After our first trimester of participating in the Blockbuster Rewards program, I’m not happy, I’m not feeling rewarded and if there was ever any doubt in my mind why this company is financially troubled and young upstarts such as Netflix are so popular, it’s long gone.
First, an introduction. The program offers what seems to be a decent incentive: Join for a reasonable fee (roughly $10, but the cost may vary by store) and you get 1 free rental per month. I’m not the brightest bulb in the bunch, but I know enough to realize this won’t be a new release. Still, their stores are fairly well stocked, and the kids like some of those movies in the middle of the floor, so when the manager-type says that you get to select from anything “not on the wall”, once a month, for an entire year, for just $10, it’s really not a bad deal. Guess again.
The first rental wasn’t bad. The second rental wasn’t either. The third time around was like a mugging, only worse, because you paid for the privilege up front instead of just being jumped in a dark alley. After the joy that is watching your kids fight over who gets to choose that month’s video, you stand in line and are charged for the rental. When you ask if this isn’t free, you then have the privilege of being berated by a high schooler because you don’t have your free rental coupon.
What’s worse is that the kid doesn’t know how to get the coupon. He just says that you’re supposed to get it with your rental each month, implying that you are stupid for not knowing it, or perhaps trying to pull a fast one by not bringing it with you. But what if the last time in the store was to get your free rental last month? Maybe you went to another store, he says. No, we don’t go to any other stores. One bad experience is plenty, thanks. Perhaps check your email? No, we didn’t get it by email, and we’re pretty competent on that front. No, it didn’t get blocked by the spam filter, thankyouverymuch. After several minutes of feeling like a criminal, he finally gives in, prints out something and gives you the free rental.
So with this experience safely forgotten, we try for month number four. The kids mill about, now realizing that the middle of the store videos pretty well blow, and half an hour later find something that isn’t bad at all. So we head for the register to get out while the getting is good. There is one person at the register – perhaps a college student this month – and three or four people in line. It’s not looking good. Once again, we’re charged, and I ask about our free video.
Again with the suggestion that we bring in our coupon, so being the helpful soul that I am, I try to figure out just when we’re supposed to get this coupon. The kid has no idea. He goes to get the manager, who does not improve the situation. I’m generally an easy-going person. But when I start to get impatient, it’s not a good idea to flick your hair and add “my friend” to the end of everything. As in “I’m trying to help, my friend” or “let me tell you how we do that, my friend”. It’s just bad.
So first, the manager tells me how the kids have managed to get a video that isn’t one that we can rent. But it was in the middle of the store. So he proceeds to tell me how they rearranged the store and now the middle of the store is no longer what can be rented for free. So I try and find out what can be had for a free rental. And he goes on about the middle of the store can still be rented for free (“my friend”). Except for certain areas (“my friend”). Finally, it’s three little bins that are in a particular area that are off-limits for free rentals (“my friend”).
The only problem? The movie didn’t come from one of those bins.
It came off the wall of new rentals and someone picked it up and put it down in the wrong area. I have no problem with that – really – but why it took this guy 10 minutes to explain why we picked it up from the wrong place when in fact we picked it up in the right place was not the right tactic. Just say “that’s a new rental”. Don’t try and explain it. Why do people try and go into so much detail making you look stupid?
Back to the little coupon. I was determined to figure out how to get it and avoid this next month. Apparently at some time during the month, Blockbuster physically prints these things out. But they do it at various times, so you have to guess when they do it and you can pick yours up (there’s a waste of money, my friends). So after they do it, and assuming you guess right, and if you have a transaction, and if they can actualy find your coupon, then you will get your coupon and you can then remember to take it with you so that the next time you can come in and hand it to someone so you can get a free rental without all the hassle.
If you don’t, you will need to get a manager to give you your free rental, wasting at least ten minutes of a clerk’s time and five minutes of a manager’s time, not to mention all the wasted paper and the untold hours of people standing in line – all in the hope that they will get you to come in and rent a movie next month in order to get your stupid little piece of paper so that you can then remember to bring it back the following month. Fat chance, my friend.
I am not making this up. I actually asked the overly-friendly manager if he was serious about this and he was completely serious. He said that if we don’t do anything other than pick up our monthly freebie, we should ask to see the manager each visit, because we won’t have the printed coupon. As I mentioned, I understand they want us to come in and rent a movie every week.
I understand that a $4 rental is going out the door for less than a dollar when we don’t do so (12 rentals per year for $10). I get the economics. But surely someone realizes that making $0.83 per rental on movies that otherwise sit there is better than wasting 15 minutes of hourly employee time on top of that with each one, don’t they? I don’t know. I don’t think they do.
In any case, I guess I’ll be checking in with my new friend next month.
The conclusion? If you live in Charlotte, go to the library instead. The selection isn’t as good, but the DVDs are free – at least, they are unless you choose a new release, and even those are cheaper than Blockbuster, and in any case, the lines are shorter and the people are generally nicer and at least you won’t feel bad if you don’t go, because you don’t feel like you’re missing out on something you paid to get. And you certainly don’t have to make friends unless you really want to do so.
Comments
56 responses to “Blockbuster Rewards Are Anything But Rewarding”
Hi Ryan –
Interesting thoughts, to be sure, but if I join a program where I’m promised one free rental a month, regardless of whether I actually rent something or not, then that’s what I expect to get.
This “review” doesn’t have anything to do with other benefits, it has to do with the troubles that I had with using the benefits that I was interested in – namely the one free rental each month. I never intended to use the other benefits, and it is my site, so I published the problems I had with the services I used. It’s as simple as that.
Whether the program is geared towards people like myself or not is irrelevant: It is offered to people like myself, so it needs to work as advertised, and if it doesn’t, then it is at best false advertising, and at worse it is outright deceptive.
As to the customer service, I spent quite a bit of time trying to get the coupons in question – and they weren’t lost in email, as a number of people have suggested, because I never signed up for that option. According to the documentation, if you don’t sign up, they won’t be sent that way.
As posted in the other thread: You may also receive your Free Monthly Movie Rental coupon at a participating BLOCKBUSTER store upon request and presentation of your BLOCKBUSTER Rewards membership card.
That’s all fine and dandy, and I’m aware of it – but apparently the Blockbuster employees aren’t, and I’m sorry, Ryan, but it isn’t my job to train them. If I sign up for a program, and pay for the program, then I expect to be able to get the benefits of the program.
If Blockbuster can’t train their employees correctly, then it’s a rip-off. Intentional? I can’t say, but I can say that if you’re interested in the program, you’re going to be disappointed, and that’s what this is about.
So Ryan, you can fault my logic all you want, but it seems sound to me, and hopefully it has helped at least one person with avoiding this business, because they are not operating in the consumer’s best interest, and that’s what this is all about.
Thanks for your comment!
It’s not that hard. Did you read the information that came with the rewards card? If so then I don’t understand how you can’t figure the program out. Aside from that, I have two problems with your review. First, there are more benefits to the program than you bothered to mention. Or maybe you don’t know that because you didn’t read the information when you signed up. If you had then you would have realized that the program isn’t geared toward a person who rents one movie a month. Second, your entire review can be summed up as “Blockbuster’s rewards program sucks because I continuously receive bad customer service.” This argument is bad because the incompetence of the employees has nothing to do with the rewards program. So they failed to explain to you what you failed to read for yourself. The only conclusion that is deductively valid from your argument is that you have had communication problems with many people, and I would guess that you are the root of the problem based on your ridiculous logic.
Insightful comments. Unfortunately, Blockbuster is still grasping for a business model that will allow its bloated business to survive in a world of nimble companies.
I heard about the Rewards program for the first time today and stumbled upon your site when researching the program. I think I’ll save my $10. Cheers.
Hi (again) Erin –
The problem, at least for me, is that the computer would only print the non-new coupon when you would rent something. Since we didn’t rent anything, the coupon would never print. That’s a bit of an issue, and the whole reason I wrote the post.
As to the “high schooler” comment, that one wasn’t me. Sorry you don’t like it, but I just let them stay as they are left. Thanks again for your comments!
I never said you get something in the mail I said that the computer prints out a monthly coupon for a non new release. && everytime I tell a customer about the Rewards program I tell them for every PAID rental you get that many in the non-new release. And for every PAID 5 rentals you have you get the 6th one free twice a month. So I don’t know who’s telling you you don’t have to pay anything else to get free movies beyond the inital membership, like I said I tell customers for every PAID rental.
Regardless if you dont want to pay anything and get the free rental you still can get the 1 non-new one every month & thats an apprx. $51.48 value and you only pay about $9.95 for the whole year, so your still saving money. And we have to (in bold) tell and ask EVERY customer if they were interested
The only thing I though was wrong was when someone said only high schoolers work there and are all basically stupid. That crosses the line.
Hi Erin –
As I’ve mentioned, I’m sure that there are times when the program works, but when it doesn’t is when you don’t rent other titles and you want only the free ones. In that case, it breaks down (badly), and just because the computer says you are supposed to get something in the mail doesn’t mean that you do.
Unfortunately, it means that some process somewhere was supposed to send something out, but it apparently doesn’t. In fact, from the comments here and elsewhere, it seems apparent that the program is geared towards giving existing renters more free content, and there isn’t really anything wrong with that – but as mentioned originally, to say that you get free rentals without having to pay anything beyond the initial membership is simply a lie, and that’s where I have a problem with it.
I work at blockbuster & you get more than 12 free rentals a year for having the Rewards program. Here’s how it works.
When you sign up for the program it’s only APPRX $10.00 for the whole year! Store prices vary by location. And right off the bat you get 1 free NON-new release card.
Monday-Wednesday for every paid release (new or old) you can get that many free in the NON-new release section.
Once a month you get a printed coupon for the next month for a free release in the NON-new release section.
Twice a month if you have 5 paid rentals you get the 6th rental free. You can use that 6th rental on a NEW release apprx $4.29 value, a game apprx $7.99 value or a NON new release apprx $4.29 value.
So your just NOT getting ONLY 12 free rentals a year and them only being NON-new releases, you can get games free, NEW RELEASES FREE and of course NON new releases free.
When members come up to the register and their rewards is almost over with it tell us how many free rentals they earned throughout the whole year and quite a few times people had over 100 free rentals that they earned and that’s not a exaggeration!!
And it’s not only high schoolers that work at Blockbuster, for one i’m not and for two we know when you get your printed montly coupons. Thanks!
I do agree with you there are many uniformed workers out there and there is at least one at every store. but the following is a rumor and i can not release everything right now, in the last few months there was a different type of rewards being tried out in a large town where the people get way more than the money is worth and that is suppose to role out nation wide and just a small piece of information, you will save more and EVERY movie
Hi Mike –
It’s interesting that you are studying human communication, because what I originally said is that if they are telling you that you can get movies for no additional charge, then that’s what they need to do.
In effect (in my experience, anyway), that is not what is happening – Blockbuster is only too happy to give you your free rental coupon, but only after you rent a movie, at an additional cost over and above the cost of the program.
That’s what makes it a scam – that they say you can get free movies without additional rentals, and you can’t do so without considerable extra effort. Good luck on your degree!
in regards to the last post, i do understand as a store manager of one of the top revenue stores in the west that not all employees explain it the best. First of all even if your email is listed ask the employee to click on your email address and enter it again and say yes to receive mail rather than “opt out.” also many spam filters catch it because it comes from a blockbuster website, although you will get junk mail for a bit, you can click allow the certain address through, then turn your spam mail back on. And somehow you say that it is a scam even though two movies at my store are $9.26 and rewards is $9.95 you say that it is a scam. Not to offend anyone at all blockbuster is just a job for me while i study for my degree in human communication.