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Blockbuster Late Fees

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

John of fall city, WA June 8, 2009

Blockbuster has new policy of charging full price for late movies after much advertising effort to announce they don't charge late fees anymore. They want to charge me over 150 in movie purchases

Bryan of Fayetteville, AR May 26, 2009

My first issue with Blockbuster came up one day when I returned a movie at about 5:50 pm (rentals are due back by 6:00 pm). The next time I went to rent, I was told I owed a late fee. I asked why and they told me the movie was checked in at almost 10:00 pm. I know for a fact that that was incorrect, because I went next door to Hardee's and got dinner immediately after dropping the movie in the dropbox (the one outside the store that drops the movie inside the store). I have the bank statement to back me up. The fee was only about 1.00 so rather than argue it, I just paid it. The next time I rented movies, I rented a 2 day rental and a 5 day rental. The 2 day rental was due back on Friday, but I didn't return it until Sunday morning. So it was 2 days late but the other movie was not late. Next time I came to rent, they told me I had late fees, but way more than I expected. They told me the 2 day rental was 5 days late and the 5 day rental was 2 days late. It just so happened that their computers were down when I returned these movies and they were keeping track of their checkouts/checkins manually on paper. They "comprimised" with me and took off 2 days worth of late fees. The final straw came when I rented and returned a movie. The movie was checked in on time and all was well. That is until another customer went to rent the same copy and the box was empty. I checked my entire house and both of my cars and both of my roommate's cars...no movie. I know that the disc was in the case. I remember taking it out of my player, putting it in the case, putting the case on my bag and putting my bag in the car. It was the LAST thing I did before leaving town for the weekend. Now they are charging me 44 for the movie and 30 in late fees. I don't plan to pay either. I'm going to speak with a store or district manager as soon as possible.

John of Princeton, WV May 7, 2009

I do my banking online, this evening I noticed that Blockbuster had debited my account for 15.89. I immediately called my bank and they said this transaction was done at 12:33 am today. I knew that everyone in my family was home in bed, so my card could not of been used. The bank contacted the fraud department and put a hold on my account which means I can not use my debit card until I get a new one, which is inconvient for me because I use it all of the time.

Afterwards I called Blockbuster, knowing I had not been there for months, I was informed that my 17 year old son had rented a movie on 4-19-09 and it had not been returned therefore the price of the movie was taken out of my checking account. I asked them how they got my debit card info and was told that I must of rented a game because that is the only time they require a debit or credit card. I told them that was for the one time use only and the card info should of been deleted once the game was returned. She told me it will always be kept on file.

I asked them about contacting me by phone before they just took the money out of my account. They said it is not their policy. She stated when the movie is returned, it will be put back on my account. I will not ever do business with them again. Grant it, my son did rent the movie but it was an honest mistake of forgetting. They could of at least called and I would of made sure the movie was returned.

I plan on seeking legal advise about this matter. This is telling me and anyone else that has a debit card and they have it on file, they can go in at anytime and steal your money. I know where I work, if we take credit or debit cards, we can only put the info in the computer one time and can never keep any type of record with the numbers on it. Blockbuster Movie Rentals is a joke and what gives them the right to take money out of my account without letting me know ahead of time? I had to cancel my debit card, which is inconvenient because I use it all the time to pay bills, etc. It caused me to use about 2 hours of my time this evening trying to get it straight.

Mark of Fort Worth, TX May 16, 2009

Blockbuster advised me to have their movies back by midnight the following evening or pay a fee. I returned at five minutes till midnight and returned the movies. The next week when I want to rent a movie, they tell me I owe 4.85 in late fees. I told them I returned them on time, but they insisted they could not remove the fee and I would have to be charged. I told them I would not pay, and they said they could make an exception this one time, and said they could get fired if they did not adhere to blockbuster policies. I said their employment was no concern of mine, and I did not appreciate their inabilities to manage their business well.

Genora of Ellenwood, GA April 14, 2009

I had rented two video games for my grandson two weeks ago and had to go into the hospital for surgery. I did not have anyone to return the games in my absence. Blockbuster took 128.00 from my account today and left me with a negative balance. Today, 4/14/09 is my first day at work so I had every intention of returning the games after work today. I leave my home at 6:45am so they are not open when I leave. I figured there would be late fees so I wanted to pay when I brought them back this afternoon.

Blockbuster must return my money to my account and I am going to alert my bank never to allow Blockbuster to be able to withdraw from my account ever again. I do not want to do business with a company with no regard for the consumer. This is a terrible practice. All they had to do was call my home and my phone number is on file for an explanation.

I had 3 checks to bounce because of this action and I now owe my bank 358.66 due to Blockbuster's reckless and thoughtless actions.

Julie of Decatur, TN March 31, 2009

i have an account with blockbuster and after they started the no late fees i noticed something very upsetting. if you rent a movie and it is due three days later (ex. rented on 1/1/09, due back on 1/3/09)they tell you that there will be no late fee if movie is not returned on due date. but what they dont explain is that three days after the due date, if movie is not returned, they will charge the price of the movie to the billing account you have on file, in my case this is my checking account. then when you do return the movie they are to credit the money back to your checking account minus 1.25 for a restocking fee. well once i figured this out, even though i didn't agree with it, i knew that if a movie was returned late i would be charged.

My complaint is this though. one day when reviewing my checking account for several months, i noticed something very disturbing. blockbuster would debit my checking account for a late movie but i could not find where they credited it back minus the 1.25 restocking fee, to my checking account, knowing fully well that the movie was returned. this is not just my word, it is blockbuster's policy that you can not rent anymore movies if you have not returned movies you have out that are late. i went in the store to bring this to their attention and make my complaint and they informed me that they could not pull up my account information in the store if it went back further than 1 month. and they gave me a form to fill out with my complaint and it would be sent to the corporate office and they would handle it.

i also requested on the form that i be sent a print out of my account history for the past 8 months so that i could compare it with my checking account info. to go over each debit and each credit. well that was 5 months ago and i have not recieved anything or has anyone from blockbuster contacted me. i really do believe that blockbuster is taking money from people but not giving it back after they get their product back in accordance to their policy. i am at a loss and i have not given up yet because i really need to know and want my money back. i just wanted to bring this to your attention so that maybe it will be looked into further so other customers are not scammed out of money by this company intentionally or not. thank you

loss of money, that was taken from my checking account, that should have been credited back. aprox. 300.00 to 500.00 is what i have come up with thus far.

Sherry of Arlington, TX March 21, 2009

I have been going to the BLOCKBUSTER for over 10 years and not one time have I been treated like this before. I rented a couple of movies and I turned then back in per Danny. But he stated that I was a couple of days late. Not one time did I ever receive a phone call, email or even a letter in reference to the late fees. They charged me 1.99 per day per movie. I know I turned those movies in on time. And then they sent the late fee to the National Action Financial Services, Inc which is the collection agency that is collecting on 17.20. How sad that they can stoop so low in doing this. I am going somewhere else and they can take their money and shove it up their @%&!

Nicole of Lansing, MI March 6, 2009

my movies were overdue due to a death in the family. they charged my credit card 22 dollars. this over drew my account so i am now charged 52 dollars. they NEVER called to let me know i need return my movies. so i went to the store and talked to the manager J. TYLER. she was rude, screamed at me, SWORE at me, and then threw the movies at me. i asked to speak to the store owner and she wouldnt give a person or number that i could talk to.

i cancelled my account and all my family members have cancelled their blockbuster accounts too. they are losing alot of business simply because the store manager was rude and i was very very poorly treated! i now owe the bank an extra 30 dollars because i was never contacted about my late movies

Rob of Huntersville, NC March 4, 2009

I had no idea Blockbuster was charging late fees again. I had two movies that were 4 days late and I see a charge for 53.60 to my checkcard from the store I rented from. 4 DAYS??

Needless to say, Blockbuster will never get another dime from me and I am spreading the word. Can't wait until they start shutting stores down...they deserve it. Netflix here I come!

Casey of Phenix City, AL March 3, 2009

was late returning a movie the first time. Usually I pay when i rent the next movie. The first time i did not know that they took the amount the movie cost out of my checkin account. My account was overdrawn and I didnt understand why. So I paid the fee which was 44.00 to my bank until I got my statement. Then a couple weeks later I was checkin my transactions and i noticed that they did it again. So I called them and asked why are they taking money out of my account without telling me.

They said they had the right to because I was late returning my movies. I never gave them my account number, they got my account number from me using my card to rent movies. I have been on the rewards program which means I pay them every year an amount to get free rentals and to only pay a restocking fee if i am late.

I am the type of person who never lets my account get overdrawn and now I GOT THIS ONE ON MY BANK RECORD

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