Blockbuster and Rogers suck.

[alltherage]

Blockbuster finally took down their "No Late Fees" policy. Sweet. Now they claim you can "Take Hollywood Home For Less", yet they have the exact same prices + late fees. I don't know how that's less. Also, they added a No Late Fee Option for $2 extra, so you basically pay the late fee up front.

Last time I went to rent something from BB I got home and realised I had a movie late for about a week that I forgot about. No phone calls, even the clerk didn't tell me when I rented the other movie. I went back and tore a strip out of the guy. He totally didn't deserve it, but I lost it.

Rogers retracted their "No Late Fees" promise too a while ago, and disguised the late fees as "Pay per day." Not to mention they charge more for blu-rays than they do for DVDs.

I seriously need another option for renting movies. I have an HD tv so it has to be somewhere that has blu-rays. I don't have an HD box yet and can't afford one so I can't just order them through the TV. There are no VHQs near me.

I think Blockbuster and Rogers are the only two big rental companies out there... isn't there a law against this? It's not a Monopoly obviously, but isn't this garbage how they both change their policies within a few months of each other? It's BS IMO.

/rant

[CMPunk]

Net flix

Shaw on Demand

[mykalberta]

Too bad no NetFlix up here.

Bit Torrent has no late fees.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

I never had an issue with Bit Torrent customer service.

[CMPunk]

zip.ca

[Got Miikka?]

I have nothing to back it up with, but it is my sense that at some point probably sooner than later places like Blockbuster and Rogers Video will simply cease to exist. It is becoming too convenient and trendy to rent or obtain movies online (I think you can access a decent movie database on iTunes, and there are places like zip.ca - not sure the latter is available in Calgary?); coupled with proliferating cable/satellite on-demand services and movie channels it seems like the video rental outlet businesses are struggling to stay viable and relevant. This likely accounts for the weird late fees clusterfata - Blockbuster and Rogers are trying desperately to offer the same kind of convenience and flexibility as the other alternatives, which is an exercise in impossibility.

If I want to see a movie I have plenty of resources literally at my fingertips now; I haven't been able to come up with a reason to go to the video store in literally years now - which probably explains why it has been years since I have actually been to one.

I saw a vending machine in Safeway the other week that had new releases for $1.97... what's the story with that? I guess it isn't blu-ray either.

[Old Yeller]

I had late charges on my rogers card and the clerk said I couldn't rent any movies until those charges were cleared up. I was in a bad mood and snapped my card in front of him and said "looks like they're all cleared up now!"
I can understand renting blu-ray movies, but otherwise I don't really see a point in movie rentals anymore.

*lovingly strokes his cable modem and torrent client*

[Engine09]

Anyone go to Birdog? I picked up a movie there a couple weeks ago and asked the lady at the front if she saw it or heard any reviews, good or bad. She said: "Nope, haven't heard a thing about it".

Turned out to be one of the worst movies I saw in my life, I bring it back the next day to the same woman and in a nice tone and with a smile I say: "By the way, if anyone is looking to rent this, point them in another direction, it's absolutely horrible, really bad".

She responds: "Oh really, I've had a few people say they really liked it so I don't know what you're talking about".

Damn liar!

[burn_this_city]

I havent been in a video store since 1997

[HotHotHeat]

Apple TV will be great when it goes to 1080p.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Just cruise around one day and try to find some mom and pop movie rental store. I know there a couple here in Cranbrook, so I would imagine there is in Calgary.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Blockbuster finally took down their "No Late Fees" policy. Sweet. Now they claim you can "Take Hollywood Home For Less", yet they have the exact same prices + late fees. I don't know how that's less.

They didn't say "rent our movies cheaper than before" and that's a big difference. They said you could take Hollywood home for less, and it's less than going to see a movie at the theatre, so it's still correct. Ah the beatury of advertising mumbo jumbo.

Also, they added a No Late Fee Option for $2 extra, so you basically pay the late fee up front.

Those s, imagine them letting you rent the movie for longer, for an extra fee.

Last time I went to rent something from BB I got home and realised I had a movie late for about a week that I forgot about. No phone calls, even the clerk didn't tell me when I rented the other movie. I went back and tore a strip out of the guy. He totally didn't deserve it, but I lost it.

How is it their fault you didn't keep track of the videos you rented? It's your responsiblitly to return them, not theirs to hound you, or even bring it up for that matter. Sure it'd be a common courtesey, but people make mistakes. How can you get mad at the guy for not telling you, without taking the responsibility of forgetting the movie in the first place?

Rogers retracted their "No Late Fees" promise too a while ago, and disguised the late fees as "Pay per day." Not to mention they charge more for blu-rays than they do for DVDs.

Really? You mean they're charging more if you keep the movie longer, and they're charging more for a superior product? Those s!

I seriously need another option for renting movies. I have an HD tv so it has to be somewhere that has blu-rays. I don't have an HD box yet and can't afford one so I can't just order them through the TV. There are no VHQs near me.

Seems reasonable.

I think Blockbuster and Rogers are the only two big rental companies out there... isn't there a law against this? It's not a Monopoly obviously, but isn't this garbage how they both change their policies within a few months of each other? It's BS IMO.

Why is it BS? It's competition. If Blockbuster could do better by not charing late fees while Rogers did, they would. The fact is, they make a lot of money off of late fees so if they can get away with charging them (read, if the other guy is) then they will. No late fees was a failed experiment, I'm sure it cost both companies a lot of money. This isn't a case of coluding to go back to charging late fees, I'm sure it's more a case of one of the companies blinked first, and now the other one is super happy they can go back to the way it was.


All in all, is this post really an example of horrible customer service, or is it just someone who wants to get their movies cheaper?
I'd say it's the latter, and there's nothing keeping you from seeking out other options, which was probably your intention, and there have been a few suggestions already posted. It's your choice to rent from those places, if you don't like they way they run the place then don't rent from there. Which is something a lot of people have chosen to do, and why they are probably in a lot of trouble right now, and will probably disapear in the near future.

[ResAlien]

Originally Posted by alltherage

Blockbuster finally took down their "No Late Fees" policy. Sweet. Now they claim you can "Take Hollywood Home For Less", yet they have the exact same prices + late fees. I don't know how that's less. Also, they added a No Late Fee Option for $2 extra, so you basically pay the late fee up front.

I encountered this same thing a few weeks ago at Blockbuster here. Had a game out too late, went to return it, and was told I was the proud new owner of UFC 2009 Undisputed. Was not excited about the fact they changed policy without saying a word, the policy actually changed while I had the game out. I had anger like you, although now I'm kind of over it.

[photon]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

Apple TV will be great when it goes to 1080p.

Not really, compression really limits the quality of any high def video that you could download, at least until 100Mbit Internet is pervasive.

A Blu-ray movie is 20-30GB or more, compress that down to 2 or 3GB for Apple TV.. compression isn't magic, compression = loss of information.

Or look at it another way, Blu-ray has a 40Mbit/s bitrate, Apple TV currently supports 4Mbit/s.

(Uncompressed 1920x1080 60fps is 3000Mbit/s!)

[LouCypher]

So many more affordable options around now that I doubt we see Rogers or Blockbuster 10 years from now if they cant find ways to be more innovative and place service above all else. Price they wont be able to match because they are already losing money to pirates as it is.

[3 Justin 3]

I used to go to Blockbuster every weekend for years, then I found torrents.

I too have Blu-ray, but find torrenting to be better. If I like the movie, I will go out and buy it on Blu.

The only time I went to blockbuster was to rent Wolverine when it came out, and then discovered (on the receipt, no one told me), that there "No Late Fees" was no more.

Fack Blockbuster.

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

Bit Torrent has no late fees.

No line ups either!

The OPs rant is exactly why I don't rent movies anymore. Honestly what is the deal with renting a movie for $7 and only having it for one night? Sometimes I want to watch it a few times if it is a good one.

[Phanuthier]

I sometimes wonder how BB/Rogers even stay in business anymore

[wooohooo]

I wonder that too. When I feel like a movie, I'll just download it during the day and watch it at night. But when I want a game for my xbox, I go to blockbuster but they never have any of the good games in stock. They usually have 2-3 copies of the new games which is really not enough.