Approximately 1 week ago, I got a postcard regarding late fees for a movie rented 9/23/03 from the Blockbuster store on Griffith Park Blvd., in Los Angeles. I moved from Los Angeles on December 20, and closed (or thought I'd closed my account in LA) since my then roommate rented movies on my account. Imagine my surprise to find out that not only had the account not been closed, but the ex-roommate still rented movies 9 months later.
The girl I spoke to at the Griffith Park store put me on hold and talked to her manager. When she came back on the phone she said they would remove the charges and close the LA account. She knew I had an account in Pinole, CA and was only going to remove my Los Angeles account. "Don't worry, everything would be taken care of".
I go into my local store today and am told by Gary, the Assistant Manager that I don't have any account. Yes, I've had an account for years, and I have a "gold" status. No, he can't find my info in the computer, maybe I haven't rented in the past 3 months - since they purge accounts that are inactive for 3 months. I just returned a movie in the night drop I rented this week. We rent something every week, so why the problem? Seems when the employee or Manager in the Griffith Park store changed the information in the computer, they didn't put a "hold" on the account, they just removed the address, city, and all other pertinent info making the account unusable. I had to fill out another form to start a new "basic" account.
I asked what I can do about this error, as I have a "gold" account. Gary tells me to call customer service, but he doesn't know the number. I got home fuming and look on the back of my gold card, and call that customer service number and was told by Terrence that my "issue" needs to be handled by the Corporate Office and gives me the (214) 258-1017 number. I ask where that is, and is there an 900 number?"No". Who/what department do I ask for on this matter?"Anyone at that number". And of course that number is only valid Monday - Friday from 9:00am - 5:00pm CST.
I attempted to access www.blockbuster.com to issue a complaint to a customer service choice, but their server isn't accessible at this time. I will continue to hit their website over the weekend, and will have to spend my own money to call and see if someone at their Corporate level has any clue how to provide customer service.
This is a minor "rip-off" in the scheme of things, but having been a long time customer who's spend a great deal of money over the years, this is insulting and seems unbelivable to me that not even the 800 toll free directory knows of a Blockbuster phone number to call for customer service. If I ever "break the code" and actually get to talk to someone, I can only hope they understand what the meaning of customer service is.
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