Blockbuster explained.

[theweaselking]

The new policy- completely honest here.

You get a due date, the product is due back on that date by noon. We'll tell you by noon, and if the clerk doesn't tell you that and it upsets you, tell the manager, that individual employee isn't doing their job correctly.
Once you have a rental out, please, return it on or before the due date- BUT, if you NEED an extra couple of days (and we do stress need, because you shouldn't be an asshat and keep it just to deprive other customers), go ahead and enjoy the extra time.

With me so far? Don't be an asshat, bring it back as soon as you can?

Ok, if you have the product MORE than 7 days AFTER the due date we give you (and it's printed on the damned receipt too), it's going to be sold to you.
How much? Our lowest price, MINUS the rental fee you already gave us.

Lets use an example... Saw is a brand new movie, and it retails at BlockBuster for $21.99 (which, although high, is about normal for dvd's in physical stores, even cheaper places like Best Buy only offer the lower price for the first week of sales, then it gets hiked).
If you keep saw, it will be sold to you for 21.99 - 3.99 rental fee = $18 + tax.
The manchurian candidate has been out for a while though (and you can find pre-viewed copies of it in the store), so if you keep it, you'll only pay the "PRP" or Previously Rented Product price, around 12.99 I believe. So you'll only be responsible for $9 + tax.

Don't want the keep the movie that you've been holding onto for almost 2 weeks? Fine, we'll give you your money back, but we're going to have to re-enter it into the system, make sure you didn't play hockey with the disc, and make sure the covers don't need to be replaced either (since we do that from time to time to reflect changes in copy status).
How do we recoup that immediate labor cost? The same way other retail stores recoup it- a restocking fee. Only we didn't make it a 25%+ sliding scale return fee like many other brick and mortars, we made it $1.25 for all items regardless of how long you'd had it, or what product it was (games and brand new movies are BOTH included).

Now then, since I've given a perfectly reasonable response that addresses all concerns as I see it, I guess I can expect to be ignored by netflix users who want to be different, so....

Still want to order from your computer? Blockbuster.com offers a larger selection, cheaper service, and faster shipping for it's online rentals. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, jackasses.
---------------------
(Because idiots can't read, that's why. Rant courtesy of "Inflatable Jesus")

Comments

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

The problem is that "No late fees" is not an accurate encapsulation of the policy. Under this system you're essentially renting the movie for the rental period plus the grace period. If you're less than a month late, you do pay a late fee, which they've rechristened a "restocking fee." If you're more than a month late, you pay for the movie.

"No Late Fees" is not an accurate, descriptive summary of the new policy.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

No, a restocking fee is not a late fee.

If you take a stereo back to a store, and they charge you a restocking fee, is that a "late" fee? No. You fucking bought a fucking stereo, decided you didn't want it, and they charged you a small price for their labour when they re-added that stereo to their system.

When you buy a DVD from KMart, and decide a week later that you don't want it, and return it, they charge you a restocking fee. Why? Because it costs them money for you to return things you bought.

Blockbuster does not charge you when your movies are late.

Blockbuster *DOES* tell you, right there in perfectly clear language, that if you hold on to their movie for a week longer than you're supposed to, YOU BOUGHT IT.

Read that again. You bought it. You agreed when you signed up and agreed when you rented it that you were going to BUY IT if you kept it out. Now, 25 days after PURCHASING THEIR PRODUCT, you would like to return it to them, and they, like a great many other stores, charge you a fee to return PRODUCT THAT YOU BOUGHT FROM THEM.

This is not the same at all, and it REALLY pisses me off.

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

I've made returns before, and never once have I been charged a "restocking fee." Perhaps I should start shopping at places that feel they have the right to take my money. At any rate, the issue here is not in any way whether or not you agree to the program before signing up for it; if you sign a piece of paper, you are absolutely 100% responsible for what is on that paper.

However, "NO LATE FEES" is absolutely NOT accurate; it is an attempt to convince consumers that, like Netflix, you can keep the DVDs as long as you wish, when the two services' business models are quite different. I don't understand your rage on the subject.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

> I've made returns before, and never once have I been charged a "restocking
> fee."

Many places do not use them. Many places do, especially with things where there is an incentive to *not* keep the item. Most appliance stores, for example, have a "return it within X days and pay only a small restocking fee if you are not completely satisfied" deal - and they jack that up for big screen TVs on the Superbowl weekend, for example. It's also fairly common with places that offer cheap copyable media.

> "NO LATE FEES" is absolutely NOT accurate;

It is entirely, completely, absolutely and 100% clear and accurate. You will never, ever be charged a fee for returning a rented product late. However, if you keep the product for longer than a week pas the due date, you bought it. This is also entirely, completely, absolutely and 100% clear and accurate. If you've bought something from them, they ALLOW you the PRIVILEGE of returning the product that YOU PURCHASED, and instead of keeping your money THAT YOU PAID THEM TO PURCHASE THEIR PRODUCT, they give it back to you.

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

>>>>>You will never, ever be charged a fee for returning a rented product late.<<<<<

Unless you return it between seven and thirty days late, in which case you will be charged the fee. This is why I believe it is deceptive to say "no late fees." You don't go to Blockbuster with the intention of purchasing DVDs; there's better places with better selections to do that, not to mention the condition of your new purchase.

At any rate, you're still arguing that people who sign the form are responsible to it, and that's not being contended. What's being contended is whether or not "NO LATE FEES!" is deceptive. I say it is, since the restocking fee amounts to one.

[corruptedjasper.livejournal.com]

What really pisses me off in the Fark thread are those stupid morons that keep saying "if Netflix can do it, why can't BB?". They seem to think that it costs netflix money if you keep one of their DVDs for a longish time. This shows such an incredible misunderstanding it's not even funny any more.

But, pope_guilty, what don't you understand about "if you break it, you bought it"?

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

I'm not objecting to "if you break it, you bought it." That's not even part of the discussion. I'm not discussing the morality of the policy, or whether people knowingly signed on to it, or the wisdom of renting from BB under this policy.

The only thing I'm discussing is whether or not "NO LATE FEES!" = "Longer rental period + disguised late fee + if it's more than a month late, you buy it". I insist that it is not equal, and I have no clue what your objection to my position is.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

What part of "there is no disguised late fee" seems unclear?

The month is not an "extended rental period".

If you keep a movie more than a week past the due date, you FUCKING BOUGHT IT.

BOUGHT.

OWN OUTRIGHT.

IT IS YOURS.

Remember that little piece of paper you signed? The one that says IF YOU KEEP IT MORE THAN A WEEK PAST THE DUE DATE, YOU HAVE NOW BOUGHT IT AND YOU WILL BE CHARGED THE NORMAL PURCHASE PRICE?

Are we agreed on this point? If you keep a film or game more a week past the due date, your contract says you bought it and Blockbuster charges your card the *purchase price* and records it as a sale, like you agreed to.

Right?

You agree with this?

If not, go the fuck back to the begining and start over, while *READING* this time.

Blockbuster offers to *refund* some of the money you paid when you *bought* something from them, if you decide you don't want it. They are giving *you* money for something you own.

This is, in no way, shape, or form, a "late fee", unless you also consider "You pay shipping on returned items" a late fee.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Netflix charges you for you rentals whether you rent or not, no matter how many you have out or for how long. It costs them money when you *change* movies, not when you *keep* movies.

And FARK is one third clueless assholes, one third deliberate assholes, and one-third people who really like arguing with trolls and idiots. The comment threads mostly a wasteland of intelligent thought, but some of the photoshop contests and the like produce some excellent results.

[ryusen.livejournal.com]

it depends on the definition of a late fee. technically a late fee is a fee you pay when you return an item you borrowed late. once you bought it, the restocking fee isn't a late fee, since you are bringing back an item you bought, not returned.

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

And I would argue that since the option to return it for a fee exists, being as it's something you rented, to call it a "restocking fee" is a twisty bit of semantics intended to disguise what is in essence a late fee. Unless you act with the intention of purchasing a DVD, which I have a very hard time believing BB customers will, for reasons I mentioned above, I'd say you're late on a rental, not early on a purchase.

Ultimately it's a matter of semantics, which I believe BB is using deceptively.

[ryusen.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's deceptive at all, because they very clearly explain what their new terms are. you know ahead of time that once you fail to return it after 7 days, you bought it. Personally i think the 30 additional days was them being nice. They could just take that out entirely and would have never had to deal with this lawsuit... i mean, if they are beign sued for being MORE lenient, why bother being nice?

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

Except the advertising makes no mention of that. I have yet to see a BB advertisement which spells out the program. It merely says NO LATE FEES. By playing with semantics, Blockbuster manages to make what is clearly a late fee legally a "restocking fee"; either way, you're paying money for the privelege of keeping a rented DVD out for longer than the agreed-upon rental period. Either way, NO LATE FEES does not encapsulate the new policy and deceptively attempts to conflate it with Netflix.

[ryusen.livejournal.com]

but how interesting would their commercial be if they tried to explain everything in it? the commercial is just meant to attract attention... there are always terms and conditions for most offers.

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

If the commercial at least even alluded to the "keep it too long and you buy it" policy, then I would say it's not deceptive. As it makes no mention of that, I would argue that what the ads claim to be pushing and the actual content of the policy is sufficiently different enough to be deceptive.

I furthermore think that it's an attempt to get consumers to think that it's a Netflix-style thing, which it isn't.

[ryusen.livejournal.com]

does the commercial even say to check for exact terms and conditions?

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

> Unless you act with the intention of purchasing a DVD

Which you did. You kept it more than a week late, so you deliberately and actively did something that caused you to... purchase that item.

Which you knew it would do.

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

So... when you forget to take a DVD back, it's always intentional?

You're considerably more thourough and concientious than I am. Or everyone else, for that matter.

[ryusen.livejournal.com]

But the deal you agreed to said if you don't return it after the 7 days GRACE PERIOD, you bought it.. it's not liek they are saying, as soon as you miss the return date, you bought it.. they are giving you a whole week AFTER it's due, with no penalty... overall this is still a MUCH better deal than before.

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

I'm not disputing that this is a better policy; I'm disputing that the ads accurately describe the policy.

[zenten.livejournal.com]

That's not him angry.

You don't know John very well :)

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't like him... when he's angry. ;)

[spartonian.livejournal.com]

You know, arguing the policy is stupid.

RETURN THE FUCKING MOVIE ON TIME, ASSHOLE! Drop-boxes, use'em.