates me. From my past, I have found that there are many unahppy employees and ex-employees throughout the country. Maybe it’s just the ex-employees… Who knows… This makes me just that much happier to be working in the Rochester area. I have found that in general, Blockbuster employees around here are happy ones. They enjoy their jobs, the movies, and their customers! Imagine that! LOL.
I worked for Blockbuster in the Phoenix area for 2 years. I started at a minimum wage CSR (Customer Service Rep) and was promoted 3 times to eventually end up at Assisstant Manager (to 3 different managers). I will say, that while many of the things you have said can be considered to be the truth, its only in the point of view of one person. My experience with the company was a mostly positive one. Although i didn’t like doing it, i called other nearby stores for movies, i was being paid $11.00 an hour, and being on the phone with another employee isn’t too bad.
I only personally (I had passwords for literally everything) used the “I can’t do that” excuse a few times, and only when, i couldn’t perform the action without getting in trouble for doing so. I could do anything that was asked, but putting my job on the line to make one guy who’s dogs like to eat movies happy wasn’t worth it to me.
The computer shuts down early is not a common excuse. If the store was empty 5 minutes before closing sure, i’d lock the door, but to lie to a customer and rush them out of the store is crap, i don’t know about you, but the more money my store made, the bigger my bonus (and yes, even the lower level employees bonus), and i’ve sold several hundreds of dollars worth of crap within the last 5 minutes. We made up for not closing early by closing fast. Never took longer than 20 minutes after the door closed, and technically, we are scheduled to be there until 30 minutes past closing, so we’re still leaving early.
Sorry the restroom is broken? Was everyone you worked with really that lazy they couldn’t clean their own piss off the seat once a week? What you really mean to say is that your such a lousy employee you can’t take the time off from staring at ceiling to walk a little girl to the restroom. (Ours had a lock, and we didn’t allow anyone into the restroom with anything that could hide tons of movies, come to think of it, no one ever tried)
like the person said above, you don’t need to tackle a thief to stop them. We had a couple of very clever thieves throughout my time at Blockbuster, all of which were caught eventually and arrested. You know how? Video cameras. We’d find stolen movies, cases slashed up, security devices removed with tweezers, we even had a person who would bring in blank cd’s, remove security devices, exchange the blank one for the real dvd, lock up the movie/game again, and leave. Its not hard to catch em if your paying attention. At one point or another they’ll make a mistake of some sort, and its as easy as following them around and keeping an eye on them. They steal, we have em on video tape, next time we see em, we’re ready for em. The only way to truly get away with it is to steal once and leave, or be a clever employee, i got away with about 5 or 6 grand worth of stuff during my time as an employee (WHAT!? i never said i was innocent!)
good movies are everywhere. Sure a store might have those employees who like crappy movies, or have bas taste (or like a manager i had, didn’t even like to watch movies) but that isn’t a company wide thing. Its not like the company trains and brainwashes its employess to only watch crap, in fact, it encourages the opposite, and every manager type employee has the power (even though most will deny it, simply because its WORK) to promote and arrange the store any way the please. I personally kept up a must see section (8 movies wide, 4 shelves high) of must see movies, that were updated regularly as well as an “Employees Favorites” section of which mine included movies at one time or another like “The Jacket”, “Pulp Fiction”, “Boondock Saints”, The complete Firefly series and goofy comedies like “Galaxy Quest” and “Army of Darkness” (long live bruce campbell). I even got permission to display advertisements for “Rifftrax” a website run by the old Mystery Science Theatre 3000 guys, where they make fun of modern movies.
and the late fee’s? Does anyone else remember the glorious days of the 5$ a day after the due date that got blockbuster sued in the first place? Sure i had people complain about the $1.25 and those are probably the morons limiting themselves to the redbox these days, but most complaints were dealt with by saying this “Do you like to be able to rent any movie you want?” Costumer – Yes, of course. “IF we didn’t charge you anything, there would be no movies”. Costumer A – good point. or Costumer B – Bullshit, i’m leaving. easy as pie to deal with, if they can’t handle a $1.25 then i don’t want to explain to them the the Wii game the were going to rent before they found out they had a fee, required a credit card on file, and a Pre Auth check for $1.00, as well as an automatic $60 charge, rather than a $1.25 if they didn’t bring that one back. =)
And for the number 1 lie?
some people want to be lied to. Thats why you say like i did “It depends on what type of movies you like”. My opinion was my opinion and if people really wanted the truth it came with a disclaimer. I would happily tell people the movie they couldn’t wait to see was the biggest piece of over advertised bullshit this entire year, you know why? Cause they don’t care, they’ll get it anyway. And if they feel the same way? BAM you just made a loyal costumer who WILL take your advice and will morph into a real human being who likes good movies. Otherwise, they just won’t agree with you, and no one cares. SO why lie? Cause you yourself are lazy and think that because you can appreciate great movies (like Hard Candy) everyone else is a bag of retarded mush.
As for me, why am i an ex employee?
No i didn’t get caught stealing.
No i didn’t quit because i’m a lazy whiny little bitch who can’t stand people.
No i wasn’t scared of the HUGE Juno craze and the 14 year old prego girls that rushed the store for 2 weeks straight.
I turned my manager in for fraud, he happened to be fired, and then i found out he was related to his boss, who then fired me for unrelated reasons (not really)
sucks to be me.
-Jeff
i literally cannot count the number of times the writer used the word “literally”. it’s sprinkled throughout the article like salt.
WOW! I WORKED FOR BLOCKBUSTER FOR 6 AWESOME YEARS 5 OF WHICH I WAS THE STORE MANAGER….THERE MAY BE SOME TRUTHS TO YOUR 10MLIES BUT THAT WOULD BE DUE TO A POORLY TRAINED STAFF……YOU WERE EMPLOYED BY BBV FOR A WHOLE 6 MONTHS….DUDE YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE WORST OF IT…IT IS WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT. I SPEAK ON BEHALF OF THE STORE MANAGERS WHO TAKE PRIDE I N TRAINING A CSR/SHIFT LEAD TO SERVE OUR CUSTOMERS TO THE FULLEST. YOU CANNOT SPEAK FOR ALL OF BBV EMPLOYEES WHO WERE TRAINED PROPERLY AND BECAME VERY SUCCESSFUL IN THERE DUTIES SOME OF WICH ARE NOW DM’S. THOSE OF YOU WHO THOUGHT WORKING FOR BBV WAS STUPID THAT WHAT YOU THINK……..BBV TAKE VERY GOOD CARE OF THEIR EMPLOYEES…WHEN YOU ARE A 5 YEAR STRONG DM MAKING $80,000 CAN’T REALLY COMPLAIN TO MUCH. AGAIN I SAY IT IS WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT. SUCKS THAT YOU ONLY LASTED 6 MONTHS…TOO BAD THAT WAS 6 MONTHS OF WASTED SPACE ON A BBV PAYROLL.
i have never seen so many people so pissed off over something so stupid (albeit cool)
WWII was pussy compared to this shit
I like the ‘Sorry Dog’!
Just to clarify one point of the many that you made incorrectly, they $1.25 restocking fee covers the company’s cost to call the customer with reminder calls and to send one or two postcards. The agency who handles that does not work for free. It also mildly covers the fact that a customer who keeps a movie for 5+ days past the due date also inhibits the company from making money on that rental again. If you keep the hottest movie for 25 days, it never gives them a chance to make money on that movie again. I think $1.25 is a bargain compared to $5 every two days. I am no “company man” or anything, but you just do not understand the meaning of things that a corporation does to stay profitable.
Haha, this forum is still going on for over two years.
Haha, this thread is still going on for over two years.
After reading this article and many comments–some bombastic, others sweet with brevity–I have to pitch in my two cents.
There was a comment made that states that the author is a lazy, whiny employee who cannot find another job. While I do not know the circumstances of the author, I can say that he is a very adept writer capable in expressing his opinions with cogent and sound examples–examples I can agree with.
As a law clerk who is on his way to graduate school, I decided to take a weekend job at Blockbuster to earn some extra cash and utilize my downtime. I guess you can say that I am thankfully no “deadbeat” or “whiny, lazy employee.” (Though this is not to say that any other employee of Blockbuster is any of the kind.)
I have come to realize during my less-than-a-year employment at Blockbuster that this author’s claims are very spot on, adhering as closely to the truth as possible. I have slowly come to despise what Blockbuster is, and plan to only stay there for a couple more months.
Some of the things that really irk me are: Policies regarding pay (didn’t get paid time-and-a-half for July 4th); their so-called “late fees”; overpriced merchandise (I sometimes tell people to go somewhere else for better prices or try the library); their illogical reasoning to destroy ANYTHING (i.e., brand new or perfectly fine merchandise and DVDs) that doesn’t sell, rather than donating it to some charity; and the fact that there is a generally small audience that tends to enjoy “quality” films.
It’s true that a lot of the customers at my store rent movies just because they’re new. They’ve paid ridiculous amounts of money on special programs just so they can satiate their dull tastes.
I myself have never gone into the store blindly to get something that was on the new shelf, or just to browse. Whenever I walk into a video-renal store, I have something in mind; if it’s out of stock, I walk out with my money in my pocket.
I have recommended countless classics, and people only want something that’s new. I even heard someone reject a film because the actor was “old and boring.”
Only two more months (at most) of this employment experience, God willing, and I’m off to hopefully never set foot in a Blockbuster again. Unless it’s to use the fluid-caked bathroom.
Okay, I am currently working at a Blockbuster. Heres the deal. Blockbuster started in 1985 as one store in texas, and in the mid 90’s, became the dominant in the movie and game rental buisness worldwide. In response to losing millions on late fees, yes that is true, but in 2004, other movie rental buissness got bigger and we were losing. present day is that Hollywood Video , and all other local movie places in my area went out of buissness. So while we lost milions, we would have lost so much more to our competitors. We have now updated our P.O.S so that we can look up a movie in another store, which is awsome, because i agree that calling another store sucks.
Now that Netflix, and Red bOx are so big, Blockbuster is making changes. First off, we are redoing our website and online rental to better serve everyone. we will no longer be charging 4.99 a rental, but instead be launchinh the ” Choose your terms” program. with this program, you will rent movies for a dollar a day, or 5 dollars for 7 days, or 21 dollars for 30 days. but, it reintroduces late fees, which are going to be .99 cents a day, which is much better than the 2.99 it was before we got rid of them. we will also be changing our game rental policy which will bring the amount down a dolar or two. and for your info, it costs so much to rent a game because we spend retail, 59.99 on each game , its not like we get a discount, so we have to make our profit. it actually ends up costing us money to have some of our games on the shelf, so we are amking a sacrafice.
second of all, and this is already happening, u can now download movies from our site to your computer , ipod, or pc compatible television. u can buy the download, or rent it.
third, we now rent games online,which is why u cannot acess or website at the moment, becuase we are adding that to the site.
fourth, move over redbox, we are taking the lead. Along with our soon to be lowered rental fees, we are releasing “Blue Box”. 3000 of them will be up and running by december 2009. they have twice the storage space of a redbox, and will also have retail,a dn u can trade in movies and games. we will aslo allow u to reserve a movie on our website and pick it up. a total of 12000 will be around by june next year, in comparison to redboxes 15000, but we have 8000 stores worldwide. these will be placed in areas where our stores arent close by. we are looking into placing them at best buys. and other places.
Blockbuster faces a tough economy, andhas to do there best to compete, i agree that we need to update our computers, but when the recession hit this year, we lost 350 million dollars in sales, so we had to recover, which meant no new computers, or remodeling the rest of our stores.
onel last thing blockbuster has done, is made a deal with some studios where we can release a movie up to a month before anyone else can, its called ” Blockbuster Premire”
i will keep u posted on other changes
as far as destroying the discs, um, we dont loose money on that, the studios buy them back from us, and give us credit to buy more movies from them. if we donated them, we would loose a ton of money. we do throw some away, thats true, but the ones we send back make us money.
dave is absolutley correct, the 1.25 only covers like 60% of the cost, so we still loose money.
it is now policy that we cannot write ur credit card number on the form, u have to give us the card so we can type the number inot the computer, all we write on the form is the last four digits,and all we can see on the compuet is the last four digits. we have no way to use the number for purchase
I worked at Hollywood Video for 3 years, a major competitor of Blockbuster.
Regarding so-called “deals”, “promotions” or the laughable “playguard” disc insurance, I can tell you Hollywood Video is just as bad, just as corrupt, and just as dishonest as BB seems to be. The only difference, HV still has late fees and will charge you up the ass for them.
I once had a woman threaten to call the attorney general of the United States if I didn’t take off her $13 late fee.
Regarding customers, it’s not just video store frequenters that are dumb, ignorant, and self-righteous. Anyone who has ever held a customer service job in any industry can attest that all of humanity is dumb, ignorant, and self-righteous.
dude ur whole top 10 is complete bullshit. we do use a point of sale system and we do credits to people who may have a legit excuse, but fuck the customers who had a movie for 3 months and decide to return it. As far as the systems shutting down yeah its a lie but fuck it Im sick and tired of people coming in 1 minute before we close and feel obligated to walk around the new release wall for 20 minutes. No store I repeat no store lets you stay in past closing. Who gives a shit what your favorite movie is. Blade runner blows ass by the way. If her favorite movie was rumor has it who gives a shit. The no late fee’s thing is right but people deserve a 1.25 restocking fee if they are late past 20 days.
The bathroom being broke is the right thing to say. A blockbuster video is not obligated to hold a customer working bathroom. You really are a fucking idiot. I bet your fucking paki ass got fired for being a fucking douche bag.
hey dumbf*ck, who told you this guy represents pakistan?
i bet you were a result of a broken condom
I worked for Blockbuster Video for 2 years, mostly as a shift leader and outside of the Netflix thing, (which technically is not a lie), we never did any of those things. I think the only lie we ever told was “sorry, there are no copies of the movie you are looking for in the drop box” when we had not checked every single freaking one because we are to busy with the 18 million other customers.
Oh, and not only am I a movie buff, but I have a well established tv and movie podcast to prove it. =)
WOW thats a lot of comments. I would just like to say I have worked for Blockbuster for over 12 years I am A store manager. Some things I have read are true but most of them are false. It does sound like you are the type of employee I would not like working for me. I think everyone needs to remember that like the rest of the world the employees at Blockbuster are just people like you, your friends and family.And like the majority of people they work hard and want to be appreciated. They have all the same problems that the rest of you. Yes if you have a significant problem you should talk to a store manager directly not because a cashier can’t help you but the store manager with years of experience is better qualified to. Also keep in mind Blockbuster is a business like any other and we do need to see a profit. Why do we need to see a profit? The same reason all company’s do, to pay it’s employees so they can afford to live.And i’m not talking about just the cashiers and support staff at head office i’m including all the vendors utilities and anything else that we support as a business. No one or no thing is perfect but we as a society seem to forget that. But as a society we strive to do our best help as many as we can and live happy lives. At my store we do not have a perfect store because there is no such thing but I work over 50 hours a week not because I have to but because I try and help my staff and customers as much as I can, and I do it while continuing my education.Please if anyone reads this please keep in mind the rule I live by treat others the way you would want to be treated. It goes both ways in front of or behind the cash.
People are always SO ready to argue….I think that was funny as shit…
UGh BLOCKBUSTER SUCKS. I WORKED THERE UNTIL 2 MONTHS AGO.
they have terrible movies and the ones that are good that they actually carry are sold out by the night on a weekend. we had video messages every week to watch from the top dog at corporate and all he kept saying was we not trying so hard to get more copies of the good ones out to you guys.
HA!
Blockbuster is a joke. Systems are like 500000 years old, that have problems at least twice a day. UGH isnt this the year 2009???! blockbuster is a cheap business trying to shake as much money as they can from the customers they still actually have!
word of advice…. get a blockbuster movie pass for 30 days for 20-30 dollars and download your trial of clone dvd.
Youll be able to own all the movies you want for a fraction of the cost!
You can go 5 times a day if you want.
Just start a collection
<3
ity of God
Anthony, anthony, anthony…..
You definitely have a lot of hatred. Have you thought about receiving psychological help?
While your article tickled me in places, I have to make the following point.
I have been in Blockbuster for 8 years as a Store Manager and have never worked with a team of people who DONT know their movies. If you rent Date Movie we will tell you it’s the worse piece of shit on the planet, and will happily sit talking to you about how the Japanese horror films are much better than their stupid American remakes (Ring, Grudge, Tale of Two Sisters etc)
Oh and for the record, as a Blockbuster manager, I have seen Fight Club, Gone with the Wind (which is rubbish btw get over it), Citizen Kane, City of God, and Cassablanca.
Though I might just have to see The Wild Bunch now.
Love movies…. stop the hatred.
The 30 day “turninyourmovieorit’syourbaby” policy has changed you now are charged the restock fee after ten days AND the cost of the movie then you get ten more days then the cost of the movie is permanent. Games now have late fees of .99 cents a day for 9 days then on the tenth day you are charged the cost of the game on your credit card. No credit card on the account? No games for you.
By the way Dave i am a shift manager and The Spirit is the worst movie out right now. Land of the Lost is very close to making me want to put out a hit on Will Ferrell. Can’t wait until Direct Access starts but i am planning on leaving my store to work a day job.
I like the honesty. You need to work on your language though…it rots!
It exposes your intellect a bit too much…we don’t need to know how
intelligent you are…we get it…you worked at blockbuster…your english doesn’t have to support what we already figured out…thanks though…
OK, this post might be a little old so I’m going to fix a few facts. To number 10. “sorry I can’t do that”. If you are a CSR, chances are you cannot do a credit. Even though the system is old, a cashier can be blocked from doing certain credits. So, 99% of the time when they say they can’t do it, they really can’t. You have to call in a manager, and depending on the type of manager, they might not even have the log in to do it.
#9- Never has anyone said our computer “locks down” 5 minutes before closing. If you don’t want to help customers 5 minutes to closing you lock the door. That is another stupid lie.
#8- Restroom isn’t broken, most blockbusters do not have a public bathroom. We aren’t supposed to let people in the employee bathroom, but we do anyways. And when we do, the people always end up taking dumps. Don’t be offended if we tell you no.
#7 – There is so many laws protecting the consumer. If someone were to steal something, we have to actually witness them and call them out on it. Every store gets stolen from and we have locks and jewel cases to protect new movies. Nothing is perfect.
# 6. Yes, we really check. It’s not that hard to press a button to check to see what other stores carry it and personally, it is really stupid to lie. If they say they can’t check other stores inventory, tell them to status it and press PF4. And they are a total idiot if they lie to you.
#5 – Who really calls themselves a movie buff? Just because we work at a movie rental store, does not mean we have seen every single movie. Rarely anyone will actually call themselves a movie buff. Who cares what movies the workers has seen. Maybe some people don’t watch the Godfather, great movie, but it is not required to get a job with blockbuster.
#4 – ??????? I don’t work with people who are that dumb.
#3 – I’ll give you that. We don’t call them “late fees” but they are an extra charge. Depending on where you are it’s a “daily rate” or “restocking fee”. But come on, there are due dates for a reason. If there were no late fees, people would pay $4 for a movie and never return it, how can a corporation make money like that? We’d have no inventory for other customers.
#2 – Netflix has just as many benefits and flaws as blockbuster does. With blockbuster, you get free instore exchanges and also coupons for free movie rentals each month. I don’t think Netflix does that….
#1 – Why lie about a movie? I make $8 and hour and make no commission. If I think a movie sucks, I’ll tell you the truth. Same with my co-workers.
so, I’m also an employee for BBV
To all you customers, please look at late fees this way.
cuz right now, this is how the new policy is.
you’ve got ten days for any rental. TEN FUCKING DAYS
then they charge you for the movie- which can range from like 3.99- to 21.99
[NOTE: if you rented a t.v. show, it will be much higher, because you bought part of a set, thus ruining it for everyone else who wants to rent the tv series. Thanks asshole who never brought back “24” Season 1 Disc 1]
after they charge you, you have an additional 10 days to bring it back for a refund of everything but the 1.25 restocking fee/late fee [whatever u wanna call it]
personally, since we have to restock it, I think that 1.25 should go in a tip jar…..but That’s why Corporate doesn’t let me make Decisions.
so to make sure we all understand this, IF YOU KEEP A MOVIE FOR 20 DAYS YOU CANT GET A REFUND!
what do you expect?
what can we do with it now?
It probly would have gotten rented a few times by now making more than what ur paying for it, and then it would have gotten switched to PRP [Previously Rented Product] where we could pick up another 15 bucks off it. but you kept it for this long devaluing the product, just by keeping it past it’s HOT NEW RELEASE status.
!REMEMBER!—-people only get movies because they’re new. Not because it’s good.
who will get the movie now that it’s lost it’s “Hot New Release” sticker?
but common sense doesn’t work to someone who has to pay a balance of “127.61” [this happened to me a week ago]
so here’s the deal, for all you dumb ass customers who got a large balance and don’t wanna pay it, [or at least all of it]
JUST BE FUCKING NICE.
stop being nasty to the employees, like we owe you something, or like we get paid more by screwing you over.
I get no satisfaction seeing people rack up late fees, I warn everyone about the game late fee policy change
[ they just brought late fee’s back for games this past october, I’ve been telling people even now in Jan.]
It won’t do me any good to see you pay more, and I’ll do what I can to make sure you don’t. but who wants to help someone who’s nasty?
NOT ME!
so be nice, and I’ll make sure that we can get as much stuff taken off as possible. I’m pretty sure that’s the case for 80% of the employees.
but don’t cry to me about restocking/late fees.
it’s bullshit, you got 10 days to return a fucking movie, no excuses.
and to all the people who did return movies only to find out an employee failed to actually check them in:
I’m actually sorry, it’s just part of the whole “we just hired a newbie” thing. it’s usually the only thing we have them do, just grab returns and check them in. The first week, we get like 20 FOS [Found on Shelf] returns.
I’m serious, tho about the whole “be nice” thing. be really nice, AND PERSISTANT when trying to talk down a balance on ur account. Dont get nasty at all. it won’t do any good.
and don’t try to run any scams at blockbuster, cuz we’ll blacklist your account. whenever we pull up you’re account there’ll be a big flashing black and yellow sign that says
CUST TRIED TO GIVE ME A FAKE 50 BILL, BE CAREFUL-
I have had a Blockbuster online/delivery account during the period of transition into “no late fees” at store locations. Even at the best of times, Blockbuster service was not as good as what I encounter with Netflix.
My nearest store location, Bakersfield (White Lane) is “managed” by a middle-aged, rode hard and put away wet, former meth-head who acts like she tows the company line while robbing the store herself. I’ve watched this lady haul out boxes of merchandise (unless she’s a collector of some kind who buys 3 of everything) and then preaches to customers what a problem with theft her store has. WOW! WTF? That lady’s a freak, and needs to go back to rehab before she goes back to jail.
JUST AN UPDATE!!!!
BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO STORES WILL CEASE TO EXIST IN ABOUT 5 YEARS. OR ATLEAST 60% OF THEM AROUND THE WORLD. ALL REMAINING STORES AT THAT TIME WILL CONSIST OF ONLY RETAIL PRODUCTS AND NO RENTALS!!!! BLOCKBUSTER NO LONGER OFFERS RAISES TO THERE EMPLOYEE’S. I HAVE BEEN THERE FOR 2 YEARS AD GOTEN NO RAISE AT ALL. PLUS THE REGIONAL OFFICE FOR MY DISTRICT CLOSED AND EVERYONE IN IT FIRED INCLUDING A COUPLE MANAGERS. I AM NOW GONNA BE WORKING AT THE WALGREENS DOWN THE ROAD WHERE THEY GIVE RAISES.
I’ am a phoenix resident who rents from block buster on a regular basis
i never ask nor care what the employees reccomend i have my own mind
and i already know what is good and what is not.
What i would like to know is why is blockbuster shooting itself in the foot
over and over again? now they charge the same price for an older movie
as they do for new releases ? that doesn’t make any sense! not when i can buy that same movie for the same price.
Btw just because someone rents from blockbuster does not make them a “slack jawed idiot”
i can certainly understand hating the company you used to work for trust me on this i worked for FRYS FOOD AND DRUG for 16ys not 6 months so i know what i’m talking about
but it wouldn’t be right for me to say that every person who shops there is a complete moron, sometimes it better just to keep that kind of thing to ourselves……and never do business with them again…ever.
BLOCKBUSTER IS NO DIFFERENT FROM OTHER COMPANIES. IT HAS ITS SHARE OF BAD EMPLOYEES JUST LIKE THE OTHERS. AS A MIDDLE-AGE PERSON I HAVE SEEN A TREND? TOWARDS THE LACK OF A GOOD WORK ETHIC AMONG THE YOUNGER GENERATION.( NOT TRUE OF ALL OF THEM) BUT A LOT OF THEM DO NOT SEEM TO CARE. NOW WHERE DOES THIS START??
hahahaha this is so true “no late fees” along time ago I found “god of war” in my garage in the blockbuster package and havent returned it to this day.
BLOCKBUSTER IS NO DIFFERENT FROM OTHER COMPANIES. IT HAS ITS SHARE OF BAD EMPLOYEES JUST LIKE THE OTHERS. AS A MIDDLE-AGE PERSON I HAVE SEEN A TREND? TOWARDS THE LACK OF A GOOD WORK ETHIC AMONG THE YOUNGER GENERATION.( NOT TRUE OF ALL OF THEM) BUT A LOT OF THEM DO NOT SEEM TO CARE. NOW WHERE DOES THIS START??
hahahaha this is so true “no late fees” along time ago I found “god of war” in my garage in the blockbuster package and havent returned it to this day.
This is slightly unfair. I work at a blockbuster currently and most of us are really into movies. I've seen over 1300 movies. I will also tell people if a movie is not so good, or if I've heard bad things about it. I've never faked a phone call. I've never posted things on the internet, but we do talk about customers and share stories later. Some of this stuff is true.
I worked at Blockbuster for more than 2 years and much of what you had on here is untrue, at least in my store's case.
I work at Blockbuster and everyone there knows there stuff about movies, so don't tell me about what we do and don't know honey.
Hollywood Video is very much the same. Only now they are out of business. Could be a trend? I think so!
I work with the guy with a vanity license plate reading “WOOKIEE” and a son with the middle name “Vader.” And yes he does say-The computers lock down five minutes before closing time – we can’t do anything about it
He does not close anymore, so you don’t have to worry about him anymore. I worked for this company for 6 years and I don’t think any “renter” realizes how stressful this company can be.
I can rent about a lot of stuff, but I will just say this. If you want to really help your blockbuster the best thing you can do it buy something other than a movie, maybe ask the person ringing you up, what are you pushing right now. Maybe its a candy bundle for $3. If the employee sees you one or twice a week it would be nice to do this.
Yes blockbuster sits and edits every movie that studios send them…give me a break. The only thing that blockbuster edits is their own trailer. Idk maybe because they want to keep it a family store.
I work at a blockbuster now…..this is 100% true.
Hating people? Sounds like my kind of job…
I worked at Blockbuster for about a year in Oklahoma. I started out as a shift lead then was made a assistant store manager like 2 months after I was hired. I worked for Hollywood Video before making the switch to Blockbuster Video. I soon saw that I had made a mistake. Blockbuster was a horrible place to work for. The district manager made me cry on several occasions. He loved to threaten people if we didn't get the online memberships sold. I hated having to call in and tell J.J. how many we had for the night because if it was a low number you were going to get yelled at. I felt like I was in the army. Blockbuster drove themselves into the ground. I love how other businesses such as Family Video, Hasting's and others are claiming they knocked out the competition. In all fairness it was Blockbuster themselves, Redbox and Netflix!!!! I am not sad to see Blockbuster Video go. I honestly believe the whole retail industry is headed to boxes and online renting. People would rather swipe a card or go online then go to the stores and actually have to deal with employees. I don't blame them. I would too. I hate going to Wal-Mart because the cashiers are always rude. Either they ignore you completely or they stand there and talk to co-workers or texing on their phones. Retail is dead. With this article I don't agree with a few things. I am a movie buff. I watch a ton of movies. I know my stuff when it comes to movies. That is why I worked at video stores. I never lied to people about movies. If I didn't like a movie I always gave my honest opinions. If I did like a movie I would give them my thoughts. If I haden't watched a movie I would tell them I haven't seen it yet. Why lie about that? There is no point. Whenever I called another store, I actually called other stores. I didn't call fake numbers or my cell number. The restroom thing is just trying to prevent theft and I could agree with that. The only time we locked up 5 minutes early was when we would have dead nights and haden't had very many customers that night. I think whoever posted this article had a horrible trainer. On the same note though, Blockbuster sucks anyway. The Blockbuster in Yukon, Oklahoma closes in 5 days. That place was bad. I would go help over at that store and OMG people would wipe poop on the bathroom walls. Who does stuff like that? GROSS!!!!! I say party when every last door is closed at Blockbuster and Blockbuster Video is gone forever!! Good Riddance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
heres some sites to watch free movies
http://www.chan961.com/
http://www.watchit3.com/
enjoy!
Well, we can add a new Blockbuster Strategy. I did a trial membership and canceled in May. 2009. I noticed a charge on my credit card in Feb from them and started the process of contacting them. They had been charging me since June, 2009. I requested a refund. I had canceled and they, I believe now, just ignored it. Never rented a video, used the service, nothing. I did not authorize them to charge my card.
They call it fraudulent, someone had used my card???
No, I used the card for the trial membership, the usual.
They cannot refund me my money because it is a fraudulent account. They have 97.40 of my money and will not give it back, not even in credit, nor membership, nada.
Today I was graciously offered one month membership, ($8.99) value, for which I have to, yes!, secure with my credit card.
Can anyone help me take them on?
This is SO not right.
Millie Spearman
So a new policy is to ignore trial membership cancellations, keep charging the customer, then refusing to return their money?
I hope you still exist. Customer care supervisor Mr. Edwards has told me “the buck stops here, Mrs Spearman. You are NOT getting your money back, nor store credit, nor services for anything.”
I need serious help here. It's a very serious thing Blockbuster is doing…
This “article”/ opinion piece is really old and most of this does not even apply anymore- like rental terms.
It sounds like this person was a horrible employee who treated customers like crap, and not everyone treats their customers that way. It's not a surprise that this person was fired from blockbuster. Blockbuster typically fires anyone who mistreats and lies to customers.
As to a previous comment, there are corporate stores and franchises, so you may find different programs at different stores. Not every blockbuster is the same.
The blockbuster video gripe was from an ex-employee (obvious or not?)
I don’t like it when idiots try to sway public opinion. Anthony Birch is most likely a loser (I’d say F-ing idiot, but this is the internet!)
I wonder why he might be bitter? Could he have caused it on his own?
Steve
I forgot-I suggest Anthony Burch, or whoever he might be, apologize to the Blockbuster Corporation “PUBLICLY”. If not, I choose this battle to participate in! If everything you have said is correct, then sit back and relax. If not, apologize, or look out!! People are tired of cry babies who can’t keep jobs!!!!!!
Steve
Wow this guy is true arsehole, just cos he was shite at his job doesn’t make everyother person who works for the company one. And besides, nearlly all his comments are US centric. Half of what he says doesnt apply to the UK branches anyway, what a short sighted wanker this bloke must be to think that his pisspoor service can translate to an international company – what a douch.
I’ve worked in 5 store over my 4 years at blockbuster as a lowly customer service rep, and I can tell you that most of the staff are into their films, we get 10 (nearly) free rentals per week that we for the most past use, true, that at some point or another we might just get a little sick of taking our minimum paid wage slave job home with us, and we might not watch any films for a few weeks; or heavens above, we might have University work that take precident… Point being, we all try to be good at our job, we all try to watch films we might not personally watch just so we can better advise customers on what-is and what is-not shit.
Bassically please keep your i’ll informed opinions to your self
I wish I would of gotten to work with you during my blockbuster days which ended last week due to , “mass layoffs in the local area”. I only want to add 1 lie to your list, and it comes from corporate to the store employees. “Your job is safe! (as he mumbles … for now)”
My entire store staff was laid off so that the staff from a closing store could take over. At least I got a good laugh out of it as I am 6 ft 2 weighing in at 190 and the guy who was sent to fire me was all of 5 ft 90 pounds. I never thought I would ever see a middle aged man shit his pants until I started screaming, telling him to go fuck himself with the unemployment packet he was trying to give me. Well, anyways thought I would share that fun little story. By the way great article. I used all this bullshit to a T. except we liked to set our phone clocks forward by 15 minutes just to hold it up to the locked door that the last minute ass holes were standing outside of.
Wendy Bryant —
While your statements are true about how the company operates, it is no secret that most companies work in the same maner. What is shameful is that the company lost its values when it began to lie to its customers.
That in no way should have affected your ability to operate as a manager effectively or otherwise. Your tactfullness towards the employees is what mattered. Remember your best friend Donna. Your mentor? Look where she went? What about those who were under your employ. Did you make their lives better or worse while your were pro company?
When I left the company, you were soooooo pro company, You in fact started to eliminate personel based on those beliefs, and as a result you yourself was let go because of the companies own policies. Karma?
I do have to state emphaticly that when I worked there, I never once said no to a customer. I ALWAYS let the manager, specifcly Wendy, Donna or anyone who was above me, provide the customer with an answer of No or Yes. Those answers were reserved only for the manager. I began to allow the employees who worked under me the same fact. Never say yes, or now, always defer to managment.
I always defered, because I was not going to loose my job over an answer that may conflict with the customer, and some customers demanded proper answers, that is what may have caused your demise.
I am sorry Wendy, that you lost your job, your probably better off with another company, but nonetheless, remember, your employees are your best assets, not the company… The company what ever company it is, does not give a rats behind about you or your family–only the bottom line of dollars and cents.
Provide your employees with the best atmosphere without conflicts and with a supporting rule of thumb, you will be successfull. “U scratch my back, I will scratch yours”
Take care of yourself and those around you. You are a good person–Overall, and I enjoyed your presennce when I worked for you. Best of luck to you and yours.
my comment was removed for using the term “medical marijuana”…and some kid titled his post “fuck you”…..i am speechless
So I was searching the internet and happened to come across this article. I think whoever wrote this would have been fired in less than 6 months in the store I worked at. I was a ASM at BB for over 2 years and even though they were corporate and had their problems, I think this employee was just an incompetent pathetic employee who doesn’t need to be working with the public! If you are too lazy to call another store and check on a title but you make to effort to call your own cell phone you are just retarded! As far as bathrooms being closed, yes sometimes they are out of order, and now anyone who reads your stupid shitty customer service comments are automatically think anytime an employee tells them something like this that they are lying. Stupid incompetent lazy employees give good ones bad names and it makes me sick! Grow up and do your damn job, idiot!
Yeah, this. The guy who wrote this article just sounds like an asshole. I worked there for a year and I never had problems like his.
Oh come on, it depends which location you’re at. The theft thing is true and the late fee thing is true, but I enjoyed working at Blockbuster. Most of the staff where I worked were film buffs to a degree (I’ve seen Fight Club and Casablanca… not sure if that’s good enough for you), and there was a film student working there. I worked at an independent before I worked at Blockbuster, and tbh I enjoyed Blockbuster more because the store manager wasn’t an asshole. Also our bathroom was clean.
And our manager explicitly told us to never lie about which movies are good because you alienate regular customers. What did happen, though, is if another staff member saw a movie you asked their opinion on it and told that to customers.