I just want some advice or personal experiences from you guys with reference to blockbuster and over due fees.

We had about 5 dvd's rented out as we were moving house and had nothing else to do - we watched them and returned them ON TIME !

The next week after we have moved in and settled we travel across the other side of town to our local block buster store, there is a closer one - but we enjoyed this store and their service. When we got to the person we were going to pay for some more movies - they told us we owed them 200 in over due fees - OMFG WTF BBQ HAX ! was my response..

Now we were talkign to the manager about it, ill call him "x", and we were sorting it out as i suspected dodgyness on some of their staffs behalf - when mark left the store and went over seas and didnt tell us. Leaving us thinking it was all sorted out.

2 months later - we recieved a letter ( today actually ) from a debt recovery agency for the monies plus any legal or other fees incurred by recieving the monies. WTFG ?!?

The new manager is going to call me tomorrow at work and hopefully we can sort it out - but when i rang today, x had left no details on our account nor had he changed our phone number when i asked him 2.

So - if you have had any past history with this kind of stuff - can u post and let me know what you did about it. And how it ( if it did ) worked out ?

Exa|ted

yes x = mark rofl !

we still have an over due fee with blockbuster around the 35 dollar mark, its been like 3 months, still haven't paid it, and we don't really hire out anyway, not much.

I thought the rule of thumb was if you have an overdue fee you just never go back to the same store? thats what normal people do...

then you say you were moving hourse, awesome excuse for the video store/ debt collectors, just say you moved in and they are looking for the old people

but i guess my stuff is for if you actually do owe money, you dontso just go down to the store and sort it out

kewl, let me know how u go;
decimate ran up a bill on our card at the local blockbuster

just ignore the legal notices, it's happened to me with an ISP, their lawyers threatened to sue for me for about 3 years, but eventually gave up

sif worry about overdue fees at a blockbuster, you just go to another one - if they're dodge you can be dodge too

Did you find out what the movies were that you allegedly failed to return on time?

I thought the rule of thumb was if you have an overdue fee you just never go back to the same store? thats what normal people do...

Normal people? Sounds like debt-dodging losers to me. Fortunately they've wised up and require ID and stuff these days, and it sounds like if they have debt collectors out and about they're catching up. I'm sure they make up quite a bit of their money on overdue fines - I know they make s***loads off me. I have no qualms about it; if I got off my ass and returned s*** on time it wouldn't cost me so much.

mate ok i understand your situation and i have seen a couple, seeing you are really in the deep, the only way to get out of it is you need someone really assertive, either a friend or your dad,uncle obviously not yourself cause you don't sound like it. You need them to storm into there and just f***en go nuts, as long as you are all in the right and not in the wrong which it seems you are, just go f***en rank. Make sure the person that does it is big and a nut. My Dad is the biggest nutcase and he always ends up good. Trust me i aint trying to be funny you need to find some nutcase or assertive speaker.
Cheers, dr|ft (mal)

i think your missing the point here..

he returned the video's on time, so just tell them that and im sure it wont be a problem. if they bulls*** you, then tell them to bring up security footage of you returning them or something

and drift, adam is a pretty imposiing person.. he plays gridiron :D

rofl strik3r thining blockbuster is the National Bank or sumthing haha

security footage lmfao =)

According to their computers i didnt hand them in on time, actually it says they were returned like days apart - sif all of them returned days apart ..

Exa|ted

^^ i hate ppl like your dad

If people come into my work and act like f***tards when it comes to owing money I tell them basically to f*** off. If they act decent I'll normally just wipe the late fees. The best excuses for getting outta paying late fees are broken down car, been in hospital or someone died. Like I give a s***.

8-)

YOUR ALL MISSING THE POINT.

HE RETURNED THEM ON TIME

STAFF f***ED UP.

especially since they are all supposedly being returned seperately day after day. u really shouldnt have a problem.. if u do, give them my number as your legal aid :D

been in hospital

But people do get stuck in hospitals and can't return videos on time, probably because of all these psych restraining orders. :D

and drift, adam is a pretty imposiing person.. he plays gridiron :D

won't stop a bullet. Doesn't matter how tough you are strik3r anyone can be brought to their knees by one method or another. If he wants to threten violence then he shall find out. It's like CS kiddies going "hay maens!! I'm 6 foot 190 pounds and I could break you" I just go "bring it on" they never back it up. "tough" people are all talk. though I'm sure one day one of them will hand me my ass on a plate :D

when mark left the store and went over seas and didnt tell us. Leaving us thinking it was all sorted out.

Who is Mark? The manager or your friend?

Also, never trust someone else to take back your movies on time. Seen it hundreds of times at work where smacktards blame a friend for not bringing the stuff back.

i think you confused imposing with sexy strike 3 arr !

Goto www.notgoodenough.org

That will f***'em!

Heh heh heh!

P.S I know my sig is too big I will change it immediately!!

WhoopAss- very very true...its the quite ones that you have to worry about

I went to get a movie out one time at the local store...

Walk up to give em my $10 and the dude goes.

Dude - umm, you have some late fees.
Me - Oh really, dunno why ... how much?
Dude - well .... $350
Me - Yeah right :D

I told him what movies i had last borrowed, when i returned them.

and he cleared my lovely $350 fee :D

cainor!

Be nice
Yelling at ppl to get your way is retarded. So is the | in your name Mr. Cool

YOUR ALL MISSING THE POINT.
HE RETURNED THEM ON TIME
STAFF f***ED UP.

I believe everything i read on the internet too!

Every time I've had late fees the staff member at the time has always gone "Ahh, don't worry, I'll clear them" or they halve them or something like that. Mind you it's only like $10 and not hundreds of dollars :D And it's Video Ezy and not Blockbuster :D Every single DVD I got from Blockbuster had gunk and scratches on it [and hence froze at least once per movie] whereas Video Ezy has only given me a couple like that.

I'm kinda surprised regarding the letters/legal notices/debt collection and all that, though. Wouldn't the cost of chasing the fees so aggressively outweigh the actual money owed?

makes you wonder how many other people have "fees" that aren't really meant to be there. Kinda makes you want to hand them to someone in person and make them check it off the list then and there.

I doubt many fees would be sitting on the computer if they weren't meant to be there.

That reminds me of something funny that happens. When you close for the night and someone returns a movie through the overnight dropoff thingy and then wave to you or make some kind of motion, then think they're outta the clear for getting late fees. It's like, "oh there were still people in the store so I shouldn't be charged".

Ot, but wiht fallens post..

Rev, you work at a video renterer place.. How do you guys deal with scracthed DVD's and stuff? I personally think it will be a big deal in a couple of years. It seems every second DVD I rent nowadays skips at atleast one or more points. A couple I've had to to stop watching because of this. Now if I am lucky I whip out the ol' trusty CD cleaner and bobs your uncle, its fine, but still, it's frickin irritating.

We've got a CD cleaner now so we can buff the cd's back to normal again. I've taken in a few of my things and cleaned them up a bit. Look good as new.

Also, I can't understand how people can scratch the cd's. It's not hard to take a disc from a cover and put it into the machine and then back again. And the peope who scratch 'em are the people that whine about discs not playing.

8-)

Thanx guys - i was going to take the nice approach anyways. I'll see how that goes - if all else fails, i will seek legal advice from the army :D

Exa|ted

trog: I have no qualms about it; if I got off my ass and returned s*** on time it wouldn't cost me so much.

www.webflicks.com.au

It's not hard to take a disc from a cover and put it into the machine and then back again.

Agreed. My dvd's go straight from case to player, player to case. Still, s*** happens sometimes.

likewise, case -> DVD rom -> case.

i was at a video easy the other day, and when he took the DVD sleave out of the drawer, he took it out, told me i needed to inspect the DVD to verify there were no scratches, then he put it in the case. basically, since they check it as it goes out, if it comes back scratched, they know that it wasn't like that when they gave it out.

I work for Blockbuster.

I still don't understand, from reading your post, where the $200 came from. If you returned it, but they assume you never did (ie. it wasnt put into our computers) it would, at some stage, appear. Like if it was immediately returned to the shelves and someone brought it up, for it to be rented, it would first be returned.

sometimes one account number is linked from one blockbuster store is linked to another account at another store, happened to a friend of mine.

the trick is that not all blockbusters are run by head office, and you need seperate accounts.

Ummm, no Blockbuster accounts are linked between stores.

Not the franchize or even independant stores...

also, i heard something a while ago about a video debt database they were going to impliment. what happened to that?

i work with rev at vid sleazy, and after reading the information you posted, i would have to agree with bangers - it would be hard to accumulate a $200 fee in that situation and be able to deny it.

occasionally we get one, at the most two, rentals from any card that might not get scanned back in correctly. there are a few reasons for this (lapse in concentration, miscommunication between staff, log in time outs, computers down, the noise from other computers confusing you, etc). if the item is still out when the customer next comes in and they say they have returned it, we look for it immediately to clear it up. if the item is borrowed by another customer, we get a special screen that comes up telling us that it has not been returned off the previous account, and if we wish to proceed the computer will then go and return that item and delete any subsequent fees automatically. basically, if it is our fault, the fee will be fixed up. my point here though, is that it would be near impossible for a staff member to mis-scan 5 items, and even then, the fees will be fixed later when those items are rented again.

one thought that popped into my head is that perhaps the discs were swiped from the returns counter - ie, some people dont put them in the chute, and instead pop them on top of the counter. this has happened a few times while i have been working at video stores, and once to me when i was returning something to another store. however, the problem with this is that you would not be getting charged a late fee, as late fees only arise AFTER the rental has been returned. instead, you would be getting charged a replacement fee. ask them if that is the case?

now, from my experience, slutbuster franchises charge full price late fees. so say you rented 5 new release dvd's (probably not likely, but it happens). industry standard for a new release rental is $7.50 in QLD. so 5 x $7.50 = $35 a night. this means, you are look at 6 nights late MINIMUM for that sort of fee to occur, and let's not forget, that's just new releases. who knows what sort of rentals they were?

now, in my experience, the shop aint going to buy your "i returned them on time" story, as that sort of fee doesn't happen by accident. what you will need to do is ask them for a print out of your late fees account (it should have information as to what date and time you returned each movie included in it). ask them about the nightly late rates for each of those rentals. if the dates and times are all different, then you have a case. however, if they are all the same date and time, then you have nothing.

it's a rare occassion that i have seen the owners go after late fees through a third party. mostly i am honest with customers and tell them they aren't obliged to deal with us after accumulating a late fee, therefore they are also not obliged to pay it in the current situation. we do send out threatening letters when movies are overdue, warning them we will send their details to collection and credit agencies, which usually does the job of getting the movies back.

the only case i can remember of one of our stores taking it to another level was when some long time customers of ours laid a story on us about how they were donating some of their time to a childrens hospital, and could they rent a playstation and several games off us at a cheaper rate for an extended period of time, so that they could take it to the hospital. being good customer, we agreed. we never saw that playstation again, their phones suddenly were disconnected, and eventually the police got involved. silly silly stuff, all over a stupid psx!

Wow. Big post. Not going to read it.

Rainbow Video sent my brother a debt collection notice once. For twenty eight dollars. I guess the cost of a threat on half a cents worth of paper is worth reclaiming monies owed.

well - now you mention it, there are movies returned at different times. the 4 i got out on the 4 for $12 were all out on the same date, yet 1 of them was returned at a different time and date. what the ? why would i return one and not the rest - especially when the first one was apparantly 11 days and the others were 13 days over due. In any case i wrote a letter to the debt recovery agency - it goes like this:

Entertainment Recoveries

Sir/Madam,

This letter is in reponse to a Notice of debt collection from your agency, Entertainment Recoveries. The letter was recieved on Monday 28th of April 2003. My Member/Debt number is xxxxxx (insert 15 digit number).

Please direct your attention to the cheque enclosed for $29.52. This monies is for the items ( insert 3 dvd titles - i had gay movies out =/ ) and Administrative charge L2. The remaining items on our Notice of debt collection are not outstanding, as the items were returned with in the return date.

I was notified that the items were over due and the amount owed when i went to hire out another DVD from the store. I expressed that the items were not over due and took action with the manager Andrew ( i thought his name was mark in my first post, but its Andrew ). This was over a period of time and when i had not received a phone call back for some time i believed the matter was sorted out. When i received the notice from your agency i immediately phoned the Clifford Gardens store and asked for Andrew. I was informed that he has been over seas for the past 2 months. I asked to speak to the new manager and i was informed that she would be in the next day, 29th April 2003. The person who answered the phone also asked for our phone number again as the mobile phone number listed was missing the last digit, hence why we had not reveived any calls from the store.

I phoned the clifford gardens, block buster store at 9:00am in the morning on 29th April 2003 and tried to rectify the mistake. The assistant manager was not able to help with the matter and passed it onto her supervisor Russell Myer. Russell will be ringing me on Saturday 31st April 2003 to try to rectify the matter. I acknowledge the over due fees for the above listed items ( 3 dvd's over due for one day ) and i also acknowledge adminitrative fees in raising such notices as the one i received from your agency, and have paid in full the amount owing. With reference to your letter and the statement, "In the event that litigation is necessary, court costs and professional costs may be claimed." It is obvious that this will only be claimable if you win any litigation brought against myself. I am informing you of the same costs that may be incurred by your agency. If any litigation is brought against myself any court costs, professional costs, appropriate compenstation for personal time and defamation of my name may be claimed.

I trust that the management of the clifford Gardens block buster store will be able to recitry this mistake and no more actions will be required. I will personally keep you up to date on details arising from my talks with the mangerial staff. Thank you for your time in reading this letter.

Adam Sargent.


SO - i have legal back up and i also have a witness doing up a stat dec right now saying he was with me when we returned them. I was moving house and he was helping me - and i made sure we returned them - as i KNOW ppl pack rented videos/games/whatever and forget until a week later when they unpack them.

Can you guys see any other angles i should be lookign at ? I also remember last year that store was installing a new computer system - i am yet to find out what dates that was happening.

Exa|ted

I thought the rule of thumb was if you have an overdue fee you just never go back to the same store? thats what normal people do...

doubt it, people may try to do that, but it is really wrong. If you were the owner of the store would u like somebody doing that to you? Don't think so. Also video stores are thinking about giving people a bad credit rating if they don't return their movies ontime. So even if u don't ever go back it is gonna hurt you.

either a friend or your dad,uncle obviously not yourself cause you don't sound like it. You need them to storm into there and just f***en go nuts, as long as you are all in the right and not in the wrong which it seems you are, just go f***en rank

doubt it. with an overdue amount that big the ppl at the store won't budge, once the problem has gone to the debt collectors the people in the vid store don't have to talk to you about it.

anyway is this mark guy ur friend who didn't take the movies back ontime? if he didn't take them back ontime and they were actually late someone has to pay the overdue fees. Having overdue movies is considered as stealing, you are really robbing the store from the ability for someone else to rent the movies out.
But with an amount that big you will probably be able to work out some arrangement on how much to pay, if they make you. But if you did take them back on time, then something is really wrong with blockbusters system.

I'm kinda surprised regarding the letters/legal notices/debt collection and all that, though. Wouldn't the cost of chasing the fees so aggressively outweigh the actual money owed?

The debt collectors get a percentage of the late fee

no i didnt know mark - his name is actually andrew, i had it wrong. Andrew was the manager of the store at that time.

I do NOT owe them money, and yes - sumthing has f***ed up with their system, or their staff have taken them home to watch - forgot about it, then returned them or sumthing.

All possibilites.

Exa|ted

Did u have a witness when u dropped them off?

If so, go to the cop shop, get a written statement.

Go to small cliams tribuanal, counter sue for damages / distress.

also, go to blockbuster, ask for a copy of the rental aggrement when u signed up. study that.

ps, are u under 18? if so, by law u cant enter into a contract, which hiring a video is.

lol no late fee's for me. Friends work at blockbuster and other vid stores. Debt = deleted.

nah im 24, but getting a copy of rental agreement = win i think. Thanx mate =)

Exa|ted

i had overdue fees($35) at blockbuster ashgrove from july last year. i got a debt letter and paid it (because my older brother and parents and seperate accounts to me and the fees affected them) and also because i didnt want to get a black mark on my credit history..

i would think that if you had fee's due and a debt company sent you a letter you would pay them to avoid a bad credit history that will follow you around for at least 5 years (no bank loan, or credit of any kind)

omg thats dr|ft

/me hides :P

hihi maens :P oi i could see u/ur dad walking into a bb store and going nuts =] roflies