Blockbuster Movie Pass Cancellation

If you currently have a Blockbuster Movie Pass and wish to cancel, you must cancel through the store where you purchased the pass.

You will not receive any refunds for months already paid. You must return all videos by the end the membership period or they will become subject to additional rental fees.

Below are the official details for Movie Pass cancellation from Blockbuster.

Cancellation by You:
The initial monthly Pass Membership fee is valid for an initial Pass Membership period starting on the date of purchase and continuing through the same day of the following month. For example, if on June 18 you purchased your Pass Membership, your initial Pass Membership fee entitles you to Pass Membership benefits until July 18 and your Payment Card will be charged on July 18 for the period of July 19 through August 18. You can cancel your Pass Membership at any time at the participating store where you bought your Pass Membership and you will not be charged for any additional months. There are no refunds for any months (or portions thereof) already billed or paid for. For example, if your purchase anniversary date is the 5th of each month and you cancel your Pass Membership on Oct. 20, then you will not be charged on Nov. 5 (for the Nov. 6 – Dec. 5 period) and your Pass Membership Term will expire on Nov. 5. However, if you canceled on Oct. 2, then your Pass Membership Term would expire Oct. 5. Remember, you must return any Pass Rentals rented under your Pass Membership by the end of your Pass Membership Term (or they will be subject to the Rental Terms and applicable Fees as provided above). You agree that the Pass Membership does not involve an extension of credit or a retail installment sale since Blockbuster does not impose a finance charge and you may cancel your Pass Membership at any time.

The Rebirth of Late Fees: Some Blockbuster Stores to Bring Back Late Fees

Blockbuster’s “No Late Fees” program has been plagued with problems since it began. At first, there was a lot of confusion about the program because policies differed between the franchisees and corporate stores.

As the program caught on with customers, a new problem began to develop with the supply of videos. Many customers, no longer concerned with late fees, began keeping videos out for several days more than they used to keep them, and many titles were unavailable to other customers for weeks. Further confusion resulted from the extremely low intelligence of many retail customers and their inability to understand the concept of restocking fees.

All things considered the “No Late Fees” program has been a bumpy road for Blockbuster. The program has worked well on the corporate level with increases in revenues; however, the periodic stories about confusion over the program is damaging Blockbuster’s image. The “No Late Fees” program has reached a point where no Blockbuster customer is absolutely certain they will not be subject to late fees in the near or distant future.

Most recently, Arkansas stores resumed the late fees, and some stores in Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee will soon be resuming late fees. At this point, it is unclear what will happen with the “No Late Fees” program in other states.

Blockbuster is in danger of irritating a great number of customers with continuing inconsistencies in their “No Late Fees” program. If Blockbuster’s management is smart, they will come up with a clear nationwide policy on late fees, present it to the customers, and stick to it.

Blockbuster Employee Stories

Have you had any good, bad, or interesting experiences as a Blockbuster employee? If so, post them here.

Blockbuster Customer Stories

Have you had any good, bad, or interesting experiences as a Blockbuster customer? If so, post them here.

"Available Now" Means Little at Blockbuster

Blockbuster Online needs to make some dramatic improvements to the accuracy of their availability statuses. Frequently, a DVD will be listed on the Blockbuster Web site as "Available Now"; however, the DVD gets passed over during queue shipment selection, and Blockbuster sends a DVD from a lower position in the customer’s queue.

Why does Blockbuster list a DVD as "Available Now" when they are not going to ship it? Why doesn’t Blockbuster just list the DVD as "Short Wait"? Here’s what Blockbuster has to say about this issue.

Question: Why didn't BLOCKBUSTER ship the first movie in My Queue?

Answer: BLOCKBUSTER Online is committed to keeping your rental experience uninterrupted. When we are ready to ship your next selection, we review the My Queue priorities and the availability of your top titles. If the first movie is not available, we ship the next available title to ensure that there is no delay in your movie rentals. "Availability" indicates the estimated wait before you will be able to receive your movie. It is dependent upon many factors, including the number of copies we have, the popularity of the movie, and the priority you set in My Queue. Even though some titles have longer waits than others, you should keep titles in the order you would prefer them. We can't guarantee you'll always get your highest priority titles first, but we will ship out copies as soon as they become available, and you may receive titles much quicker than we estimate.

Our goal is to ship your movies as quickly as possible in order to meet the expectation of 1 to 3 business days for receipt. We review all "Available Now" titles in your queue, and determine which titles are available for 2-day shipping at your nearest distribution center(s). If the requested title is outside the 2-day shipping window, it will be skipped over for a title further on your list.

We understand this may be frustrating if you are waiting for a specific title that is continuously being skipped. We are currently reviewing this process in order to improve in this area. We appreciate your patience as we do this.



Descriptions of Availability Statuses:

Available Now - This title is currently in stock, and we anticipate that it will be available for shipment when requested. However, please keep in mind that due to the constant change in availability factors we can't guarantee that this title will be the next title we ship you, even if it has the highest priority in your Queue.

Short Wait - This title currently has a few more requests than copies available for shipment. We anticipate that we will be able to ship you the title within the next 2 weeks.

Long Wait - This title currently has a high number of requests compared to the number of copies available for shipment. If the demand stays high, it may take 2-4 weeks before we can ship you the title.

Very Long Wait - This title either has a limited number of copies or an unusually high number of requests. It may take 6 weeks or longer before we are able to ship you the title. However, if the popularity stays this high, we may choose to buy additional copies, if possible.

Coming Soon - This title is either on order or is not currently available for rent. Please check the Release Date on the product detail page for title specific information.

Blockbuster’s clarification does explain the availability status problem, but it does not excuse it. It is encouraging that Blockbuster is making every effort to send DVDs from the nearest shipping centers, but Blockbuster should invest much more effort in their inventory tracking, so they can be accurate with the availability statuses.

Until Blockbuster’s inventory tracking improves, they need to stop listing DVDs as "Available Now" if there is a chance that they will not ship those DVDs. They should just avoid irritating subscribers and start labeling the questionable DVDs as "Short Wait" or invent a new status of "Possible Wait."

Papa John’s Pizza and Blockbuster DVDs

Papa John’s Pizza and Blockbuster have joined forces for a joint marketing campaign. During the promotion period, customers who order pizza from www.papajohns.com will receive a free 30-day Blockbuster Online membership.

See www.papajohns.com/blockbuster/index.htm for details.

Note: This offer is valid for new accounts only.

Blockbuster Store Exposes Customer Data

On October 9, 2005, Tracy Connor of the New York Daily News reported that a recently vacated Blockbuster store in New York City left hundreds of unshredded customer records within easy reach of the general public.

The discarded records, left in clear garbage bags on a busy sidewalk, included such sensitive information as credit card numbers, expiration dates, Social Security numbers, birth dates, home addresses, phone numbers, driver's license numbers, and signatures. The information would have been devastating in the hands of an identity thief.

Click the following link to read the entire New York Daily News article.
"It's Fraud Gold Mine"

If you have concerns about the safety of your confidential information, please contact Blockbuster directly.

Blockbuster Inc.

1201 Elm Street

Dallas, TX 75270

Phone: (214) 854-3000

Fax: (214) 854-4848

www.blockbuster.com

Blockbuster, MPAA Ratings, and Censorship Myths

Inexplicably, Blockbuster's management has done very little to dispel some common, harmful myths about the company. In the interest of knowledge and rumor control, here are the facts.


The Ratings Myth
An odd myth about Blockbuster is that they do not carry Unrated movies. The truth is that while Blockbuster generally does not carry NC-17 and X movies, they do carry many Unrated movies. Here’s the official word from Blockbuster on this issue.

Question: What movie ratings does BLOCKBUSTER carry?

Answer: All films carried by BLOCKBUSTER carry ratings that have been established by the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. In order to provide a wholesome environment for you and your family, we generally do not carry films with ratings of NC-17 or X.

The Censorship Myth
The most bizarre myth about Blockbuster is that they edit objectionable content from movies. The truth is that Blockbuster movies are not censored. Here’s the official word from Blockbuster on this issue.

Question: Does BLOCKBUSTER edit its movies?

Answer: No, BLOCKBUSTER does not edit the content of its films. We offer all movies for rental or sale the way we receive them from the studios.

Confirmation
These peculiar myths seem to be everywhere. Even David Pogue with The New York Times repeated these myths in one of his articles in April.

The strangest thing about these myths is they are incredibly easy to check with just a few minutes of simple research. For example, search for, the movie specifically mentioned in the New York Times article, Y Tu Mama Tambien at www.blockbuster.com, www.netflix.com, www.amazon.com, etc. You will find that there are two major versions of Y Tu Mama Tambien in the United States: an R version (100 mins) and an Unrated version (105 mins). You will also find that Blockbuster carries both versions, and the running times are consistent.

Continue searching for other titles on your own. You will find that Blockbuster carries many Unrated movies and clearly does not appear to be editing content. If you have any specific evidence to the contrary, please post it here.

R Version

Unrated Version

Blockbuster Online Will Raise Subscription Fees

On August 9, 2005, Blockbuster announced that it will raise the monthly subscription fee for its three-out DVD-by-mail rental plan from $14.99 to $17.99. The new pricing will go into effect on August 19, 2005.

Blockbuster is honoring the fixed-price guarantee that they offered to subscribers earlier this year. Subscribers who signed up during the fixed price guarantee period will be automatically exempted from this price increase through January 31, 2006.

Blockbuster is sending notices to individual subscribers to clarify the fee change policy. Subscribers with questions, should contact Blockbuster Online’s Customer Service Department.

Blockbuster Online Negatives

Blockbuster Online has some distinct negatives. Here are the major bad points.

Turnaround
Blockbuster Online often manages three-day turnarounds on DVDs; however, their turnarounds can be four or five days. (Users outside of distribution center areas will experience longer transit times.) Newer or popular movies generally ship from nearby distribution centers. Older or obscure movies often ship from more distant shipping centers. Due to this difference in shipping distances, subscribers with more mainstream tastes will probably experience faster turnarounds than subscribers with unconventional tastes. (Click for turnaround definition.)

Corporate Modesty
Blockbuster Online shies away from NC-17 titles. You may have to settle for the R or Unrated versions of some movies.

Bad Web Site Design
Blockbuster Online’s Web site is slow, poorly designed, and frustrating.

Weak Search Engine
Blockbuster’s search engine is weak and unreliable. Simple searches for mainstream releases can return dozens of irrelevant results. Sometimes, the search engine misses inventoried titles. Minor variations such as punctuation, spacing, and alternative spellings can confuse the search engine and return empty results.

Unreliable Queue Management
Queue management is cumbersome. Promoting and demoting movies in your queue can be unpredictable. It appears that the software is easily confused when users attempt to move more than one movie at once.

Unpredictable Queue Shipments
Blockbuster will sometimes pass over a few "Available" titles in your queue and ship a title with a lower position in your queue. If you do not want to watch any given title in the immediate future, keep it out of your queue or make sure that title is under at least ten "Available" titles in your queue.

Delayed Listings for Upcoming Releases
Frequently, upcoming DVD releases are not properly listed in Blockbuster’s online rental inventory until several days before the DVD's release date. Upcoming DVDs may be listed but not available for addition to queues. Sometimes, the upcoming DVD listings are incomplete. This issue of delayed listings can be aggravating, because you must use outside sources for reliable DVD release information and may have to wait until days before the release to add a DVD to your queue.

Limited Customer Service Options
Blockbuster Online customer service representatives seem to have very few options for remedying problems. The computer system must be horribly primitive and limited.

Slow Customer Service Response
It can take many hours or days to get responses from customer service through email.

Delayed Notifications
Blockbuster Online sometimes takes hours or days to notify users once a DVD has arrived or shipped. The most up-to-date information is on their Web site.

Blockbuster Online Positives

Blockbuster Online has some distinct positives. Here are the major good points.

In-Store Coupons
The single greatest benefit to Blockbuster Online is free in-store coupons. These coupons are a safety net for your subscription. If the DVDs you requested online don’t arrive in time for the weekend, you have the coupons available to save the day.

Promotional Coupons
From time to time, Blockbuster Online will give subscribers promotional coupons along with the standard, in-store rental coupons. Generally, these coupons are for free items or discounts on store merchandise, such as used DVDs, refreshments, etc.

Competitive Price
Blockbuster Online is competitively priced. (Do not be surprised if Blockbuster Online raises their prices as they get more comfortable with their market share.)

Multiple Editions
Blockbuster Online carries widescreen and fullscreen versions of many movies. They also carry special and foreign language editions.

Bounty of New Releases
Blockbuster Online stocks large quantities of new releases. If you put an upcoming release at the top of your queue before that DVD’s release date, you have a good chance of receiving it within one to three shipments from your queue. (Note that new releases in high demand sometimes ship from remote shipping centers and can take an extra day or two to arrive at your home. Regardless of the DVD’s origin, new releases almost always get returned to your normal distribution center.)

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