Video store employees need some glasses

[Dorkmaster]

Because they are blind. Rented two video games (Red Steel 2 and Beetles Rock Band) from Blockbuster a month ago and returned them within that week in the drop box. Then Blockbuster starts calling about videos that have not been returned. Went back to Blockbuster to talk to their manager and he just said that they recieved Red Steel 2 but not Beetles Rock Band and that they have checked the entire store and couldn't find it. So I just told him that I returned both in the drop box at the same time and its not in my house, but nope he just continued to tell me that I haven't returned the game yet.

So I go home, check at my house but its definitely not there. Go back and talked to them, but they claimed to have done a full inventory check, and did their job thoroughly and the game is still not there. Then they start harassing me telling me that I need to pay for the game. So now I'm pretty pissed off and just leave, but they continue to phone my house non-stop about the game. So finally I decide to pay for the game, but right before I check the shelves for five minutes and the stupid game is hiding behind the Rock Band Metal Track case, right next to the Beetles case. Even worse is that it's already in the protective casing/strip that prevents theft. I show the game to the person there to ask if its the right one and low and behold its the same friggin one, but nope all the employees there just said they looked for two hours yesterday and still couldn't find it, hinted to me that I snuck it into the store then half-heartedly apologized. Then they had the balls to tell me that I still had a 2 dollar fine from the game and asked if I would like to pay for it.

Same thing happened Rogers, except they found it within the next 2 days and didn't apologize at all. So now I'm boycotting both stores.

Seriously, video store employees are as bad as Auger, McGeough and Koharski.

[flamestalker]

Dorkmaster, 2 dollars for shoplifting!

[Sainters7]

I'm surprised they're being such sticklers about it, I find they usually waver pretty easy on stuff like that. Last year I forgot to return NHL09 for like 3 weeks and racked up nearly $20 in late fees. Threw it in the Blockbuster drop box, and the next time I went in to rent something and the late fee came up, I just said in a kind of put out tone that I returned that on time and have no idea wtf is up with the $20 in late fees(figured it was worth a shot). He seemed a little rattled and just said he'd eliminate the fee from my record. Done and done.

[Yamer]

Blockbuster and Rogers are just another fine example of the lack of quality in service today.

Since they don't check anything but the computer and don't do anything with the shelves unless they are placing a movie/game back. I don't know how many times I have grabbed the wrong movie or game because they misplaced it on the shelf, or didn't straighten up after customers come through and rifle through everything.

And the Rogers here is (I am convinced) crooked. 3 times in a row I have gone in and specifically asked for a week long rental. After I return it and go to rent another, they ALWAYS tell me I only rented the previous item for 1 day and that I returned it late. THEN WHY THE HELL DO YOU EVEN ASK ME IF I WANT IT FOR A WEEK YOU ****ING TARD!?

And who doesn't love the letter you get from Blockbuster that says you owe $1.15 at a certain store? I'm sure it cost them more to print and mail from out east than the pocket change they want from me.

[ricoFlame]

Beatles...BEATLES. I can't let that slide.

[Clarkey]

That's quite the dilemma you've got on your hands there.

[Knut]

Here's My Card!!

[bluck]

who rents movies now now a days?

[Dorkmaster]

Originally Posted by ricoFlame

Beatles...BEATLES. I can't let that slide.

Yeah sorry about that, pretty bad at spelling. Doesn't help that I don't know much about the Beatles.

[Russic]

My hate-on for blockbuster started with them doing something just like this. I returned a game, they said it was late, and they charged me for the whole game. They continued to rent it out, so I bought their game and they continued to make money off of it. It's ok though, thanks to them i never spent another dime in a brick and mortar video store.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

I used to be an assistant manager at Blockbuster about 8 years ago. In defence of Blockbuster, there is a protocol that is used every morning to check the store for any movies or games that have been returned, but not checked in. If a movie is not checked in, it's human error, and it's an honest mistake. But the "Found on Shelf" List gets done everyday and usually, there were between 7-10 items found everyday.

And once a month, each store does a graveyard inventory shift where everything in the store is scanned, so your game would have been found eventually, but no, there's no excuse for the service that you got if you told it the way it happened. Can't see them phoning "non-stop" like you said. If you call and leave a message, they call the next day, if you make contact, they call again in 3 days. If I were an employee and talked with you and truly believed you were telling the truth, I would do my very best to find the title in question. But sometimes, it can be like a needle in a haystack. But if you found it right beside where it should have been, that's pretty weak effort on their part. And as a manager, I would have wiped off the late charge without even mentionining it.


Oh and Yamer, when you said they should be going thru the entire store to make sure everything is in its right place every night, that's asking a lot and frankly would take up about 3-4 hours daily to do. Each night, employees are required to straighten the new release wall and make everything look nice. And as a guy who worked there, if I saw something that jumped out to me as being totally out of place or messy, I would take the 10 seconds to clean it up. But with the amount of movies going in and coming out, keeping the shelves tidy and proper is not as easy as you might think. Customers are constantly grabbing a flick and putting it back somewhere totally different.


Working at Blockbuster isn't rocket science, it's not tough work by any stretch, but you have to realize there's plenty of people out there trying to get away with anything. There's so many times where people are adamant that they brought it back and sure enough, they go home and the title is under the couch, or they returned it to the wrong store, or its under their car seat etc.......

[Dorkmaster]

Originally Posted by VANFLAMESFAN

And once a month, each store does a graveyard inventory shift where everything in the store is scanned, so your game would have been found eventually, but no, there's no excuse for the service that you got if you told it the way it happened. Can't see them phoning "non-stop" like you said. If you call and leave a message, they call the next day, if you make contact, they call again in 3 days. If I were an employee and talked with you and truly believed you were telling the truth, I would do my very best to find the title in question. But sometimes, it can be like a needle in a haystack. But if you found it right beside where it should have been, that's pretty weak effort on their part. And as a manager, I would have wiped off the late charge without even mentionining it.

Yup, that was what really irritated me is that they claimed to have searched multiple times for a couple hours but the game missing was basically right next to it, and even when I found it they were reluctant to believe me.

[Clarkey]

Originally Posted by Dorkmaster

Yup, that was what really irritated me is that they claimed to have searched multiple times for a couple hours but the game missing was basically right next to it, and even when I found it they were reluctant to believe me.

Quite the ordeal.

[HotHotHeat]

You know what's awesome? When companies you hate perform poorly.

Blockbuster Closing Up to 960 Stores Through 2010;
Movie Rental Retailer Closing Stores in Effort to Strengthen Multi-Channel Platform; Adding 5.5M SF of Vacant Space to Retail Landscape

http://www.costar.com/news/Article.a...9161447C2874B0

Thought it might help to know that those dumbass employees could be out of work by the end of the year.

[Hack&Lube]

Man, I went to Rogers the other day and it looks attrocious. The selection is awful, everything is down to tiny, tiny amounts on small shelves. Most of the store is selling mobile phones, toys, videogames, etc. instead of rentals.

I can see the rental business dying in 10 years.

[DropIt]

No need to worry long, with progress in todays television technology, video stores seem to be a dieing art. I dont thinnk there will be any to be found soon enough, much like the phone booth

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

You know what's awesome? When companies you hate perform poorly.



http://www.costar.com/news/Article.a...9161447C2874B0

Thought it might help to know that those dumbass employees could be out of work by the end of the year.

Hate to break it to ya, but Blockbuster Canada is a separate entity. In fact, for whatever reason, Blockbuster is far more successful in Canada. While the US is shedding stores, Canada continues to add them.

Believe it or not, the Canadian operation is what keep the US side afloat - Blockbuster Inc. basically negotiated a bunch of exclusive deals with Fox and Sony in exchange for first lien against the Canadian assets. In essense, the Canadian Blockbuster is the only piece with any value remaining.

I have no idea why this is - I would love to understand what the difference in demographics is that supports this. Maybe our longer winters lead to more rentals, who knows.

[missdpuck]

Canada doesn't have Netflix, correct ? From working at the post office here I can tell you those Netflix rentals give us tons of business. I would say I deliver at least 150 Netflix a week on my route alone.
But yeah the rentals won't be around much longer.

For every hundred Netflix rented (by mail) there might be 3 or 4 Blockbusters in the mail. I very rarely hear anyone saying they're going to Blockbuster although a few years ago it was a consistent thing. We also have DVD rentals from vending machines like Redbox. Do you have those? I love that for recent releases.

[HotHotHeat]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

Hate to break it to ya, but Blockbuster Canada is a separate entity. In fact, for whatever reason, Blockbuster is far more successful in Canada. While the US is shedding stores, Canada continues to add them.

Believe it or not, the Canadian operation is what keep the US side afloat - Blockbuster Inc. basically negotiated a bunch of exclusive deals with Fox and Sony in exchange for first lien against the Canadian assets. In essense, the Canadian Blockbuster is the only piece with any value remaining.

I have no idea why this is - I would love to understand what the difference in demographics is that supports this. Maybe our longer winters lead to more rentals, who knows.

Probably because we're not as lazy as Americans. We haven't taken to downloading like our (overweight) US friends!

I definitely didn't consider they could be separate companies though.

[keratosis]

If I rent, it's from those little machines at Safeway
for $1.99.