I hate blockbuster. I will never go in one again. Every single person I work with and in my family refuses to go there for all the hell BLOCKBUSTER has put me and my family through.
My husband, my parents, and several friends/co-workers have stopped going to this place because so many times they have accused them of not turning in a video! My parents rented Milo and Otis, and they accused them of keeping this movie. (which I later bought for them for $3.00!) They charged my father's card without his knowledge. He did get the late cards in his mail, and he called and explained to them that he turned it in and someone told him they would take care of it. Well, the charges were charged to his card and some time later my dad got his statement. He was livid, for the trouble he went to get this taken care of. I understand mistakes, so no big deal, and he dealt with it to at that time. But the next time was not so pretty.
My problem, I had a Blockbuster account for several years. I rarely used it. Maybe once every few months. There are cheaper movie places around. Well, for an emergency outage, I went there to get a movie noone else had. I returned it one day late. I get a notice in the mail, but figured they sent it on the day it was late. Next time, I get a notice and it says they will charge my card.By that time it was only a few dollars. I just didn't want to go through the trouble, let them charge the card. Next thing I know, Blockbuster charges me $98.00 for this movie. Then I got really angry. I called them to dispute the charge. Of course I get every single line, they never got the movie, the price is how much the movies are worth plus fees. I was so angry but I kept my cool. The people I spoke with would ignore me or tell me lines and I disputed it with my card company. That didn't work either, Blockbuster disputed it back.
The kicker:
My card only had $60.00 balance at that time. The limit on that card was $200.00. Not only did I have to pay the over the limit fees, but I also had to pay the service charges, interest. This compounded into about a $1000.00 debt when it was all said and done. I tried each month to pay this balance, but at the time I was making very minimal money and had just moved out on my own. So sometimes my cash went towards food instead of that card. This never would have happened if Blockbuster wouldn't have used my card. The money on that card was in reserve for a rainy day. After Blockbuster, they were rainy for a while...
Lesson: If you decide you have to rent from them, make sure you check that they got the movie your returned.
Periodically call to see if you have any fees in your account that you don't know about. Pay close attention to the notices they send you, they are out for MORE MONEY.
Remember to mention to your credit card company or bank that you never signed for the charges.in some instances (hotel no-show charges*hint hint, big one*you can sometimes successfully get a no-show chargeback on your card if you didnt' sign for it... Please be aware of the hotel policies) Companies have a harder time disputing something you didn't sign. I do believe Blockbuster made me sign an agreement, so I couldn't fight that, but just know some places may do that to you just about anywhere you go. Don't forget, you can also dispute charges in your debit/credit checking account.
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