Why I Will Never Use Blockbuster Again

I have finally had it with Blockbuster and plan to never use them again.

The other day I went into Blockbuster to rent movies with my kids. This typically involves getting 1 for each of the kids plus one for Melissa and myself for a grand total of 4. We also occasionally buy popcorn or some other movie related candy and the bill can be $20 or more.

On this particular occasion we went to the checkout counter with an aforementioned load of goodies with the plan to watch some movies over the next day or two. The person behind the counter told me that there was a "block" on my account and that we could not rent movies until we "paid" for the movies we had previously rented. Now we don't always return them promptly (note we only started renting again when they created there much promoted "no late fees" policy) but we always return them. I asked them to check for the movies and the person turned and pulled out the very movies in question from a drawer behind the counter where they had apparently been sitting for several weeks (we had been on vacation).

Now they wanted me to pay for movies they had in their possession and had been keeping out of circulation (denying themselves revenue). The total they wanted me to pay was in the neighborhood of $60. By my simple math if they had kept those movies in circulation (they were reasonably current kids and mature movies) they could have almost certainly generated more than $60 worth of revenue. In addition they were staring at another $20 from me at that moment.

The person behind the counter did not seem to see the fault in the Blockbuster logic or was unable to do anything about it (no manager was on hand on Saturday afternoon). I was flabbergasted, so we dropped our movies and candy (much to the disappointment and protestation of the kids) and walked out.

Now all was not lost b/c the Safeway in the same shopping center recently installed a video rental kiosk which only costs $1.50/night so we were able to save the day and get some entertainment for that night.

The straw that broke the camels back is that the other day we received a collection notice from Blockbuster for the movies (which are certainly still in their drawer) for the $60 odd dollars.

So, not only have they not gotten the revenue for the movies in the ensuing 3-4 weeks, they have also missed out on several additional $20+ rental opportunities from us. This means that their idiotic policy has cost them more than they are asking me to pay and now it has cost them a customer FOREVER!!!

On Saturday I plan to march in there, pay the X$#%@W$ $60 and show them my application for Netflix where I have many friends happily renting away.

Idiots. Don't use Blockbuster, boycott them now.