Video store late fees

[dtbog]

Blockbuster has reportedly 'done away with late fees', but I don't live near a Blockbuster anymore, so I don't care.

The nearest place around is a Hollywood Video, and they have a standard rental deal.. $3.99 for 4 days, or whatever. If you're late, they charge you for another 4 day period. I'm not a frequent movie renter, so I usually just drop the movies in the box when I return them. If they're late, I'll pay the fee the next time I go into the store.

Last time I did this, however, the girl asked me as she always does, "do you want to take care of this balance now, sir?" For shits and giggles, I said no. She nodded and rang up my purchase.

I asked her when they would send me a bill, and she told me that they would never send a bill or force me to pay the fees. Ever.

... so I asked her if the correct play on my part would be simply to never pay the fees. She unmistakably said 'yes'.

What's my line? Obviously the $4 isn't the issue -- an employee of the store told me that I didn't need to pay their fees. What is my current obligation to Hollywood Video?

point/counterpoint...

- if you brought the movie back 30 seconds late and the manager said "nah, don't worry about the late fee", you obviously aren't obliged to pay it anymore.
- if you didn't receive any sort of affirmation from an employee, you can't really make this decision for yourself.

[gildwulf]

I have a HW video around the corner from me in Chicago, and I actually stopped going and got Netflix so I wouldn't have to pay the late fees. But this is intriguing:P

[tonypaladino]

I'd say the most likely senario is the cashier is an idiot.

You had to give a credit card to sign up right? They will probably charge the balance to your card if you let it ride long enough. I've had blockbuster late fees that they let me carry for a while before I paid it, but I had to pay eventually and they reminded me every time I was in there.

[tonypaladino]

Oh, and blockbusters "doing away with late fees" is a scam. If you keep the dvd too long they just charge you an obscene amount to purchase it.

[gildwulf]

[ QUOTE ]
I'd say the most likely senario is the cashier is an idiot.

You had to give a credit card to sign up right? They will probably charge the balance to your card if you let it ride long enough. I've had blockbuster late fees that they let me carry for a while before I paid it, but I had to pay eventually and they reminded me every time I was in there.

[/ QUOTE ]

I didn't have a credit card when I signed up for HV. They just ask for two pieces of ID, I think.

[dtbog]

[ QUOTE ]
I'd say the most likely senario is the cashier is an idiot.

[/ QUOTE ]

Right, but this is sort of my point.

If you ask a waiter at a restaurant if you can have all of the flatware at the table as "souvenirs", and the waiter says yes.. you've received a verbal confirmation from an employee.

Obviously, if a manager saw you, they'd probably ask you what the hell you were doing... but if you pointed him to the employee who authorized it and he/she didn't lie, the manager wouldn't fault you one bit in the end.

[ QUOTE ]

You had to give a credit card to sign up right? They will probably charge the balance to your card if you let it ride long enough. I've had blockbuster late fees that they let me carry for a while before I paid it, but I had to pay eventually and they reminded me every time I was in there.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't mind paying it; as long as they don't charge me interest or anything, I will not be miffed in the least if they send me a bill or charge my CC.

[dtbog]

[ QUOTE ]
Oh, and blockbusters "doing away with late fees" is a scam. If you keep the dvd too long they just charge you an obscene amount to purchase it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I figured as much.

How long is 'too long'? A week? LOL

[Thythe]

I think one negative is having to be reminded every time you rent movies. You get that disapproving look.

[tdarko]

[ QUOTE ]
Oh, and blockbusters "doing away with late fees" is a scam. If you keep the dvd too long they just charge you an obscene amount to purchase it.

[/ QUOTE ]
but if you bring it back it doesn't matter they just erase the purchase fee too, they just give you the option to be an idiot.

[tdarko]

[ QUOTE ]
Blockbuster has reportedly 'done away with late fees', but I don't live near a Blockbuster anymore, so I don't care

[/ QUOTE ]
wow, where is this?

[dtbog]

[ QUOTE ]
I think one negative is having to be reminded every time you rent movies. You get that disapproving look.

[/ QUOTE ]

Eh. I'm only 21 and I'm already pretty hardened against 'disapproving looks'.

I'm not even getting 'disapproving looks', though -- the girl that I talked to last time didn't care at all.

I hardly go in there anyway, so this wouldn't be a big problem.

[dtbog]

[ QUOTE ]
wow, where is this?

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL, I know right?

Ithaca, NY... I don't know how BBV didn't make it up here yet.

[swede123]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Blockbuster has reportedly 'done away with late fees', but I don't live near a Blockbuster anymore, so I don't care

[/ QUOTE ]
wow, where is this?

[/ QUOTE ]

A good friend used to work in corporate finance for Blockbuster. One thing he learned is that the average American lives less than 1 3/4 miles from a Blockbuster.

Swede

[James Boston]

[ QUOTE ]
Oh, and blockbusters "doing away with late fees" is a scam. If you keep the dvd too long they just charge you an obscene amount to purchase it.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's not always an obscure amount. It's what they value the movie at. And, you can take it back and pay a "re-stocking fee." I actaully rented an old movie that they never bothered to purchase on DVD, and kept it too long. They apparently value VHS tapes at $0, because I got a letter saying I had purchased it and owed them nothing. I went ahead and brought it back though. They charged me this re-stocking fee, at which point the converasation went like this:

ME: So I can keep it for nothing or pay you to put it back on the shelf?
THEM: That's right
ME: OK, then I want it back.
THEM: I'm sorry sir but you've already returned it and have to pay the fee.
ME: Do you know how stupid that is?
THEM: It's policy

[SL__72]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Oh, and blockbusters "doing away with late fees" is a scam. If you keep the dvd too long they just charge you an obscene amount to purchase it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I figured as much.

How long is 'too long'? A week? LOL

[/ QUOTE ]

I have netflix so I dont' know this from experience but...

I'm pretty sure that you can have the DVD for up to a month before they charge you for it. Even if you do keep a DVD for a month and get charged for it I'm pretty sure that you get all but $2 of that fee back when you finally get around to returning it.

So, you have 1 month to return it without a fee.

If you return it after 1 month you end up paying $2.

If you never return it you get charged for it.

/edit should have read the last post...

[MasterShakes]

I worked for Hollywood Video in 1997 or so. If you deny the late fee (i.e., just say that you returned it on time), the cashier is authorized to just delete it from your account up to a certain amount. Over a certain amount, a manager has to do it. But no, they never will bill you, charge your credit card, etc. Hollywood has always been much better on late fees than Blockbuster.

At least that's how it worked 8 years ago.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

people still go to video stores? Weird.

[Freakin]

[ QUOTE ]
people still go to video stores? Weird.

[/ QUOTE ]

my first thought...

last time i went to a video store is when i got to the last disc of the 1st season of Sopranos. It was snowing outside (which is REALLY rare in seattle) and I hadn't gotten the first disc of season 2. I thought S1D4 would have 4 episodes on it like the other 3 discs, but it only had 1 episode.... i booked it down to hollywood video in the snow 2 minutes before it closed, rented the first 2 discs of season2 and stayed up till 6 watching them.

[censored] video stores....