Blockbuster TotalAccess Is Getting Worse, Much Worse

Blockbuster has found yet another way to slap TotalAccess subscribers across the face. According to Anders Bylund of Motley Fool, in-store exchanges might be changing in a big way. In the past, if you were a Blockbuster TotalAccess subscriber, you could exchange some or all of your online rentals at a Blockbuster store for free in-store rentals. As soon as the counter clerk scanned in your online rentals, slots would open in your queue allowing additional online DVDs to ship. You could return the in-store rentals any time before the due date at no cost. Under this system, on a three-out plan, you could actually have six DVDs (three online and three in-store) at your house at a time.

The new TotalAccess system--currently being tested--is far worse. Under the new system, your in-store exchanges will count against your plan limits. For example, if you are on a three-out plan, your plan will not permit you to have more than three Blockbuster DVDs in your possession at a time. You might exchange all three of your online rentals at a store, but Blockbuster Online will not ship another online DVD to you until you return an in-store rental to the store. Therefore, if you have three in-store rentals and you do not make it back to your Blockbuster store for a few days, those in-store rentals are going to delay shipment of your online rentals by the same amount of time. Under this new system, will you have to return those in-store rentals as soon as you possibly can or face significant delays on your online account.

This plan modification will be another major reduction in TotalAccess subscriber benefits. Isn’t it ironic that ever since Blockbuster adopted the TotalAccess name, subscribers have been hit with increasingly deeper reductions in subscriber benefits? Perhaps, Blockbuster LimitedAccess is a more accurate name for the plan, but that honest approach might not sell many subscriptions. It looks like Blockbuster is a flailing company that cannot figure out a way to be profitable without misleading and mistreating customers. When Blockbuster finally goes bankrupt, is anyone really going to feel sorry for them?