Comments on: Don’t be so sure about the reasoning behind this.

By: nephariuz

nephariuz — Thu, 16 Dec 2004 01:18:30 +0000

Well, according to the article, their computers automatically check inventory and charge the lowest known price for that item. If it’s available as a previously-viewed movie, they’ll charge that price (around $10-15). Otherwise, I *assume* they’ll charge retail.

Blockbuster used to be assholes, I agree. But I think the rise of Netflix has forced them to try a little harder to please customers.

By: mr_mooph

mr_mooph — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 21:04:16 +0000

You’re assuming they charge 30 to 40 dollars per item. Unless something has changed since back in the day, it could be more like 90-100 dollars. Perhaps the ease of everybody getting being able to buy new releases has eased this, but distinctly remember being charged that much for lost movies before. We should inquire to joe about this. If you’ll remember, he worked there as recently as 5 years ago.

By: nephariuz

nephariuz — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 20:54:51 +0000

Guess there’s two ways to view everything. I think this was a very customer-centric decision. That restock fee is less than a single day’s rental fees, and the most you can ever be charged is the price of the video, and in that event you get to keep it.

I know people who have racked up fees of 30 or 40 bucks on a single movie or game, and still had nothing to show for it when they returned it. This seems a whole lot better to me.

By: mr_mooph

mr_mooph — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 20:14:15 +0000

I read the following in conjunction with the original story on one of the blogs I read daily:

Mike sez, “you rent a movie, you have a certain grace period within which you have to return the movie (or game). if you step over that grace period they charge you full price for the thing (minus the original rental fee). you can contest the charge, and if they take it back they’ll charge you a $1.25 ‘restocking fee.’ Restocking fees are usually put in place by electronic retailers to deter returns on big ticket items that are not defective. If you buy something and then return it, the company has to deal with more costs to handle the return. But Blockbuster’s entire business is based on returns! It doesn’t sell movies, it rents them to you with the expectation of getting it back. Their business model hasn’t changed any. it’s just a way to extort more money out of us consumers.”