Time for Some Toll-Free Complaining - (866) 692-2789

Blockbuster Online’s service is getting horrible. Unfortunately, there is not much you can do about it. You can just cancel your subscription or stick it out and try to make your subscription work.

If you are going to try to hang in with Blockbuster, you will need to become very proactive to make certain Blockbuster does not take advantage of you by charging your credit card for subscription fees while failing to ship DVDs to you. Of course, you need to keep track of all of your business with Blockbuster, but you are also going to have to stand up for yourself and the subscription benefits for which you are paying. The easiest way for you to make sure Blockbuster hears you is to pick up the phone and give Customer Service a call at (866) 692-2789.

A phone call appears to be just about the only way a customer can get results from Blockbuster. The email-based support system is insanely deficient. The vast majority of the customer service representatives responding to email inquiries are incompetent, slow, apathetic, and clueless. If you attempt to resolve a problem through email, you will almost definitely be led around in circles until you give up or happen to get lucky and find someone who cares. Regardless, the email-based support system is abysmal, and you should not expect to get your problems resolved through that outlet.

The customer service representatives working the phones at Blockbuster appear to be far more competent than their cyberspace counterparts. Each and every time you have a problem with your account (shipping delays, poor title availability, etc.), you might want to consider just picking up the phone and getting the problem resolved. Making the phone call is a pain, but it often works. Besides, toll-free phone support is expensive for Blockbuster. Every time you call, you cost Blockbuster money in tolls, time, resources, etc. If customer support begins to get costly for Blockbuster, the company may decide to improve their service to avoid all of the expensive phone calls. (Of course, Blockbuster could also just further reduce benefits and/or raise their rates, but they are already doing that every chance they get anyway.)

Sadly, there is not much you can do about this decline in Blockbuster’s service. If you are not going to cancel your Blockbuster subscription, you are just going to have to heat up the phone lines and fight for yourself. Good luck.

Requesting Your Blockbuster Refund for Missed Shipping Days

With Blockbuster failing to ship DVDs in a timely manner and the nature of Blockbuster’s subscription-based billing system, the issue of refunds is becoming important. If you have one or more empty slots in your Blockbuster Online queue and Blockbuster fails to ship a DVD to you within 24 hours (Monday-Friday), you deserve a refund for the lapse in your subscription benefits.

Blockbuster has gotten quite slow about shipping lately. It is possible that Blockbuster will allow you to have empty slots in your queue for days before shipping a DVD to you. When Blockbuster Online fails to ship a DVD to you, complain to Blockbuster and make a note of the incident.

After a few weeks, you may have records of several missed shipping days. Keep in mind that--as a subscriber--you still paid for these shipping days even though Blockbuster did not provide subscription services to you on these days. Given that Blockbuster charged you while providing no benefit, it is only right that Blockbuster should issue a refund to you for missed shipping days.

Here is an example. In any given month, there are around 22 shipping days. If Blockbuster Online failed to ship to you on 8 of those 22 days, Blockbuster failed to honor your subscription for 36% of the shipping days in the month. If you paid Blockbuster $35 (plus tax) for that month, it is only fair that Blockbuster compensate you for the days of unfulfilled service by providing a 36% refund of $12.60 (plus tax).

Make your refund request to Blockbuster in writing. If Blockbuster rejects your request, you will need documentation. With proper documentation, you can pursue a refund through the Better Business Bureau or your credit card company.

It is not right for a company to collect fees for a service it cannot or will not provide. Do not let Blockbuster take your money without giving you something in return. If they cannot or will not provide the services for which you are paying, they need to return at least part the money you paid.

Blockbuster’s New DVD Allocation System Could Leave You High and Dry

According to a Blockbuster employee, Blockbuster Online has recently implemented a new DVD allocation system. Under the new allocation system, subscribers may receive DVDs from any distribution center in the country as opposed to the apparent previous standard of regional distribution. Supposedly, the purpose of the new system is to allow subscribers to gain access to titles which may be in short supply in some regions but available in others.

The surprising aspect of this allocation system is the way DVD availability can dramatically affect shipping times. Monday through Thursday, the new allocation system generally selects titles from only those toward the top of your queue. If none of the titles near the top of your queue are available, Blockbuster will not ship any DVDs to you. Only on Fridays, will Blockbuster Online ship titles which are not high in your queue. Therefore, if the top of your queue is loaded with DVDs which are tagged as anything but “Available,” Blockbuster may not ship a DVD to you until Friday even if you have had empty slots in your queue all week.

This new allocation system is going to be very frustrating for you if you have been waiting months to see titles which are in low supply. You may be able to finally get those titles, but they could come from almost anywhere in the country and take a long time to arrive. Also, their presence at the top of your queue could tie up shipping on your account for days at a time.

The best way to beat the new allocation system is to keep a few Available titles at the top of your queue Monday morning through Thursday afternoon. At the end of the day on Thursday, move the titles with waits back to the top of your queue or just arrange your queue to reflect your actual wishes. Rearranging your queue twice per week will be a headache, but it appears this is the best way to work the system in your favor until things change.

Preparing for a Blockbuster Lawsuit

With Blockbuster raising prices, cutting back on subscriber benefits, expanding shipping times, etc., customers are bound to become outraged at some point. Hundreds of thousands of outraged customers are going to create a hostile consumer environment, which is almost certainly going to lead to lawsuits against Blockbuster.

If you do not trust Blockbuster to deliver the unlimited DVD rental service for which you are paying, you will want to prepare for the possibility that you, one day, will be furious with Blockbuster and want some justice. A little bit of effort on your part now will help you build your case against Blockbuster should you need to take action in the future.

The most important thing you can do to build your case against Blockbuster is to keep track of each Blockbuster DVD you receive. As Blockbuster sends each DVD, make a note of the title, the date Blockbuster shipped it, the date you received it, the date you returned it, the date Blockbuster acknowledged receipt, and the date Blockbuster shipped the next title. You can record this information on paper or digitally. The easiest way to record this data is in a spreadsheet.

Recording all of this Blockbuster shipping data may seem like overkill, but if you think there is even a remote chance you may want to sue Blockbuster, participate in a class action lawsuit, or have Blockbuster investigated for fraud, this data will be very useful to the attorney or investigators. If you do not have this data available, the only source for the data will be Blockbuster. They, of course, will be reluctant to provide it and may not do so without a subpoena. If you record the data yourself, you will have it readily available, and it can eventually be used to crosscheck and verify the accuracy of whatever data Blockbuster releases.

Also, keep track of all of your communication with Blockbuster. Keep copies of every letter, email, etc. If you call Blockbuster, make a quick note about when you called and what was discussed. This information will be valuable later when you need to establish you have been a responsible, concerned, and proactive consumer.

Lastly, log in to your Blockbuster account and copy your entire rental history. It is important you do this as soon as possible, because Blockbuster controls this information and has the power to remove it at any moment.

To copy your rental history, follow the steps below.

1. Click on My Account on Blockbuster.com.
2. Verify your login information.
3. On the My Account page, click on View Rental History.
4. The My Rental History page will appear.
5. With your mouse, highlight all of the titles and dates. (Note: Speed up the process by setting the Results Per Page to 100.)
6. Copy the data by pressing [Ctrl + C] on your keyboard.
7. Paste the data into a document or spreadsheet by opening the desired application and pressing [Ctrl + V].
8. Make sure to save the data.
   

This easy process will take only a few minutes. If Blockbuster ever does anything shady and despicable like concealing your subscriber data, you will already have it.

In summary, you can protect yourself as a consumer by taking a few simple actions. By tracking your rentals, recording your correspondence, and copying your account history, you can build an arsenal of information, which will become useful if you should ever need to sue Blockbuster or have them investigated by a government agency.

The Reality of Blockbuster’s Practical Plan Caps

As far as we know, Blockbuster does not have any official subscriber plan caps which actually limit the number of DVDs a subscriber is permitted to receive in any given time period. This, of course, excludes limits which are specifically established as the terms of specific plans (e.g., the cap on the LIMITED Through the Mail plan).

Official plan caps are not necessary, because all Blockbuster subscriptions come with built-in plan caps--or practical caps--which are imposed by the USPS delivery schedule and Blockbuster’s shipping days. Given that Blockbuster has limited full shipping days, your DVDs will most likely ship only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. This small shipping window significantly limits the amount of DVDs you can receive in any given week.

For example, if you were to maximize your TotalAccess Premium plan by exchanging all of your online rentals for in-store rentals the same day those online rentals arrive, you would not be able to average more than twelve DVDs (six online and six in-store) per week. In order to reach this lofty maximum, you would have to generally receive your DVDs the day after shipping, and here is where we find another problem: transit times.

Not all DVDs arrive the next day. Rare titles, old titles, brand new releases, etc. commonly ship from distant shipping centers and take longer to arrive. These longer transit periods increase turnaround times and greatly reduce the amount of DVDs you can receive in a week. Even if you are diligent about exchanging your online rentals for in-store rentals the same day they arrive, you may find it very difficult to get more than six DVDs (three online and three in-store) per week if some of your DVDs are taking an extra day or two to arrive.

So, there you have it. Limited shipping days and transit times are working against you. Even under perfect circumstances, no matter what you do as a consumer, your Blockbuster TotalAccess Premium plan has a practical cap of around twelve DVDs per average week. If your circumstances are less than perfect, you might experience a practical cap of around six DVDs per week. Realistically, you will probably find that you can average no more than ten DVDs per week on a TotalAccess Premium account, and accomplishing that feat will require a great deal of determination and effort on your part.