Gross Insubordination
Thank you, Blockbuster, for reaffirming our decision to sign up for Netflix.
A few weeks ago we rented a couple movies from Blockbuster (”No late fees!*”) and subsequently returned them. Today I receive a notice informing me that they haven’t gotten them, and I’ll soon be charged for them. Immediately I realize my mistake: we had returned them to the wrong Blockbuster.
I call the originating store to ask them what to do, and they instruct me to call the store where I dropped them off to see if they have them, or if they’ve already been shipped to their home store. (I can avoid further fees if I ferry them the 5 miles myself, perhaps?) I call and am told that, yes, they have shipped already. “How often do you ship to the other store?” He was unsure as to whether it was every week or every two weeks. I’m betting on every two.
I thanked him for his help and was about to hang up when he offered his parting words:
“Just so you know, we are not responsible for that.”
Nice. The customer is ending the call on a friendly note, and you decide to remind them that it’s their fault?
While I’m usually eager to find fault in my own actions, I can’t help but feel like this policy of Blockbuster’s isn’t just a bit on the not-so-customer-friendly side. A customer has attempted to return a movie on time but makes a mistake. Instead of, oh, I don’t know, recording this in the database and charging me for the courtesy transfer (profit center?), Blockbuster cues the customer to call and waste two employees’ time with questions (total cost: 20ยข).
(Granted, I imagine people don’t frequently return tapes to the wrong Blockbuster; it just so happens that we live between two equally convenient stores.)