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The Belly of the Beast

In Defense of Blockbuster

Blockbuster • Late fees • Misleading Claims • Blockbuster Online • Insider's View --- News • Blockbuster Abandons Customer Data on NYC Street • Loss Of Late Fees Hurts Blockbuster • States Settle With Blockbuster • New Jersey Sues Blockbuster • Blockbuster "Eliminates:"Late Fees • Blockbuster Settlement

Bob writes (9/19/01):
I work for a Blockbuster store in Nashville, TN. I have superior customer service skills in dealing with these late fee and policy issues. In this series of letters, I will be addressing each and every letter posted on your website.

Now, I am a regular person just like everyone else. My reason for going to work for Blockbuster was that I was tired of late fees. I guess you could say that I wanted to find out their strategy from the inside. I figured that their mission is to collect all the late fees they can. I was quietly stunned to find upon my first week of employment that I was wrong. There is a lot of pressure to do our part in preventing late fees.

First off, we have to check our drive-up drop box every thirty minutes to an hour. Every tape must be cleared out of there. The time it is checked is logged along with who went out to do it. EVERY possible place a tape could have wound up in that drop box is checked. The tapes are then checked in a special way to document that were dropped in the drop box.

Next, our entire store is scoured to find any tape that has missed the check-in process.

Third, we work aggressively to get these tapes checked in on time. In my long period of service to Blockbuster, no one, on my watch, has ever deliberately not checked in a tape after the due time. Any and all tapes that were brought in are checked in before the deadline.

Finally, I am a VERY nice guy. Anyone who has ever come in contact with me can vouch for that. If you have a late fee issue, I would be more than thrilled to help you out. All we ask is that you please remain calm.

This is absolutely the most important thing to remember during this whole process. More late fee disputes have been solved when both parties have cool heads. Outright anger does not always work in one's favor. Outright anger clouds judgment and even makes the average joe automatically more defensive. This can lead to a lose/ lose situation. At the risk of sounding corny, cool heads lead to a win/win situation.

I'm not telling you, the customer, that you can't be angry. I wouldn't work for a company that had that type of rule. All I am saying is that work with us and we will work with you. I can't say that everyone inside the company thinks the same way that I do. I would love nothing more than to resolve EVERY one of your complaints. I'm serious! But due to the people that steal information for kicks, that ruins an opportunity for a hard-working, honest person like myself.

I will address each and every issue on this website as it pertains to Blockbuster and how to resolve them. All of the people that have been posting Blockbuster complaints will NOT want to miss this! Susie from Tucson, AZ will be up next.

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