I'm writing to dispute charges that have been assessed to my credit card from Blockbusters. After trying to rent a movie tonight, I was informed that I had movies that were 20 days late, but I thought that it was fine as per their policy of no late fees or just a re-stoking fee. To my dismay, I was informed that the movies were mine & that they had been charged to my credit card. The employee told me that the policy had been changed and it is on every receipt. She also indicated that I must have been informed of the changes by any employee at the store because they are required to do so. Since, I did not want to delay the line I agree to settling the issue with the manager tomorrow. But, what really revealed the dishonest practices of this company was the fact that during Transformers movie promotion, of four free rental movies, I purchased the movie, I used two of my free rentals. Tonight I found out that they cannot honor my remaining free movies because I did not use them whiting the release time. No one at the store advised me of the time frame, the only thing they were concerned with was to sell me the movie. This is an outrage!!
To begin with, if the company wants to convey to the public their policy changes such as the no late fees, they must advertise them the same way they do to lure costumers in, send e-mails, and in addition to train every employee to ensure that all costumers are informed of the changes, post large visible signs at the stores with the changes. I realize that we are going through tough times, but for crying out loud do not bite the hand that feeds you. And if Blockbusters wants to remain competitive in the movie rental business, they better be transparent and honest.

The Blockbuster store I am complaining about store #12377. It is located at 806 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Seffner, FL 33584. I have been a Blockbuster customer for years and have never had a problem in any store I have gone into. I moved, and decided to go to above store; however I couldn’t find my card. I have always been able to use my Drivers License, but the guy at the counter said he couldn’t find my account, so I reopened another account at that location. I gave them my debit card information with the understanding that they were a legitimate, respected company and would use the information responsibly. I rented a couple of movies, and left them on the roof of my car as I drove off. They charged my card and then I proceed to rent more movies there. I usually rent about 5 at a time. I rented a few with no problems, and low and behold after just a couple of times renting at this store, they are now claiming I did not return a movie. I was checking my bank account online, and noticed a $10.69 charge from Blockbusters. I didn’t know what this charge was so I called and spoke with one of the associates. He informed me the charge was from Dora the Explorer that I did not return. I specifically remember returning that movie, because at first I couldn’t find the case and had to search my son’s room for it. I found it and when we got to Blockbusters I put the movies in the drop box and my son got all upset because he thought I threw his Dora movie away. I told him that I returned that movie and he said he would look. While I was on hold, I thought about it and I never received a phone call from them telling me I had a movie out late. I had recently changed my cell phone service and got a new phone number, so I thought that I hadn’t updated my phone number. When he came back and told me he couldn’t find it, I asked him to update my phone number. He sighed and asked me what my number was and I gave it to him. He said that was the number that they had on file for me. I didn’t specifically ever remember giving them my phone number, but asked him if they had my correct phone number why I didn’t receive a phone call about an over due movie, I may have been able to get this fixed 2 weeks ago. He then told me that the computer shows they did call me, and mentioned that I had a movie out that was one day overdue, and that I would start receiving phone calls tomorrow about it. I went on about the movie I just paid for that I do not have. He said he looked and they didn’t have it in their store. I told him that I would be in, to find out more about this. I went in and told him that I wanted him to find my movie. He took me to shelf where it would be and showed me that it was not there. He said that when I spoke with him on the phone that he looked in a mix match drawer. I asked him to look again, and he did not. I asked him if they had a defective drawer that it could have gotten thrown in and he didn’t respond and walked behind the counter to talk to another associate. He told me I could talk to the store manager tomorrow. It concerned me that he said my number was correct in the system, even though I didn’t receive any calls, that he says that computer shows that I did get, and also that he made no effort to look for the movie while I was in the store. When I left and got home, I thought about it and regardless if I could get this problem resolved store level, I would never return to that store again, because I think that something is not right there, I don’t think they look for movies, or care, or try and cover up their own mistakes at the expense of the customer. So I went on-line and emailed Blockbusters and explained the situation and told that I would never return to the store again, however whether or not I continue going to any Blockbusters ever again is dependent on whether or not I get my $10.69 back. I told them that there are way too many options out there to continue going to a company that took my money, which is what they did, because they took my money and I received no benefit at all from it. I don’t have the movie but I’m out $10.69. They have my movie somewhere and now have an extra $10.69. The next day I returned the movies that I had previously rented, when I returned my other movies and asked the girl at the counter to give me documentation that I returned these movies. She asked the same guy that I spoke with the day before how to do it, and he told her to print a history. She did and handed the receipt to me. It had notes on the receipt that he had put on my account about my visit with him yesterday, saying that I was upset and rude to him. I was absolutely upset, he was telling me I didn’t return a movie, that I did- he was telling me I got phone calls that I did not receive, and would not look for my movie while I was there in the store, even though he claimed to look for it while I was on the phone. I just kind of chuckled when I saw the comments on the receipt because in the end I get the last laugh. There went a large amount of money that I would have put into that store. One day he will grow up and realize that it’s customers that give him a paycheck, and if he continues acting the way he does and loses more customers, he’s going to be looking for a new job when it shuts down because it’s not making any money. He can say what he wants about me, in the end I’m one of the reasons he got a paycheck and that reason is gone. Though it doesn’t seem like a lot of money, it’s still my money. I work to hard for my money, for someone to just take it for no reason. I don’t have $10.69 to just throw away.

I have not received a phone call as of yet about my complaint so I guess Blockbusters doesn’t care if yet another customer is gone, because they got their $10.69. I will now post this on any consumer complaint board that I can find on-line.