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Weezer · Dec 14, 2004, 02:50 PM

http://money.cnn.com/2004/12/14/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes

storer · Dec 14, 2004, 03:08 PM

Good, i just paid $20 in late fees yesterday... Video Ezy, though...

mitchell_pgh · Dec 14, 2004, 03:11 PM

I heard they make around 40% from their late fees...

I may need to rethink Netflix. I've been getting poor service lately.

nredman · Dec 14, 2004, 03:16 PM

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
I heard they make around 40% from their late fees...

I may need to rethink Netflix. I've been getting poor service lately.

i used to a worked at blockbuster a few years back and i can tell you that we did make alot of money off late fees. we even had to watch how many fees we removed and such. alot of people liked to try to talk their way out of paying for them

it was always a good time when people would blow up at you for a $2 late fee.

SafariX · Dec 14, 2004, 03:22 PM

The article I read said that they will still have "due dates." Why? Is anyone likely to return them on the due date if they have a week to return it?

Maybe I am missing something....

storer · Dec 14, 2004, 03:29 PM

Originally posted by SafariX:
The article I read said that they will still have "due dates." Why? Is anyone likely to return them on the due date if they have a week to return it?

Maybe I am missing something....

Hrmnnn, why not just increase the due date by a week? If people know they don't have to return when the due-date is, they aren't going to.

nredman · Dec 14, 2004, 03:32 PM

Originally posted by storer:
Hrmnnn, why not just increase the due date by a week? If people know they don't have to return when the due-date is, they aren't going to.

i return movies early if they are like 5 day rentals and i watch it right away. if i am going out i will just take it back. maybe they are hoping more people will return earlier instead of later??? seems to me this could really **** up the movies that are in stock. i wonder if they will not have those guarunteed titles now?

turtle777 · Dec 14, 2004, 03:34 PM

I'd hit it !

-t

euchomai · Dec 14, 2004, 03:34 PM

The catch now is this... If you don't return the movie, you are charged the full price of the movie or the video game! Now I have a little incentive to return it, I don't want to pay for a whole DVD.

Excerpt from Money Magazine:
http://tinyurl.com/6vsr2

The world's largest video rental company will still have due dates for their rental products -- one week for games and two days or one week for movies, depending on whether it's a new release.
But customers will be given a one-week grace period after that to return the product. After that grace period ends, the chain will automatically sell them the product, less the rental fee. If the customers don't want to purchase the movie or game, they can return the product within 30 days for a credit, less a restocking fee.

sworthy · Dec 14, 2004, 03:43 PM

Somehow, I think this is worse for both Blockbuster and the consumer:

Blockbuster:
loses a lot of money (300 million per year or so)
Managing movie supply will become more difficult

The Consumer:
You have to buy a movie after a week. They got rid of late fees, but now you have to buy it, which now represents a $10 late fee. I think others will agree that the longer you have to return something, the more likely it will be late because you'll forget about it.

My thoughts: Blockbuster has realized that they are competing in an industry that will not exist in 5 years. They had to do something to keep retail rentals up, soon they'll just be blockbuster.com

CreepingDeth · Dec 14, 2004, 03:53 PM

Too bad this doesn't cover than $50 late fee I had for Matrix:Revolutions.

turtle777 · Dec 14, 2004, 04:02 PM

Originally posted by sworthy:
Somehow, I think this is worse for both Blockbuster and the consumer:...

The Consumer:
You have to buy a movie after a week. They got rid of late fees, but now you have to buy it, which now represents a $10 late fee.

My thoughts: ...

My thoughts: READ IT AGAIN !

-t

velodev · Dec 14, 2004, 04:25 PM

Eh, I'll stick with Netflix... I like having my video store as close as my mailbox at the end of my driveway.

DeathToWindows · Dec 14, 2004, 06:15 PM

about bloody time if you ask me

powerbook867 · Dec 14, 2004, 07:05 PM

I love my netflix as well. I've had good service and anytime I've had an issue, they have quickly addressed it...

I hate going to blockbuster because some of the dvd's are P&S and they are mixed in w/ the VHS...Plus customer service at the locations around me is not so great.

MilkmanDan · Dec 14, 2004, 11:05 PM

You mean you people still rent movies? Wow.

BRussell · Dec 15, 2004, 01:27 AM

Originally posted by MilkmanDan:
You mean you people still rent movies? Wow.

What do you do?

torsoboy · Dec 15, 2004, 01:49 AM

Originally posted by euchomai:
The catch now is this... If you don't return the movie, you are charged the full price of the movie or the video game! Now I have a little incentive to return it, I don't want to pay for a whole DVD.

Excerpt from Money Magazine:
http://tinyurl.com/6vsr2

The world's largest video rental company will still have due dates for their rental products -- one week for games and two days or one week for movies, depending on whether it's a new release.
But customers will be given a one-week grace period after that to return the product. After that grace period ends, the chain will automatically sell them the product, less the rental fee. If the customers don't want to purchase the movie or game, they can return the product within 30 days for a credit, less a restocking fee.

Almost right. Here's the part you missed:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/...M_Exclude=Juno
"...customers will get one week's grace after the due date to return a DVD, tape or game. After that, the company will assume the customer wants to buy the item, so it will charge the customer for it. If the customer returns that overdue rental within 30 days, the charge will be refunded, minus a $1.25 restocking fee."

No more incentive if you ask me. Maybe I will start going to Blockbusters again. I hope they don't raise their prices.

MilkmanDan · Dec 15, 2004, 01:58 AM

Originally posted by BRussell:
What do you do?

Go to the cheap $2 theater in my home town, or just find them on my college network. Or borrow or buy them. Shoot, netflicks is a nice service.

Lancer409 · Dec 15, 2004, 04:32 AM

my brother is thinking about going over to netflix. for me, public library. sure it takes 'em a while to get a copy, but it's free.

powerbook867 · Dec 15, 2004, 04:53 AM

what cracks me up is that when they sell it to you, you know the price is going to be very expensive. Imagine you space a couple of movies and then get you credit card bill w/ 150 dollars in charges from Blockbuster on it... ouch!

I'm sure BB won't be selling you the movie for 14.99 (but I could be wrong!!)

mitchell_pgh · Dec 15, 2004, 06:50 AM

Netflix for me is starting to stink. In the past, I would have a 3 day turn around. Monday morning in the mail, Tuesday they would get it and mail out another and Wednesday I would have my movies.

Now it's in on Monday and I get the new ones on Thursday and once it was Friday.

I guess I'm just a little upset that the "round time" has gone down, but perhaps it's just because of the holidays.

Turias · Dec 15, 2004, 09:21 AM

Originally posted by storer:
Hrmnnn, why not just increase the due date by a week? If people know they don't have to return when the due-date is, they aren't going to.

Wow. Blockbuster is so evil. I worked for them a few years back during the summer. Pure. Unadulterated. Evil.

Pure and simple: they are trying to get people to accidentally buy the videos. By not telling people what the real due date is and then saying that there are no late fees, BB is hoping that people forget when the videos are actually due. So, if a week goes by, Blockbuster get to automatically charge your credit card for the cost of the movie minus the rental fees.

Ouch.

And, if that's not bad enough, a lot of VHS cassettes are still being rented out to customers. The thing is, Blockbuster lets you rent VHS movies before you can buy them. But, in their computers, all of these VHSs have an internal price of $99.99. Yep, if you lose a new release VHS, you currently get charged one hundred bucks for it, even though a month later you will be able to buy it for less than 20.

So, now all of these people who still rent VHS cassettes will have to be extra careful they don't get charged 100 dollars for not returning their movie on time.

And, if this wasn't bad enough, even though they refund the cost of the movie if you return it late, they have a "restocking fee" if you return the movie before 30 days are up. How much is this restocking fee? The article doesn't say, but BB can set it at whatever they want.

Eug Wanker · Dec 15, 2004, 09:30 AM

It was all over the local news yesterday. Quite frankly, I'm flabbergasted that so many people give a sh!t. Personally, I can't stand Blockbuster so I never rent from them anyway.

BTW, the one near my old flat refused to carry any DVDs for just about forever, while the competing video store down the street was filled with them. Years later, when the Blockbuster finally got DVDs, they were few and far between, and many of them were those full-screen hackjobs. People stayed away in droves. Not surprisingly, that Blockbuster went out of business a few months later.