Long time readers of this blog know that I like to pick on Blockbuster from time to time.
Well, actually, not "like to" but I do it.
So when I heard the yellow and blue was buying Circuit City I thought maybe they were doing a turnaround from getting kicked in the face by Netflix.
Alas, no such luck. Every time I give Blockbuster another chance, it finds new and creative ways to screw up.
Case in point, I had one or two items available on Blockbuster that were not available on Netflix, so I re-signed up for their smallest mail plan: $3.99 for two movies a month. Fair enough. Blockbuster then sends me an offer. If I will "upgrade" to the next highest plan--$8.99 for one out at a time, unlimited, and two free rentals in store--they will give me one month free. Quick math check says that's an additional 99 cents over two months for which I get 4 free rentals (2 a month) in the store.
Only problem is when I turned in my first envelope for a free rental they said I had already used up my allotment. How could this be, since I just re-upped and this was the first trade in? No matter, the computer is always right. So I left the store without There Will Be Blood (which I still haven't seen but I suppose I'll get at Redbox next Monday).
Okay, so I'm out $5 or two rentals...not a huge hit, but enough to remind me why I stopped dealing with Blockbuster in the first place. Fool me once, shame on them. Fool me for the umpteenth time and I learn my lesson.
Oh, and as a side note, some of you may know that Blockbuster makes a big deal out of refusing to stock NC-17 films but will stock unrated foreign films or made for cable soft porn like Red Shoes Diaries. I was surprised then to see Ang Lee's Lust, Caution on the shelves. I was more surprised to see the studio had apparently caved to pressure and released an expurgated version of the film to that it could get into Blockbuster stores. Funnier still was the advertising banner on the DVD: "The 'R' rated version NOT seen in theaters!" Ah, yes, normally we get the promise in a Director's Cut of all the stuff you couldn't see in the theater (in an "UNRATED" director's cut). Here we get the "selling point" that the film is new because they took out all the stuff you COULD see in the theater. Bizarre.
Post-script. When canceling my service, I was required to fill out a check list explaining my reason(s) for canceling. It ended with a "pretty please won't you tell us your main reason for canceling" so I wrote an explanation of the problems I had with customer service, opportunities I had given them to resolve the issue, and what it would take for me to remain a customer (simple, honor your agreement and provide the services you said you would). Laughably, the website did not accept my cancellation. Instead I got an error message that I had exceed the '255 character" maximum field allotment for my reason for canceling.
Yeah, guess they really do want to hear from their customers on how they can improve.
Showing posts with label Blockbuster. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blockbuster. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Monday, December 31, 2007
"I'll Take Crappy Customer Service for $100, Alex"
Apple and Directv...
"What are two companies that have as poor customer service as Blockbuster?"
Frequent readers of this blog know that I've picked on Blockbuster more than a few times for the ways in which it has failed again and again to parlay whatever advantages its service has over Netflix into a decent alternative to the Red & White.
It should come as no surprise, then, that I got a holiday letter from Blockbuster saying they were raising the price of their Total Access option an additional $10...about a 30% increase.
I was happy to get an Ipod this winter and happier still to receive a $15 gift card for Itunes this Christmas. The only problem was that when I scratched off to reveal the code and enter it at Itunes to redeem my gift I got a message saying my card had not been "activated." They told me to take it up with whoever sold me the card. Since it was a gift (hence, you know, the term "Gift" card) and I had no way of knowing where it was sold, I contacted Apple's customer service via their hard to find link. Their response? Fax them a copy of the card along with a copy of the sales receipt. (This after I told them I didn't know where it was bought because, you know it was a "Gift" card.)
I understand Apple doesn't want Target or Wal-Mart or Best Buy or Kroger or whoever to rip them off in some way and that these cards may be easy to steal, hence making activation important. But I find it hard to believe in a computer world where my grocery store can send me specialized coupons based on the fact that I charged Pop-Tarts seven months ago, my car dealer can e-mail me about how many miles its been since my last oil change, and my video store can tell me which shipping center Felicity season four, disc one was sent three years ago when I ordered it that Apple has no way of knowing where a serial number was distributed to and whether or not, based on the bar code, it was purchased. They just don't want to do the leg work of checking...they want me to do it. Or they figure enough people won't want to embarrass the "gift" card giver and just eat it. If you are going to market "gift" cards aggressively, then you should reasonably foresee that people will want you to resolve problems they have with YOUR product. The Itunes brand is the name on the card, not Target, Best Buy, etc. Problems with the cards will be a mark on the Itunes brand and image.
I recently decided to downgrade my Directv membership to just one room. I hadn't used the one in the office much, and it kept losing signal. When I contacted Directv, they said I needed to return the receiver or face up to $490 in charges. No problem. Where to return it? Well wait until I receive a "recovery kit" in the mail and then follow the instructions. A week later and I still had no recovery kit. I e-mailed Directv customer service and requested it again. Then I started getting the collection calls. Why hadn't I returned my receiver? They would charge me up to $490 if I didn't do so.
As an aside..I hate automated reminders. Calls generated by computer with no humans at the other end. Blockbuster does these too. Another of my pet peeves is when you are in line at a store (okay, usually Blockbuster) and the person on the phone gets priority over the customer in line. You know...if they are always on the phone, why are all my calls automated?
Anyways, I finaally got the recovery kit and sent it back to Directv via Fedex. According to the tracking number, it was received 12/26/2007 and signed for. Home free, right?
No, not really. On 12/28, I get another automated call from Directv threatening me with a $490 charge if I don't return my receiver. Then the kicker.
"If you have already returned your receiver...press 1; if..."
What???? So two days after they signed for it, they send me an automated message saying, in essence, "we don't know if you returned it or not, but if you didn't we'll charge you for it."
Postscript--Apple sent me one of those e-mail surveys generated by a "visit" to customer service...you know, "was your problem resolved?" (no) "were you satisfied with your service?" (hell no). What I love is they don't ask "how can we do better?" Instead it is, "please outline the steps you took to try to resolve this problem before contacting customer service?"
Oh...and for the record...I gave the gift card back to the giver who will go back to the store for a refund. She said she might give me a card for Amazon instead.
Way to go, Apple. Within 1 month you took a guy who was thrilled to get his first Ipod and turned him into a guy whose first thought was "where can I get content for it someplace else."
"What are two companies that have as poor customer service as Blockbuster?"
Frequent readers of this blog know that I've picked on Blockbuster more than a few times for the ways in which it has failed again and again to parlay whatever advantages its service has over Netflix into a decent alternative to the Red & White.
It should come as no surprise, then, that I got a holiday letter from Blockbuster saying they were raising the price of their Total Access option an additional $10...about a 30% increase.
I was happy to get an Ipod this winter and happier still to receive a $15 gift card for Itunes this Christmas. The only problem was that when I scratched off to reveal the code and enter it at Itunes to redeem my gift I got a message saying my card had not been "activated." They told me to take it up with whoever sold me the card. Since it was a gift (hence, you know, the term "Gift" card) and I had no way of knowing where it was sold, I contacted Apple's customer service via their hard to find link. Their response? Fax them a copy of the card along with a copy of the sales receipt. (This after I told them I didn't know where it was bought because, you know it was a "Gift" card.)
I understand Apple doesn't want Target or Wal-Mart or Best Buy or Kroger or whoever to rip them off in some way and that these cards may be easy to steal, hence making activation important. But I find it hard to believe in a computer world where my grocery store can send me specialized coupons based on the fact that I charged Pop-Tarts seven months ago, my car dealer can e-mail me about how many miles its been since my last oil change, and my video store can tell me which shipping center Felicity season four, disc one was sent three years ago when I ordered it that Apple has no way of knowing where a serial number was distributed to and whether or not, based on the bar code, it was purchased. They just don't want to do the leg work of checking...they want me to do it. Or they figure enough people won't want to embarrass the "gift" card giver and just eat it. If you are going to market "gift" cards aggressively, then you should reasonably foresee that people will want you to resolve problems they have with YOUR product. The Itunes brand is the name on the card, not Target, Best Buy, etc. Problems with the cards will be a mark on the Itunes brand and image.
I recently decided to downgrade my Directv membership to just one room. I hadn't used the one in the office much, and it kept losing signal. When I contacted Directv, they said I needed to return the receiver or face up to $490 in charges. No problem. Where to return it? Well wait until I receive a "recovery kit" in the mail and then follow the instructions. A week later and I still had no recovery kit. I e-mailed Directv customer service and requested it again. Then I started getting the collection calls. Why hadn't I returned my receiver? They would charge me up to $490 if I didn't do so.
As an aside..I hate automated reminders. Calls generated by computer with no humans at the other end. Blockbuster does these too. Another of my pet peeves is when you are in line at a store (okay, usually Blockbuster) and the person on the phone gets priority over the customer in line. You know...if they are always on the phone, why are all my calls automated?
Anyways, I finaally got the recovery kit and sent it back to Directv via Fedex. According to the tracking number, it was received 12/26/2007 and signed for. Home free, right?
No, not really. On 12/28, I get another automated call from Directv threatening me with a $490 charge if I don't return my receiver. Then the kicker.
"If you have already returned your receiver...press 1; if..."
What???? So two days after they signed for it, they send me an automated message saying, in essence, "we don't know if you returned it or not, but if you didn't we'll charge you for it."
Postscript--Apple sent me one of those e-mail surveys generated by a "visit" to customer service...you know, "was your problem resolved?" (no) "were you satisfied with your service?" (hell no). What I love is they don't ask "how can we do better?" Instead it is, "please outline the steps you took to try to resolve this problem before contacting customer service?"
Oh...and for the record...I gave the gift card back to the giver who will go back to the store for a refund. She said she might give me a card for Amazon instead.
Way to go, Apple. Within 1 month you took a guy who was thrilled to get his first Ipod and turned him into a guy whose first thought was "where can I get content for it someplace else."
Sunday, October 07, 2007
More Blockbuster Stupidity
I've written in the past about different ways Blockbuster has messed up (in my opinion).
One of their last big shenanigans was to roll out and advertise to death a "no late fees" policy that was anything but "no late fees." More recently, they've been trying to bit into Netflix's subscriber base by pushing Total Access, a service where their online rentals can be returned to the store and used as a voucher for a free rental--effectively doubling the number of rentals you could get for the same subscriber price.
Blockbuster recently announced that they were raising prices for this service. Okay, that doesn't bother me too much. Price wars are nice for the consumer, but they have to end eventually. More irritating is that they put a cap on the number of in store trades ins on several of their subscription options. But again, I could live with it. After all, the decision is mine whether I want to pay the premium for unlimited in-store trades (where it's easier to find TV on DVD available then it is to get high demand titles shipped) or have a limit.
I selected the option where I get five (5) in-store rentals each month, and that's where my current beef lies.
I was at a store yesterday and asked what had to be an anticipated question with the new, capped trade in service: "How many in-store trades do I have left in my billing cycle?" The inexplicable answer? "We don't know."
It was explained to me that the store had "no way" to access (no pun intended) that information. The register/computer simply spit out a denial whenever the customer was over his or her limit, at which point they asked if he/she wanted to continue with the transaction.
Now lets think about this for a second. There is absolutely no legitimate customer service reason why the register can tell you that you are over but can't tell you how close you are to being over. The computer can tell you when your Blockbuster Rewards is up, how many rentals you need until a free rental, and when your rentals are due.
The only rational conclusion I can come to is that Blockbuster doesn't want you to have that information. Why? Well, if my receipt tells me, "Hey this is your last trade in until the end of the month," then I'm going to stay away from the store for a week or two until I have another trade in. But if I go to the store, wind through checkout, and at the point of exit am told, "you are over your limit" then I might be more likely to say (standing at the register with the DVD I want in my hand), "Oh, bother...well, I'll just pay cash for this one rental and then come back when I have more trade ins." Now, instead of walking out of the store happy about my transaction and service, I'm walking out angry and feeling fleeced of extra couple of bucks.
This is just bad customer service. It is penny wise and pound foolish. Blockbuster is spending all this advertising money to try to get new customers and then going out of its way to alienate rather than satisfy them. If Blockbuster spent a fraction of the effort keeping customers satisfied (rather than squeezing them) that they did trying to get them to try the service in the first place, they would be better off. They may wrestle an additoinal $5 rental out of a loyal customer only to find that customer cancelling a monthly $20 subscription.
And they wonder why Netflix continues to kick their butt.
One of their last big shenanigans was to roll out and advertise to death a "no late fees" policy that was anything but "no late fees." More recently, they've been trying to bit into Netflix's subscriber base by pushing Total Access, a service where their online rentals can be returned to the store and used as a voucher for a free rental--effectively doubling the number of rentals you could get for the same subscriber price.
Blockbuster recently announced that they were raising prices for this service. Okay, that doesn't bother me too much. Price wars are nice for the consumer, but they have to end eventually. More irritating is that they put a cap on the number of in store trades ins on several of their subscription options. But again, I could live with it. After all, the decision is mine whether I want to pay the premium for unlimited in-store trades (where it's easier to find TV on DVD available then it is to get high demand titles shipped) or have a limit.
I selected the option where I get five (5) in-store rentals each month, and that's where my current beef lies.
I was at a store yesterday and asked what had to be an anticipated question with the new, capped trade in service: "How many in-store trades do I have left in my billing cycle?" The inexplicable answer? "We don't know."
It was explained to me that the store had "no way" to access (no pun intended) that information. The register/computer simply spit out a denial whenever the customer was over his or her limit, at which point they asked if he/she wanted to continue with the transaction.
Now lets think about this for a second. There is absolutely no legitimate customer service reason why the register can tell you that you are over but can't tell you how close you are to being over. The computer can tell you when your Blockbuster Rewards is up, how many rentals you need until a free rental, and when your rentals are due.
The only rational conclusion I can come to is that Blockbuster doesn't want you to have that information. Why? Well, if my receipt tells me, "Hey this is your last trade in until the end of the month," then I'm going to stay away from the store for a week or two until I have another trade in. But if I go to the store, wind through checkout, and at the point of exit am told, "you are over your limit" then I might be more likely to say (standing at the register with the DVD I want in my hand), "Oh, bother...well, I'll just pay cash for this one rental and then come back when I have more trade ins." Now, instead of walking out of the store happy about my transaction and service, I'm walking out angry and feeling fleeced of extra couple of bucks.
This is just bad customer service. It is penny wise and pound foolish. Blockbuster is spending all this advertising money to try to get new customers and then going out of its way to alienate rather than satisfy them. If Blockbuster spent a fraction of the effort keeping customers satisfied (rather than squeezing them) that they did trying to get them to try the service in the first place, they would be better off. They may wrestle an additoinal $5 rental out of a loyal customer only to find that customer cancelling a monthly $20 subscription.
And they wonder why Netflix continues to kick their butt.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
What I Can't Find at Blockbuster
Ever since I got Total Access, I'm catching up on some TV on DVD that I never watched (those free trade ins...)
Anyways, I started watching 24, Season 2, which is like 6 years old...and when I got to Disc 3...my Blockbuster store in Fuquay had it checked out. For like a week now. So, on my way to work, I stopped at the Blockbuster in Spring Lake, and...it was also checked out. Back to Fuquay yeterday. Disc 1 and 2 are in. Disc 4 and 5 and 6-7 are in. Still no disc two.
Today I went to Cary to see Persona at the Galaxy theater. I stopped in Holly Springs on the way home, which also has a Blockbuster. It had 24 season 2 on DVD. It had discs 4, 5, and 6-7, but disc 3 was...checked out.
Bizarre. Guess I should find some other 6 year old television show to watch.
Anyways, I started watching 24, Season 2, which is like 6 years old...and when I got to Disc 3...my Blockbuster store in Fuquay had it checked out. For like a week now. So, on my way to work, I stopped at the Blockbuster in Spring Lake, and...it was also checked out. Back to Fuquay yeterday. Disc 1 and 2 are in. Disc 4 and 5 and 6-7 are in. Still no disc two.
Today I went to Cary to see Persona at the Galaxy theater. I stopped in Holly Springs on the way home, which also has a Blockbuster. It had 24 season 2 on DVD. It had discs 4, 5, and 6-7, but disc 3 was...checked out.
Bizarre. Guess I should find some other 6 year old television show to watch.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
More Blockbuster Blunders
I like Blockbuster; I really do.
I keep trying to let them compete with Netflix, but they continually find ways to mess things up.
Case in point, I "broke a set" in my Blockbuster queue so that I could place items in between discs of Battlestar Galactica Season 2.5. Anything that takes a little longer to watch (because Cindy and I both watch it, means I don't want more than one disc at home at a time).
So, anyway, Blockbuster gets a return, sees item #1 on my queue is BG 2.5 Disc 1. It is classified as "Long Wait"; it quickly scans down my list and instead sends me the first item on my list that is available now...
Battlestar Galactica, Season 2.5--Disc 2.
Cindy's reply..."how come that never happens with Netflix?"
And people wonder why the Red and White continue to gain subscribers, even with Blockbuster rolling out Total Access package.
I keep trying to let them compete with Netflix, but they continually find ways to mess things up.
Case in point, I "broke a set" in my Blockbuster queue so that I could place items in between discs of Battlestar Galactica Season 2.5. Anything that takes a little longer to watch (because Cindy and I both watch it, means I don't want more than one disc at home at a time).
So, anyway, Blockbuster gets a return, sees item #1 on my queue is BG 2.5 Disc 1. It is classified as "Long Wait"; it quickly scans down my list and instead sends me the first item on my list that is available now...
Battlestar Galactica, Season 2.5--Disc 2.
Cindy's reply..."how come that never happens with Netflix?"
And people wonder why the Red and White continue to gain subscribers, even with Blockbuster rolling out Total Access package.
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