Blu-ray & HD DVD & Video Rental Wesley Novack on 18 Jan 2007
Blockbuster Total Access problems
Problems with Blockbuster Total Access
A while ago, I heard about a pilot program that Blockbuster was running in Colorado. The program allowed Blockbuster online members to exchange the movies they received in the mail with a new rental from a local retail Blockbuster store. The program has since been launched nationwide and been dubbed ‘Blockbuster Total Access’.
UPDATE: You can now discuss Blockbuster Total Access problems at DVDRentalForum.com. Take a quick moment to register and start discussing Blockbuster Total Access with other members today!
Blockbuster Total Access results
On Tuesday 01/16, I took the movie “Idiocracy” and dropped it in the local postal mail. I then went to a local Blockbuster store and exchanged the movie “Crank” for another instore rental. Both of these movies did not appear as “received” in the Blockbuster online system until today.
In addition, Blockbusters’ claim that “your next movie is shipped right away” doesn’t seem to be accurate. Since I have started using the instore exchange process, my movies seem to be taking longer to ship. Checking my Queue online, I can see that 0 movie(s) have shipped as of this morning. My Queue currently has over 10 movies with a status of “Available”, so a queue movie shortage cannot be the cause of the movies being held behind.
So what’s the deal Blockbuster? Why aren’t you shipping movies “right away” as promised? Is Total Access a scam that helps Blockbuster meet the demands of its’ growing online rental program? Is Blockbuster intentionally delaying the shipment of new movies when online members exchange instore? I do not know, but I am not happy with the delays in shipping my movies. Let me know what you think by replying to this article.
Discuss Blockbuster Total Access problems at DVDRentalForum.com. Take a quick moment to register and start discussing Blockbuster Total Access with other members today!
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on 18 Jan 2007 at 12:27 pm 1.Dartman said …
Maybe they are doing the same thing Netflix was. Delaying shipments to heavy users….Could be worth checking into.
on 18 Jan 2007 at 12:52 pm 2.Wesley Novack said …
Hey Dartman! I was thinking the same thing. They might be holding back shipments for the more frequent renters. I’ve also heard comments from various individuals online who claim NetFlix is faster than Blockbuster nowadays, but I have not confirmed this myself.
I am starting a NetFlix trial right now, so we’ll see how it goes! Thanks for the response.
on 19 Jan 2007 at 7:51 pm 3.Dartman said …
I think Netflix got busted finally for it and had to give free rentals and things to users to make up for it so I’d bet they are at least more even handed about how they divvy up deliveries to customers and timing now.
on 21 Jan 2007 at 2:06 am 4.aviationwiz said …
I hated Blockbuster Total Access. Sure, free in-store rentals are great, but I can barely find anything I want in the store now in just 2 weeks, let alone in the long term. That, and the Online side just isn’t nearly as good as Netflix.
They had skipped my number 1 movie forever (it happens to be one Netflix doesn’t have) but is listed as “Available” on Blockbuster Online. They just keep skipping over it when they send me movies and never ship it!
They won’t ship you a movie unless it’s available in a 2-day transit time distance from you, meaning you could literally wait forever to get a movie!
Not to mention that receiving movies I sent back at Blockbuster Online takes them a lot longer than for Netflix, and both are located in the same city as myself.
on 03 Feb 2007 at 12:44 pm 5.Trevor said …
I’ve noticed the same problem. I’ve also found that when I switched from the 1 out at a time plan to the 2 out at a time plan last month my movies seem to be taking 3 days to come in the mail instead of just 1, so effectively I’m paying for 2 out at a time but really only getting 1. This really ticks me off.
on 03 Feb 2007 at 2:25 pm 6.Wesley Novack said …
Hi Trevor, thanks for your comment. I am currently working on a more detailed article comparing Netflix vs Blockbuster send/receive times. Hopefully I will have it posted in a week or so. Hint: Blockbuster is still taking a long time to get movies to me.
UPDATE: Discuss Blockbuster Total Access problems at DVDRentalForum.com. Take a quick moment to register and start discussing Blockbuster Total Access with other members today!
on 04 Feb 2007 at 8:52 am 7.Joe said …
Gee, I was beginning to think I was the only one having terrible problems with BB Total Access. One of their big selling points was that they would ship the next movies out in your queue the day after you return them to the store. That has happened for me only once since the program has been implemented.
This is another typical week. I returned three movies in the Store on Tuesday. The first replacement disc wasn’t shipped out until Friday and isn’t scheduled to arrive here until Monday although I generally have to add a day to their scheduled arrival times.
Disc two was finally shown as having been shipped today but it’s not due to arrive until next Wednesday (I didn’t even know they shipped on Saturdays unless they’re so backlogged that they had to). No word on the third movie so if one ships on Monday we may be looking at next Thursday or later for it to arrive. The whole thing has become a lame joke. I’ve written them three times and have gotten three stock answers although they did give me a free movie coupon to appease me each time.
I’ve had one movie at the top of my queue since last September that I was unable to get. It was one my girlfriend wanted called One Magic Christmas with Mary Steenburgen. When I put it in there, it was listed as available but never sent. (This is one of the things I wrote them about). Then after Thanksgiving when it had been at the top of my queue as available it suddenly went to long wait.
Now it is on short wait. Of course with the Holiday Season over my girlfriend isn’t as interested in it, but I’ve left it at the top just the same.
I won’t even begin with how many other available movies they have skipped over on my list, and I’m not talking obscure movies either. The whole thing is a joke.
on 04 Feb 2007 at 9:57 pm 8.Wesley Novack said …
Hi Joe, thanks for your comments. I have also noticed that Blockbuster seems to inexplicably skip over movies at the top of the queue even if they have an “Available” status. My comprehensive tracking of Blockbuster vs Netflix is still in progress. I am currently logging send and receive dates for both services and will post in an easy to view table format. Hint again: Blockbuster is much slower than Netflix. New article soon!
on 11 Feb 2007 at 9:46 pm 9.JeremyR said …
I used to have both, but just dropped Blockbuster (start of February). Their redesigned website was really the last straw - their old one was horrible, the new one is horrible and slow.
I personally got more movies with BB, at least if they were available. Because Neftlix throttles (and if they do have a movie that isn’t in your home area, they delay it an extra day for some weird reason). And they have a lot of movies that Netflix doesn’t (The Car, Killer, Azumi, etc). But if you can’t find a movie, then it’s pretty much worthless.
They also had a problem of sending me the wrong movies. I wanted “Score” a Japanese crime movie. They sent me “The Score”, a Miss Piggy directed movie, about 6 times before finally getting the right one. The same thing happened with Armageddon (the Foreign movie) - they kept sending me the Bruce Willis one. And their customer support is terrible.
on 12 Feb 2007 at 11:07 am 10.Dave said …
I prefer Netflix also.
on 14 Feb 2007 at 4:47 pm 11.Shuggaloaf said …
Sorry this is a little long BUT I believe I have a way around the Total Access delay problem.
Read on…
I too have Total Access and at first I thought that this would be a great way to get more movies and get them faster. Alas, I too have been disappointed by this new program. I have noticed the same problems others are mentioning. It is taking days and days for movies to clear my que.
It has now been 4 days since I returned 3 movies to the store. Only 1 movie has been shipped out and that took 3 days for them to ship! Now why would this be when they were all returned at the same time? Also, it is still showing that I have all 3 movies out! How could I have even one of the movies if BB just sent me the next one? Wouldn’t I have to return 1 first?
Not only that but the 3 movies I returned over A WEEK BEFORE this last batch (on 2/4) are still showing on my que!! So I now have 6 movies showing on my que as not being returned. Now how could I still have the first 3 movies if BB sent me out the next 3? I would obviously have to return the first 3 to get the second 3. I mean come on!
The first 3 were on the que for 8 days AFTER I returned them to the store. The second 3, as I said, for 4 days. I had to use the “Report problem - I returned the movies” option online to remove them from my que. That was 2 days ago and they STILL haven’t sent my other 2 movies out! So now I have a que showing 1 shipped movie and there are 2 blank spots just sitting there. (update – since I started typing this they have now added that they are sending out a second movie)
(1) Why haven’t they shipped a movie in 2 days after I notified them I returned the movies?
(2) Why is it taking 4 to 8 days (or even possibly longer) to show that I have returned these movies and for them to come off my que when it is supposed to be “instant”?
(3) Why is it taking almost A WEEK for my next movies to be shipped out?
I thought this Total Access would be a great way to get more movies but when it takes so many days for them to even register that they have been received, another day or two to ship and then another few days to receive them, what’s the point? I might as well just mail them back, it actually takes less time.
I THINK I MAY HAVE COME UP WITH A SOLUTION since I first started typing this. I have yet to try this but the logic seems sound and I encourage everyone who reads this that has had similar problems to try it. My plan is this – once I receive my movies in the mail I am going to (1) log on to my que (2) click the ‘Report Problem” link (3) check the option for “I have returned this movie” and (4) click “send my next movie”
I think that this will give me a day or two head start on the process seeing as how they send the next movie within a few days of you reporting this. In fact, because the arrival date is usually a day before you actually receive it, you could in theory report that it has been returned before you even receive it! The only thing I can see to come of this is that they may flag me for reporting so many DVDs being returned. However, since I will actually be returning them what can they really do?
They may also look at this as a problem in the store. I think if enough people start doing this someone will notice ‘wow, there are a lot of people reporting return issues’ and maybe, just maybe, this will move them to do something about the return bugs.
What does everyone think? I’m going to try it out and I’ll let you all know if it seems to speed up the process. I’ll also be sure to let you know if BB sends me anything nasty because of it.
on 14 Feb 2007 at 5:10 pm 12.Wesley Novack said …
Shuggaloaf, your 1, 2, and 3 points are all valid.
Since I have posted this article, Blockbuster has CHANGED the verbiage on thier website. Here is a copy of the new text:
“When you exchange online DVDs at your local BLOCKBUSTER store your next movie is shipped within one business day right away, but it may take 2-3 days for the title returned to the store to clear from your Shipped Movies list queue.”
Notice that they added “within one business day” to their shipped right away section and that they CHANGED the removed from queue timeframe from 1-2 days to 2-3 days. Good thing they notified everyone of this right? Nope, I never received a notification of extended timeframes.
In my opinion, using the “Report Problem” function is not a solution. It might be a “band-aid” fix that helps you out, but most people will not use this method or will feel that it is unethical to report “I have returned this movie” when they have in reality, not yet returned it. Thanks for your detailed post though. Maybe I should write a new post about these policy changes…
on 14 Feb 2007 at 5:34 pm 13.Blockbuster Total Access delayed timeframes » WesleyTech.com: HD DVD, Blu-ray, CD info and more said …
[…] Blockbuster Total Access details changed! Back on January 18th, I posted about some problems that I was experiencing with the Blockbuster Total Access program. At that time I was seeing some heavy delays on movies being shipping out when a previous movie was exchanged in store at a local Blockbuster. I received a lot of comments on my post and many people agreed that Blockbuster was not shipping out movies “right away” as they had promised. Let’s take a look at their old Total Access program details and then look at the newly updated verbiage. […]
on 14 Feb 2007 at 7:12 pm 14.Shuggaloaf said …
You’re right Wes, this was only suggested as “band aid” until a permanent solution is found. As far as being “unethical” I don’t think the lack of ethics in reporting a movie returned before it actually is comes anywhere close to the huge lack of ethics in BB’s fraudulent advertising and deceiving of customers. And for what? To gain customers and save on postage. Of course that IS just my opinion and you are right, others may not feel comfortable with such methods.
Blockbuster’s change of verbiage stating “your next movie is shipped within one business day” is still not correct. If this were the case I would be happy. As I stated earlier I returned movies 4 days ago and only 1 has been sent out. That is a lot longer than 1 business day.
I don’t care how long a movie stays on my que. What I care about is how long it takes to get the next movie. The que could show me having movies for a month as long as they are sending out the next movie within a business day, which they are not.
on 15 Feb 2007 at 8:44 am 15.Wesley Novack said …
I agree! They are still taking longer than 1 business day to ship out a new movie after you exchange in store.
You’re right about the queue, it doesn’t really matter as it is just a convenient tracking tool, but still I think they should get it working right!
on 19 Feb 2007 at 9:10 am 16.Curt David said …
I’ve had many of the same issues as preveiously mentioned. My most recent call to BB resulted in an interesting conversation. I happened to call when one of their IT managers was available and he talked to me and admitted that when they inplemented Total Access, they greatly underestimated the volume of customers that would use the program and that they will soon be implementing the infrastructure to better support the demand (whatever that actually means.) I asked what kind of volume they got and he mentioned the number 2.5 million. That didn’t appear to be a lot (I work in a simular situation.)
This is not in defense of their performance just a report of what I was told.
on 27 Feb 2007 at 4:47 pm 17.Michael Kern said …
So, has anyone found a remedy for this situation with BB. Currently the only reason I use them is because I can trade in my ecoupon for a videogame, and the perk of being able to grab a new release if I just happen to want it at that moment. Other than that I find netflix to be much faster and more reliable. I have found that complaining to BB gets you ecoupons. Everytime I complain about my lag time, or the wrong dvd (which has happened a couple times), they apologize and give me 2 ecoupons. It is still very much a pain, but I currently don’t see any alternative. One more thing, has anyone been trying to rent HD or Blu-Ray movies from BB or Netflix. I swear netflix always has them available (and their website is 20x better) where as I have yet to receive one from Blockbuster even when it was “available” and at the top of my Queue.
on 28 Feb 2007 at 4:13 pm 18.Wayne said …
I have had the throttling issues with blockbuster since about one month after I joined. By the way, there number is 1-866-692-2789. The excuses I have heard in the last year would blow you away.I have probably called them about 20 times and I wil list some of the BS I have been served
1. You need to keep at least 40 movies in your Queue so that we have titles that are readily available to mail you.
2. Some times when there are a lot DVD issues that you have reported, we have to slow the account down to investigate your complaint. WTF, do they think that the computer screen or print out they are observing is moving?
3. Something is wrong with the way the computer sees your account and it is not shipping out titles as it should.
4. When the store checks in your title, for some reason the computer is not sending info to ship your next title. CSR advised me to manually remove title from queue but to wait at least 48 hours or the computer would recognize it as an excessive DVD issue.
This has been going on continually for 11 monthes and I have been all over them when it occurs. I was told today excuse 4 and was told that it would take about 2 weeks to straighten out.
I find that I can go about six weeks with no problems and then it starts. It usually takes 2 or 3 phone calls to correct but I refuse to stop calling them with complaints as long as they are advertising unlimited and trying to push Netflix out of business. I urge all customers who are having throttling issues to call and complain, and call and complain, ………. Don’t quit until you have let them know about your issues repeatedly. And don’t say throttled unless you want rudeness and arrogance from the CSR. If Blockbuster Online succeeds in running Netflix out of business, there’s no telling what those slimey corporate bastards will do with there fees.
on 01 Mar 2007 at 4:16 pm 19.Bob said …
I am glad/sad to know that others have the same problem that I have. GLAD it is not just me….SAD that the service is so bad. I checked a movie in at the local participating store Tuesday morning, and did not get another one shipped until late today (Thursday.) Turned in two Wednesday….and will not get another shipped until at least Friday. Shipping for any other mail from the distribution center city takes one day, but movies always take at least two….sometimes 3. There is NO WAY that I can get more than three movies in a week. Really bad service. When I complain, I get NO response. At least some folks are getting free e-coupons.
on 01 Mar 2007 at 4:41 pm 20.Cindy said …
Same problems here. I have called and emailed cs more time then I’d like to admit. I’ve heard every excuse in the book.
When I first joined I would return my movies to the store and the same evening they would ship 3 more.
Now, I have to call or email in order to get the next 3 shipped. Everytime I think it can’t possibly get any worse, it does. This week I returned 3 movies to the store on Monday morning. It is now Thursday evening and my que is still showing 0 shipped. And this is after I emailed and complained yesterday. So today I called again and they sent me 3 coupons. I don’t know about you all, but I’m not going to call every week and get put on hold for 25 mins just to get coupons. I want them to start sending the movies as they advertise.
I rejoined netflix last Friday. I recieved 3 movies on Sat. 3 more on Tues. and 3 Today. I have been sending the movies in the mail the same day I get them just because I want to see how many I get as compared to BB. Bottom line, I got a total of 6 movies this week with BB,(3 mail and 3 store). With netflix I’ve gotten 9 so far and I expect to get another 3 on Sat. If only BB’s would fix the problem and do as they advertise it would be a good service. But at this point, I don’t think they’re ready for prime time.
on 01 Mar 2007 at 4:52 pm 21.Luis said …
During the free trial it work perfect, I got my movies 2 days after they said they shipped them (netflix was always 1 day after) But now my queue has some 300 titles and they have not ship anything for about a week. I tried calling but to no avail, went to the store, no help either. Wrote email to customer service, they responded that a “technical glitch” was the cause but nothing further and they have not responded anymore to my emails. Really disappointed in the service !! Will wait a few more days before joining Netflix once again……
on 02 Mar 2007 at 3:48 pm 22.Shawn said …
I am having the same issue. They say that it is a glitch with my account and sent me a free movie coupon. I guess it is not just my account that has glitches.
I am wondering if part of the issue is not supply chain related since their inventory is not where it needs to be; It is at the store instead of the warehouse where it can be used to fulfill the next request.
on 02 Mar 2007 at 11:16 pm 23.Pat said …
Gee and I thought I was the only one having problems.
I was a netflix customer for two 1/2 months first month llike clockwork. I live in Salem, Oregon a netflix shipping city.
In one day out the next, every two days getting 3 movies nice. Then the funneling started and I was lucky to get 3 movies a week. Said good bye and signed up with Blockbuster.
Everything was great the first month and a half turned them into the store and got three more in two days.
Everything has turned sour though no I have had an empty queue for two days no movies on the way it’s friday night so even if the send them on Saturday I still won’t get them until Monday.
They are beginning to do the exact same thing as Netflix neither one of them want you to get very many movies.
I have just sent blockbuster another e-mail just a few minutes ago.
There arent’t any other choices out there.?
on 03 Mar 2007 at 12:18 am 24.Shawn said …
I just got another response. Two more coupons and a statement that IT is looking into the issue. It seems to me that they have a technical problem that is not getting ny better. Being in IT I can understand the challenges but if your business is online anything you need to be able to resolve your technical issues quickly.
on 03 Mar 2007 at 10:22 am 25.Wesley Novack said …
Hello All! I appreciate all your responses, feedback and information. Keep the comments coming! It seems that there are quite a lot of people that are still having problems with Blockbuster Total Access delivery speeds…
UPDATE: You can now discuss Blockbuster Total Access problems at DVDRentalForum.com. Take a quick moment to register and start discussing Blockbuster Total Access with other members today!
on 03 Mar 2007 at 12:53 pm 26.Cindy said …
Well, here it is Saturday and I still see no movies shipped in my queue. It has been since Monday that I recieved movies. Contacted CS via emial again yesterday. Now they’re not even responding to my emails. My husband signed up for the free trial today. I’m anxious to see if his movies get here fast, as mine did during the trial period.
on 03 Mar 2007 at 11:13 pm 27.Curt David said …
Thought I’d add a somewhat amusing/disgusting amendment to my previous posting.
Just got around to counting up the number of calls/emails/ecoupons and actual movies sent over the last three months. The interesting thing is I received move movies via ecoupons than from them being sent from my queue automatically. You’d think the cost of customer service would out-weigh the “benefit” of not getting their system problems corrected.
I’m thinking about joining Netfix and running them side-by-side for a few months to compare.
on 03 Mar 2007 at 11:22 pm 28.Curt David said …
Forgot to mention that everytime they send you a coupon with an apology, they always turn it around to be somewhat our fault. (I have over fifty available titles in my queue as we type.) Here is a cut-and-paste from on I just received:
“Hello Curtis,
Thank you for contacting BLOCKBUSTER Online Customer Care.
I apologize most sincerely for any inconvenience you may have been experiencing regarding the shipment of your movies, Curtis. I know how frustrating it feels not to receive the level of customer service one has been promised to be delivered.
Regarding this concern, I would like to inform you that I have personally reported this incident to the proper departments so that a slot in your shipped movies list will be freed for allocation of a new item from your queue.
I know this may be very frustrating at times especially if you are waiting for a specific DVD, but please know that I am here to help you out. This is why I am giving you this additional e-coupon for a free movie rental at your local BLOCKBUSTER store. Please click on the link below to claim and print your coupon:
http://moviefone.blockbuster.com/
Now the best way to make sure all slots in your shipped movies list are constantly filled is to keep at least 30 available, individual movies in your queue. As a matter of fact, we even have customers who have up to a hundred available titles in their queue, and they are as happy with their subscription as can be. I hope you will be too.
Once again, I apologize most sincerely for any inconvenience you may have experienced, Curtis. If you require any assistance at all, feel free to contact me.
Respectfully,
Genesis”
This is actually one of the nicer responses I’ve received. I probably should add a couple hundered movies to my queue so that there is no excuse.
on 04 Mar 2007 at 2:11 pm 29.Luis said …
Well Curtis I have exactly 300 movies on my Queue and most are available, but this upcoming tuesday it’s going to be 2 weeks with nothing being shipped so far!! Whats going on with this company ? Are they going out of biz ? maybe…
on 04 Mar 2007 at 5:26 pm 30.David said …
I have over 52 titles in my queue with at least 30 of them reporting as available. I have a 4 out at a time plan and returned all 4 movies to a store on Friday Feb 23rd. It is now March 4 and I still have 0 movies in my shipped queue. I have emaile customer service about 6 times and each time they just tell me that I do not have enough movies in my queue. I have started calling them and I spoke with a CSR on Thursday who said there was a major technical problem with the system and that IT is working on the issue and they gave me 4 coupons. They said my movies should ship out that day. Friday came and still no movies. I called again and they said the major problem was still occuring and I asked for a partial refund of my monthly fee and they gave me 12.50 back no questions asked and offered more coupons. Apparently something major is going on with the Blockbuster online system that is preventing many people from recieving new movies for over a week now. You can follow my story here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=811830
on 04 Mar 2007 at 5:30 pm 31.David said …
PLEASE DIGG THIS STORY. I HAVE SUBMITTED IT:
http://www.digg.com/business_finance/Major_Technical_Difficulties_with_Blockbuster_Online_for_over_a_week_now
on 04 Mar 2007 at 6:09 pm 32.Cindy said …
Update. My husband, who signed up for the free trial yesterday, recieved emails confirming that his first 3 movies have been sent.
BTW He only put 30 movies in his queue. The same first 30 movies I have in my queue.
But still no movies shipped for me for a week now.
on 05 Mar 2007 at 12:44 am 33.Luis said …
Just got this email from Blockbuster:
Subject
Breach of contract
Discussion Thread
Response (Blockbuster Online) 03/04/2007 08:13 PM
Hello Luis,
I apologize if we have not yet shipped the next available discs, Luis. We normally allocate movies within 24 hours from your last returns or reports. However, due to a temporary glitch, we are not able to ship a DVD to fill your open slot. Our technical department is working diligently to remedy the issue. You should see your service resume back to normal very soon.
Due to the delay, I would like to offer a free week of service to be applied to your current account. Please note that the bill date will be moved to March 15 once the account has been updated. Also, you need to change your plan back to “4 at a time” at least one day prior to the bill date so that the plan will not automatically shift to the “3 at a time” default plan. Please reply if you accept the offer. Again, I am very sorry for the delay. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding.
Always here to help,
Mary
Customer Care Associate
BLOCKBUSTER Online
on 05 Mar 2007 at 11:00 am 34.Chris said …
Same here. Same run-around. Is this company going under? I have waited almost a week since I turned in my movies at the store. They say I don’t have enough available titles in my queue, then they say there is a temporary glitch. Point 1 just like everyone else, lot of times the titles I want at the top of my queue never get shipped! They gave me a free week and few e-coupons but what good is a free week if they are not shipping anything??? I received probably 5 e-coupons last week after bugging them with over 8 e-mails and additional phone calls. I have 4-out plan. So four titles delivered a week plus turn in at store for in store rental is total of 8 rentals a week. They did not even come close to what level of movies I would normally get a week. Is Netflix better???? Thinking of switching.
on 05 Mar 2007 at 3:01 pm 35.Cindi said …
I have been getting the same run-around as everyone else only in my case it has now been over TWO WEEKS since they have sent anything from my queue and I have over 50 AVAILABLE titles in it. I have e-mailed them three times and called at least as much only to be left on hold waiting and waiting to talk to someone. I also can’t believe that when I demanded my money back if they didn’t fix the problem soon, they e-mailed me ONE coupon for a free movie. That is not going to work for me. Netflix is starting to sound better and better by the minute. Hope the problem is resolved at Blockbuster soon for everyone else.
on 05 Mar 2007 at 11:08 pm 36.Gail said …
I have been having the same problems for the past 3 weeks. After numberous calls and emails, I finally received one movie this Saturday.
One thing I noticed was the movie envelope was not a pre paid one, it had stamps on it. I’m thinking that is the problem. The movies were sent out but without postage they were returned, that why we are not receiving them/
on 06 Mar 2007 at 1:56 am 37.Olaf said …
I also returned 3 DVDs to the store on 2/23 and no new DVDs have been shipped to me since then.
I am, too, getting the run-arounds. Since Friday, I have not received any response from Blockbuster at all.
Here are some other interesting facts:
1. Blockbuster issued a statement on their website that they do not engage in throttling (back when Netflix issue was made public)
2. Often times, the “additional” eCoupons have the same number. Duplicates cannot be redeemed multiple times.
3. When I “switched” to Total Access (I simply returned DVDs to the store but never actually switched my plan), BB stopped sending me 4 eCoupons a month and, instead, started sending me only 1 a month. That change in membership rules was never communicated to me.
I have been getting another answer from BB, other than “you need more titles in your queue.” They are telling me that a title might show as “available” in the queue but not be available locally, which means that available does not equal available for shipping.
Also, BB want to make sure that DVDs can be received in a “timely fashion.” So, they would rather wait a week to have a DVD arrive in 2 days instead of shipping a DVD right away and having it arrive in 3-4 days..
I am very tired of paying for a service that I am not receiving and I am going to contact the California State Attorney’s office about this issue.
I had the same problem for 6 weeks in November and December of ‘06.
Olaf.
on 06 Mar 2007 at 1:59 am 38.Olaf said …
I was also informed that their system will scan 30 movies deep for an available title to ship out (used to be 25).
So, any suggestion to add more than 30 titles should not affect this issue.
Besides, as stated in another post before, their new website is so complex that it becomes very slow when more than ~20 movies are in the queue.
Kind of a catch-22.
on 06 Mar 2007 at 6:52 am 39.Melissa said …
10 days and counting since blockbuster has sent me movies. I’ve emailed, called, complained, bitched, threatened, etc.
I’ve received the following formletter and also posted my response below:
Hello Melissa,
Thanks for contacting BLOCKBUSTER Online Customer Care.
I’m sorry we haven’t been able to send your requested movies recently, Melissa. Unfortunately, the total number of “Available” titles in your Queue is a little low. If a title at the top of your Queue is not available at a nearby center, the system automatically searches for the title at other distribution centers throughout our network. If the top Queue selections fall outside of an acceptable shipping window, we will ship a title that falls lower in the Queue. This process looks for “Available” titles 30-deep within your Queue. We do this so your shipping times will be faster, and so there is no interruption to your service. On occasion, if your top selections are not available and you have few titles in Queue, a shipment may be skipped. Based on this process, we encourage our customers to keep upwards of 30-40 “Available” titles in the Queue at all times.
In the meantime, please accept these additional e-coupons for a free in-store movie rentals at your local BLOCKBUSTER store. Click on the links below to print your coupons.
MY RESPONSE:I have 45 movies in my Queue. Most of them show available. It has been 10 days since my last 3 movies cleared. My shipped movies have been empty for 10 days now. If I am paying $17.99 for 30 days I would think that Blockbuster now owes me about $6 in refund for the days that they have not sent me any movies. I am VERY angry over this and will be canceling my subscription and going with NETFLIX by the end of the week unless movies are shipped and my monthly fee is prorated for the time that Blockbuster has failed to ship movies. I will then expect this months $17.99 fee to be refunded to me since Blockbuster has failed to ship any movies since billing me on the 25th. I have paid the subscription fee and lived up to my end of the contract. Blockbuster has failed to do what they are being paid to do. Therefore Blockbuster is in breach of contract.
It specifically states in the Terms of Use that movies will automatically ship within 1 day excluding weekends and holidays. Blockbuster has failed to do this.
on 06 Mar 2007 at 6:57 am 40.Melissa said …
I’m smelling CLASS ACTION in the air. Too bad their terms of use forbids it. We are “bound to arbitration.
on 06 Mar 2007 at 8:42 am 41.Chris said …
Arbitration or something needs to done against them for robbing us and not providing us service!
on 06 Mar 2007 at 9:27 am 42.John said …
It is my understanding that since Blockbuster has not fulfilled it’s contractual obligations then they themselves have broken their own contract agreement. This in turn nullifies any “Terms of use” or contracts they we have agreed to therefore opening themselves up to litigation.
on 06 Mar 2007 at 9:30 am 43.Chris said …
Follow-up: They must be really afraid of losing a lot of their business. One rep was really helpful and handled my concerned above and beyond my expectations today. In the last 24 hrs I have received probably 7 e-coupons and an extension on my account. She said to e-mail her Thursday if no movies have been shipped and they would extend it another week so no payment will be due and give me extra e-coupons. Let see how it goes. Good job Stacey Shoultz for providing best customer service at blockbuster online. It would be nice if everyone there was that helpful!
on 06 Mar 2007 at 10:03 am 44.Olaf said …
- What good is another week of free service if no service is provided?
- I signed up for BBO for a reason. Why do they think that an in-store coupon would make it better?
- I have several eCoupons with the same coupon number, so the duplicates are worthless.
Received no DVDs in 2 weeks.
Received no more replies from BBO since Friday.
People simply cancelling might be the best thing that could happen to BBO at this point.
on 06 Mar 2007 at 10:42 am 45.wayne said …
hey, the reason for the delays in the allocation of their movies is because of a glitch in their system, if you ask them what is the cause of the glitch they don’t know I’ve tried to ask them so many times, and all they send me is a form letter that their is IT team is working to resolve the issue. Let’s face it Total Access program is a huge success that draws more customer to their online program however, that downside of it is that they don’t have enough DVD to accomodate their customers. I think their going out of business, try to ask them via email if their going out of business you’ll not receive a reply…..try it yourself!
Wayne
on 06 Mar 2007 at 12:42 pm 46.Melissa said …
A glitch for TWO weeks or more?!?! I’m in IT. A glitch for that long is a HUGE no no. especially for a company that is primarily online. BS
on 06 Mar 2007 at 12:44 pm 47.Melissa said …
I had my hubby sign up for the trial last night under his email and we put the same top 30 in his queue. He had movies ship out this morning that I have been waiting 10 days to ship from MY queue.
So the glitch is a load of crap and Blockbuster is trying to scam it’s customers!!
on 06 Mar 2007 at 12:45 pm 48.Pat said …
Trust me when I say there is no since in jumping ship and switching to Netflix, they are truly worse than BB.
Yes this is very frustrating but I just recieved a two week extension on my plan and 4 coupons since I am on the 4 out plan.
I can only suggest holding on for a little while longer and let’s all see what happens.
If they do go out of business, which I think they won’t, I will still not go back to Netflix.
on 06 Mar 2007 at 12:59 pm 49.Melissa said …
I’m thinking of bouncing back and forth so they don’t slow down my service on either end.
Customer service for BBO has been busy all day. No response to my emails and no movies shipped. How can Netflix be any worse???
on 06 Mar 2007 at 1:26 pm 50.Cindy said …
I used Netflix for several years. Whenever BB has a new offer I rejoin them, but I always wind up back with Netflix because I get more movies with them. I guess it just depends on where you live. There have been times when Netflix gets slow, but I don’t ever recall waiting more then a day for them to ship movies after they recieve mine. I know they tend to get slow around the holidays, but I guess that could be the mail service being bogged down.
BTW. I to have been unable to contact BB, line has been busy all day. I emailed them once again, but I really don’t expect them to reply since they haven’t responded to my last 3 emails.
on 06 Mar 2007 at 1:42 pm 51.Melissa said …
Still busy……… I think they shut down the phones so they won’t have to hear us complain!!
on 06 Mar 2007 at 2:32 pm 52.Cindy said …
Well I’ll be. They emailed me back. This time I got the so called “glitch” response, 2 coupons and another reassurance that my next 3 movies will be shipped within 24hrs. They really are just pathetic!
on 06 Mar 2007 at 2:33 pm 53.Lynda said …
Every time I try to contact Customer Service via e-mail, I get an “internal server error” - contact the support team for this site. Right, and where might I find such animal?? This is absurd…even if you only have a few movies in the Queue, if there 3 available (which is my agreement) - then they should be sending them! Of course, the 866 number is always busy!
on 06 Mar 2007 at 3:21 pm 54.Lynda said …
Oh, and let’s not forget their latest “STUDY” - they want to increase the price of Total Access from $17.99 to $19.99. Pahleeze, they aren’t having to ship them as much - i.e., they will be paying less for the postage, and WE are paying for the gas to get to the BB stores to exchange the DVDs, are we not?? Good GRIEF!
on 06 Mar 2007 at 4:11 pm 55.Lisa said …
I’m also experiencing problems, it’s been two weeks now. I’ve heard all the same excuses that I’m reading about. I guess I’ll just continue getting my free coupons and when they stop emailing me those, I’ll quit the service. I cannot believe this is going on and on. I’ve no time for it.
on 06 Mar 2007 at 7:14 pm 56.debbie said …
I have been having the same problem as everyone else for 1 week now. After 2 days of trying to call I finally got through and then had to wait about 40 minutes to talk to a person. This was about 3pm today, I was told that this problem was affecting about 85% of their customers and that they had heard from their IT team about 40 minutes earlier that they expect the system to be back up and shipping movies by friday.Let’s hope so!
on 06 Mar 2007 at 8:10 pm 57.Cindy said …
Thanks for that, Debbie.
Not sure that I believe it after the run around and all the excuses we’ve gotten, but hopefully it’s true.
I just don’t understand why they couldn’t come clean with all the memebers that have been having problems, rather then continueously giving us excuse after excuse. And why is this so called glitch only affecting paying members and not the new members. I have lost confidence in anything that BB has to say. There has just been too many excuses.
on 06 Mar 2007 at 8:52 pm 58.Melissa said …
OOOHHHHHH I feel SPECIAL now. I got the famous “gltch” response after my 7th email. Oh and 2 more free movies. I’m hoping this “glitch” reimburses me for the money I have paid to receive no movies.
Hello Melissa,
I apologize for the delay in the allocation of your movies, Melissa. Due to a temporary glitch, we are not able to ship a DVD to fill your open slot. I have forwarded your concern to our technical department for review. You should see your service resume back to normal very soon.
As our valued customer, please accept these additional e-coupons for a free in-store movie rentals at your local BLOCKBUSTER store. Click on the links below to print your coupons.
on 06 Mar 2007 at 9:25 pm 59.Jim said …
I have the same thing to report. I’ve been movieless since Feb. 23rd and I have over 100 movies in my queue. I’ve gotten one free e-coupon but I haven’t complained much. If this isn’t resolved by the end of my billing cycle, I’ll be going back to Netflix. I never had an issue with them. I only switched to Blockbuster for the in-store e-coupons, but if you don’t get the basic mailing service it isn’t worth it.
on 06 Mar 2007 at 10:18 pm 60.Joe Nuewbody said …
I have recieved several movies that were unplayable, telling them of this, and sending it back only to recieve the same disc with the same crack….talk about stupid. Something very fishy is going on now in that it’s been over a week and nothing has been shipped. They say they have recieved my last discs, but nothing is being shipped…this is getting frustrating. I’m about to give up on these morons….!!!
on 07 Mar 2007 at 12:16 am 61.Joe Nuewbody said …
P.S
Why are they sending out the same form letters/emails to everyone…blah blah blah blah blah, rather than that there is a problem and they are working on it….i’ve recieved the exact same email as the ones above…none of which explain a glitch…well i guess if you email them enough they finally come clean…or just cycle there form emails around till they get to that one….jeez
on 07 Mar 2007 at 7:09 am 62.Debi said …
I returned my movie last week Tuesday to the store and reported online that they had been returned and it is now a week later, Wednesday, and they still haven’t shipped any movies.
If I try to call them, I’m put on hold for 15 minutes and when I e-mail them, they tell me they are working on a technical glitch.
And they have only sent me 1 coupon.
Debi
Buffalo, NY
on 07 Mar 2007 at 8:02 am 63.David said …
Can you guys Digg this story so more people get informed?
http://www.digg.com/business_finance/Major_Technical_Difficulties_with_Blockbuster_Online_for_over_a_week_now
on 07 Mar 2007 at 8:55 am 64.Cindi said …
It is now almost THREE weeks and no movies and only ONE coupon. Blockbuster had better get their act together. I also am wondering why when I request my money back, they ignore me while others are getting several coupons and one person mentioned above that they got an extension so that no payment would be due until a later date. That is what they should do for all of us. My next billing date is on the 14th. If it is not resolved before then, I will be moving on to Netflix…..
on 07 Mar 2007 at 9:33 am 65.Melissa said …
Still can’t get through to the CS number. This service sucks and to top it off they billed me on the 25th and haven’t shipped my movies.
Time for another nasty email to them.
on 07 Mar 2007 at 9:49 am 66.Melissa said …
My latest email…… If anyone is interested in joining forces against this BS company please contact me at melsavonsales@comcast.net and let me know how long you have been without a movie. I have an urge to contact the news so let me know if you want to be a part of that. Companies that scam like this really tick me off.
Although the free coupons are nice, I still have to get out in the horrible weather and drive to a store and redeem them after waiting in line for the rest of the online customers who are getting free coupons because the online service can’t get it’s act together. Not to mention the limited movies in stock because all of the other online customers are renting them too. So they aren’t exactly free.
I am paying for a service that I am not receiving. I have at least 50 other names and more on the way of subscribers who have been billed and not received the service they were promised. There is a lovely blog full of complaints and talks of class action against Blockbuster for breach of contract. No one likes to be billed and then told story after story before finally being told there’s a glitch and that’s why they aren’t getting what they paid for. It seems the glitch has no problem billing us for the service that the glitch is not providing. I have been a loyal customer for a long time and this is how I am repaid for my loyalty to Blockbuster? Slow shipping, damaged movies, and then no shipping? There are customers that have not received movies for nearly a month now but were still billed for that month. Doesn’t sound very legal to me and I will be consulting an attorney on behalf of myself and the other members who have shown interest in getting a refund for the service “glitch”.
The only way to prevent legal action at this point is to refund the fee that was charged to ALL customers for a service that they did not receive. Several words being thrown around in the blog were scam, fraud, deceptive practices, theft, and class action. I will expect a reply to this without my request for a refund being ignored.
Regards,
Melissa
on 07 Mar 2007 at 9:52 am 67.Glenn said …
Just spoke to customer service. Waited 30 minutes on hold. No movies have shipped from my queue in 11 days.
Customer service finally admitted to me that they are having serious technical issues and that no movies are shipping. Could not give me an accurate estimate of when the problem would be resolved.
They did agree to credit last month’s fee back to my credit card. I suggest that everyone request this credit.
I plan on giving them until the end of the week to fix the problem. If it is not fixed, I plan on canceling the service. I suggetst that others do the same.
on 07 Mar 2007 at 10:40 am 68.Melissa said …
I contacted CBS news and will be speaking with a reporter at noon today. They are very interested in informing the people of the BBO scam.
on 07 Mar 2007 at 11:08 am 69.Olaf said …
I requested a refund as well, threatened to report them and the answer I got was that I have too many movies that have not been released yet (2 out of 42).
Have not received the acknowledgement of a glitch yet or any other eCoupons but I did receive a 1-week extension early on into this episode.
2 weeks without any movies being shipped yet.
Had somebody else sign up for another account, with the same movies in the queue as me, to see if they are having a glitch or if they are discriminating against Total Access customers.
Good work Melissa!
on 07 Mar 2007 at 11:08 am 70.Naveed said …
Same here, no movies for over 2 weeks now. Unable to contact or get hold of customer service anymore.
on 07 Mar 2007 at 11:30 am 71.Rick said …
One suggestion I have is for people to complain to the Better Business Bureau (www.bbbonline.org). If you click the “BBB Online Reliability Program” link at the bottom of the Blockbuster web page you will see that Blockbuster became a BBB member on 12/4/06 and was approved for BBBOnLine Reliability on 12/14/06. The BBB lists the following as a couple of their Reliability Program Requirements: “Agree to participate in the BBB’s advertising self-regulation program, and correct or withdraw online advertising when challenged by the BBB and found not to be substantiated” and “to cooperate with any BBB request for modification of a website to bring it into accordance with the Code”. Since Blockbuster is clearly not meeting their online advertising claims of shipping movies within 24 hours of in-store returns, if people complain to the BBB about this, the BBB should either force Blockbuster to correct their advertising claims or revoke their BBBOnLine Reliability status.
As for me, I am reaching the end of a 2-week free trial and have decided to remain with Netflix and not continue with Blockbuster. It seems that Netflix and Blockbuster both have their issues, but for me, I’d rather put up with Netflix’s throttling than with Blockbuster’s unreliability.
on 07 Mar 2007 at 11:59 am 72.Rick said …
A follow-up to my previous post…
If you do choose to complain to the BBB, be sure to select Blockbuster, Inc, 1201 Elm St, Dallas, TX 75270. This is their headquarters… It probably wouldn’t accomplish anything if you file a complaint using your local store’s address or the address where your movies are shipped..
on 07 Mar 2007 at 12:15 pm 73.Spacelord said …
I too have not received movies in over 2 weeks. I am only on the 2 per month plan, but at this rate I won’t even get my 2 movies. I had the unlimited plan for my first month and movies were coming very fast.
They keep giving the excuse that you should have 30 movies in your queue? WHY? When 1 or more always says AVAILABLE it should ship.
They need to personally fess up via an email to each customer about the glitch, offer some coupons and extensions.. and get some movies shipping! I may have to check out Netflix again otherwise.
on 07 Mar 2007 at 12:18 pm 74.Spacelord said …
oh, another funny thing I did get this week.. yes I did get a movie, but it took a long time, and it was a replacement for a cracked one I received the previous month…
Anyways.. the movie came with an actual stamp on it.. from a physical Blockbuster store about 40 miles from my house. and the return envelope had a stamp and did not have the Total Access info on it.. and the mailing address was back to that Blockbuster store.
Kinda strange…
on 07 Mar 2007 at 2:20 pm 75.Steve said …
At least it feels good not to be alone. We have been waiting for a movie since 2/23/07. Same story as all of you. I’m hoping that the news gets ahold of this story. It should fix the problem one way or the other. I believe that BB is going out of business. Maybe buying time so someone with buy them out.
on 07 Mar 2007 at 2:54 pm 76.BW said …
I did not receive any movies for a week and could not get BB to promise any future deliveries or take blame for any problem on their end. I was approaching my billing date and without any confirmation that I would be receiving any futher movies or that there was even a problem on their end I felt I was obliged to cancel the service which I did. They were a good service while they performed on their promise of movies delivered but once they could no longer execute that service I left. Good luck for those of you sticking it out!!
on 07 Mar 2007 at 3:40 pm 77.Bobby said …
Man, I thought I was the only one!
This “Total Access” slogan is a total joke. Previously, when I returned the films thru snail-mail, it took 1 or 2 days for them to acknowledge it. Afterall, their local distribution center is just 30 miles away.
But after I started returning the DVDs directly to the store, it started to take 4 days for them to receive it. hahahaa!!! And the poor store clerk swears that he puts them in the mail box every morning by his own hands and I believe him. Why should he lie at $9 an hour?
BB has also sandbagged my new DVDs for the last week although I have almost 100 films in the queue, most with “Available” status.
I called and talked to a rep after like a dozen attempts because that 866 number is busy busy busy… She admitted there is a problem but couldn’t say what.
This is getting to be as bad as NetFlix. I left NF because they were sandbagging my DVDs too. They why the hell do they advertise their service as “unlimited”? There should be a class action suit for such misrepresentation and unilateral violation of consumer contract.
This is getting ugly…
If you are thinking to sign up with BB Online, DON’T!
on 07 Mar 2007 at 5:07 pm 78.Jake said …
Signed up for a new account yesterday, using a different email address and credit card.
Today, 3 movies were shipped out that could not be shipped on my Total Access account in 2 weeks now.
Total Access is a Total Ripoff.
on 07 Mar 2007 at 5:28 pm 79.Cindi said …
It is very interesting about Jake signing up for a new account with a different e-mail address and credit card and finding out that he was shipped 3 movies immediately. This proves that they are trying to scam all of us. I e-mailed Blockbuster and complained for the fourth time in the last three weeks and told them that I would report them to the Better Business Bureau if I didn’t get either the movies I was promised or my money back and they responded within two hours telling me that movies would be shipped immediately. Hmmm, we’ll see…..I’ll report back in a day or two.
on 07 Mar 2007 at 5:38 pm 80.Cindy said …
Good luck Cindi,
I was promised last Thurs and again yesterday that my movies would be shipped within 24hrs. Still no movies shipped. I just emailed them again. They lie!! I’m gonna be contacting the bbb also.
on 07 Mar 2007 at 5:42 pm 81.In Our Grave said …
So I called BB today took about 30 min. to speak to someone and I demanded a credit for this month. Its been 10 days since my last movie. I am being totally sandbagged by total access.
on 07 Mar 2007 at 6:02 pm 82.Blockbuster Total Access experiencing major issues. » WesleyTech.com: HD DVD, Blu-ray, CD info and more said …
[…] Major issues with Blockbuster Total Access This past week, a few of the previous articles that I published about Blockbuster Total Access Problems and Blockbuster Total Access delayed timeframes have been getting some major exposure and traffic. […]
on 07 Mar 2007 at 8:25 pm 83.Steve said …
I also noticed that Blockbuster wouldn’t send out the titles in the order I had them in queue, even when all titles were “available.” Interesting.
on 07 Mar 2007 at 9:43 pm 84.Melissa said …
Hello Melissa,
Here is my latest email from them in response to my class action threat……..
Funny how we signed up a 2nd account the other day and received movies today on the trial account!!!
I sincerely apologize for the issues you’ve experienced with your service, Melissa. We value you as our customer, and I would like to offer your an additional two weeks of free service. Please note, this will change your bill date. Please let me know if you would like to accept this offer and I will gladly apply this to your account.
We appreciate your loyalty,
Jenny
Customer Care Associate
BLOCKBUSTER Online
on 07 Mar 2007 at 9:58 pm 85.Melissa said …
My response……….
Can you tell me why new members can sign up and have movies shipped but loyal customers get the run around? I had my boyfriend sign up for an account and he put the top 15 movies I had in my queue in his queue in the same order. I find it funny that he had movies shipped already and I’m getting the run around line about a glitch.
Also, what good is two free weeks going to do me when no movies are shipping to me? I don’t want free weeks and a billing date change. I want my money back for the time that you have failed to live up to your promise. In addition I think ALL of your customers deserve a refund since they have been forced to pay for a service they aren’t receiving. My understanding of the law would point me to seek out information from the Attorney General about fraud.
on 07 Mar 2007 at 10:21 pm 86.Olaf said …
BBO added a “Cancellation” option to the Contact Us topics droplist..
How wide-spread is this problem? I have not had a DVD shipped in 2 weeks even though my top 20 titles are all available. My neighbor had 3 DVDs shipped today, which are all in my queue as well.
One of the DVDs was even listed as having a short wait..
He never returned a DVD to the store, thus did not “join” the Total Access program.
Is there really a glitch? It seems that customers who took advantage of their aggressively advertised Total Access program are being discriminated against.
on 07 Mar 2007 at 10:53 pm 87.Wayne said …
After posting here and reading other websites the past week, the big picture of Blockbusters strategy comes into focus. They may or may not have a glitch in their computer system that is causing the delays. I think that they want people that rent a lot of movies to go to Netflix and put a burden on their system. Maybe they are culling their customer base and are only servicing the people who rent what they deem to be a profitable amount of movies monthly. I have a problem when they try to put competitors out of business with outright lies about their service. Just a point to make from my experience with this group, If you ever get a wrong movie or a bad movie and notify them through DVD issues, Never ask them to resend the same movie. Always ask for the next movie and if you want the title that was unplayable, re-enter it into your Queue close to the top. I have been a member for over a year and I know every game that they play.
on 08 Mar 2007 at 12:40 am 88.Shuggaloaf said …
Well nothing has changed since my last post. I haven’t had the weeks of delays but it is still taking approx 4 days for movies to clear my que after returning them to the store.
I just reported them to the BBB and sent a nasty letter to BBO stating that I want compensation. We’ll see what happens..
on 08 Mar 2007 at 4:50 am 89.Melissa said …
I filed a complaint with BBB and FTC. I urge everyone else to do the same.
http://WWW.FTC.GOV and there’s a link at the top to file a complaint. Below is the info I entered minus my personal info……..
Subject of Your Complaint: Computers/Internet Services
Name of Company You Are Complaining About: Blockbuster Online (Blockbuster, Inc)
Street Address: 1201 Elm St
City: Dallas
State or Province: Texas
Country: UNITED STATES
Zip Code or Postal Code: 75270-2002
Company Web Site: http://www.blockbuster.com/online/home
Company E-Mail Address: blockbuster@custhelp.com
Phone Number: (866)692-2789Ext.
How Did the Company Initially Contact You?: E-mail
How Much Did the Company Ask You to Pay?: 17.99
How Much Did You Actually Pay the Company?: 17.99
How Did You Pay the Company?: Visa Credit Card
Did You File a Dispute with the Credit Bureau?: N
Did You File a Dispute with the Credit Bureau More Than 45 Days Ago?: N
Explain Your Problem: (Please limit your complaint to 2000 characters.): (Product Name: Online Total Access Movie Rental) It has been 2 weeks since my last movies were returned to Blockbuster Online. Their terms state that movies ship by the next business day. They have not shipped a movie to me for 2 weeks and my shipped movies queue has been empty for this length of time. I have emailed and called but they have given me the run around. I have been told that I don’t have enough titles in my queue. I have 54 titles. I was then told it was a temporary glitch and I would have movies shipped within 24 hours. That was a week ago and nothing has shipped. I asked and then demanded my money back since they have not lived up to the contract. They refuse to refund my money and even billed me on February 25th, 2007 knowing they would not be shipping movies. They claim their terms say no refunds and therefore are expecting me to pay for a service i am not receiving. I had a famly member sign up for the 2 week free trial 2 days ago and list the same movies in their queue that I had. 3 movies were shiped to them within 1 day. So this glitch that Blockbuster claims to have is only affecting long time paying customers and not the customers who they hope to gain after the 2 week trial. I feel that Blockbuster is scamming it’s paying customers. They are billing us without informing us that they can not live up to the contract and provide the service we are paying for. I paid for my service via my credit card and was charged $17.99 on February 25th. I have saved all emails received from Blockbuster online. There is also a site were othercustomes are posting about the same issues. The site can be viewed at http://wesleytech.com/blockbuster-total-access-problems/59/#comment-1232 and you can see the many scammed customers of Blockbuster Online.
on 08 Mar 2007 at 4:52 am 90.Melissa said …
OK, NOW I’M PO’d!!!!! My latest response form the worthless company……. Pay close attention to their comment about honoring the terms and conditions I accepted……… What a load of BS!!!
Hello Melissa,
I’m sorry for the inconvenience this has caused, Melissa. I would have to ask for your consideration since a refund is not a viable option at this time. We have to honor the Terms and Conditions you accepted when you signed up for your membership. It is stated that there are no refunds for any time period already billed or paid for. However, rest assured that we’ve identified the problem and have already taken steps to correct it. You should see your next movies shipped between now and Saturday. If you still have zero movies shipped by that date, we would appreciate you letting us know so we can follow up for you. Thank you for your cooperation. Please let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.
Jenny
Customer Care Associate
BLOCKBUSTER Online
on 08 Mar 2007 at 8:43 am 91.Kat said …
I’ve had 3 open slots for 8 days. They keep promising me that movies will ship “tomorrow” but have completely failed to follow through. I am completely frustrated with them. What can we do? Class Action???
on 08 Mar 2007 at 10:07 am 92.Cindi said …
After posting on here yesterday I decided to visit the Better Business Bureau site online and check the BBB report on the Blockbuster Company headquarters in Texas. There I found this e-mail address for Kim Abney who is the customer service coordinator. kim.abney@blockbuster.com
I decided that since no one else had helped me (getting your money back from this company is close to impossible) I would write her a very long letter explaining “our” problem. I also told her that I would no longer except any of the lame excuses especially the one about “technical problems” and explained to her the reasons why. I also stated that Blockbuster needed to start SAYING WHAT THEY MEAN and DOING WHAT THEY SAY. After writing my “book” of complaints to her, I waited….. Received a two sentence answer from her basically saying that they are working to resolve the problem and that I would be issued a one month credit with Blockbuster (no reimbursement on my credit card) which by the way does not show up in the MY ACCOUNT section of the blockbuster website and STILL shows my next billing date as March 14th. So was she telling me a lie too just like all the others? This is so frustrating! I want to say thanks to Melissa for all the info she provides above. That is what I am going to be doing next. Lets all stick together on this and get something done!
on 08 Mar 2007 at 10:25 am 93.Michael said …
Well, I have been put on the 9 day waiting for movie list again. I have done my share of complaining with these responses back from the CSR’s saying that the movies in my queue should say “Available Now”. Are you kidding me? They have never said “Available Now” they have always just said “Available”. If you look up the blockbuster documentation there isn’t even wording for “Available Now”/ Another line of B.S. from our mutual friend. I will be filing with the BBB I think that is a great idea.
The 1 thing I find refreshing though, is that there are so many people going through the same thing with me. Blockbuster is really not taking care of their customers and the more we talk about it and take actions the sooner we can make them honor their agreements. I really do think they have been breaching their own contract, and if we can definitely prove that they are marking accounts, or only shipping in a timely fashion to new customers that would throw “fraud” into the picture. They really piss me off, because we just don’t have that many options….I am turning my Netflix back on for sure, if only Netflix would team up with Hollywood Video or rent you 1 game at the price of 2 dvd’s i would never use Blockbuster.
on 08 Mar 2007 at 10:28 am 94.John said …
I have filed complaints with the FTC and BBB. Everyone should do this and put as much pressure on Blockbuster as possible. Also forward your complaints to your local media making them aware of this situation and directing them to this website. Any negative publicity on this issue may light a fire under them to get things straigtend out. The more exposure and complaints they recieve from all directions the more apt they may be to take this seriously. We have all paid money for services we are not recieving and Blockbuster needs to respond accordingly.
on 08 Mar 2007 at 10:29 am 95.Olaf said …
Cindi, when they gave me a week of free (non) service, I received an email confirmation the next day.
on 08 Mar 2007 at 10:36 am 96.John said …
Olaf & Cindy, I also recieved an email confirmation the next day but several days later I was still charged the same amount as usual. There was no deduction for the so-called “free period”.
on 08 Mar 2007 at 10:38 am 97.Cindi said …
Thanks for the info, Olaf. You can understand my lack of trust in Blockbuster since we are all going through the same thing. I will wait and let everyone know what happens next. I won’t really be happy until this issue is resolved for all of us.
on 08 Mar 2007 at 10:43 am 98.Olaf said …
Cindi, absolutely!
I am going to go out on a limb here and say that March 31 has to be the end of Blockbuster’s fiscal year and they are trying to inflate their numbers to look good for the investors.
I see a lot of deceptive practices and fraud going on here.
I am still getting the, “it is all your fault” emails. They are causing me a lot of emotional distress..
on 08 Mar 2007 at 11:57 am 99.Cindi said …
After less then 24 hours after writing Kim Abney, the customer service coordinator located at the Blockbuster Corporate Headquarters in Texas, I got some action(see my above post at 10:07a.m. for her e-mail address). I received e-mails informing me that two movies have been sent. I just finished checking my queue and sure enough the first two movies I had listed were sent. Although I am happy after waiting THREE weeks for movies, this still doesn’t resolve reimbursement issues, returned movie issues, queue issues etc. I still expect Blockbuster to keep playing the same games. Two movies in one month? It will be one month by the time I receive them. Sounds like breach of contract to me. I still question if the only reason they sent the movies is because my next billing date is coming up in only 6 more days. Time will tell. I can understand Olaf’s emotional distress. It’s going to take a long time before MY blood pressure comes back down to normal.
on 08 Mar 2007 at 12:43 pm 100.JR said …
Thanks for the information on the BBB, FTC and on contact information for Kim Abney. I have not had a DVD shipped since Feb. 24th. I have called on numerous occassions and received the e-coupons. I even set up a new account, to no avail. Last contact was yesterday with a supervisor in Dallas who is providing me with a free month(we shall see) and more e-coupons. She says the problem will be rectified by Friday. Seeing is believing. I shall keep you posted. However, I still think it is worth following up with the complaints to the BBB and FTC. I also have a letter drafted to the Blockbuster corporate offices to send out if, as I suspect, no movies are sent out on Friday.
on 08 Mar 2007 at 1:09 pm 101.Joe Nuewbody said …
OMG….i sent another email inquiring that if there is a glitch i would appreciate an appropriate response not some damn form letter stating that we are sorry for the incomvience mumbo jumbo…this is the email i got back from them
Did you hear the news? Your BLOCKBUSTER Total Access™ E - coupons are now good for movies or GAMES!!! And, with BLOCKBUSTER TOTAL ACCESS™ you can still use your dvd return mailer for free in-store movie rentals. So, e-coupons to satisfy the gamer in you and your dvd mailer for all of your movie fixes! Wow, now, that’s Total Access!
Total Access means you’ve got FREE, three ways:
DVD mailers good for FREE in-store movie rentals
E-Coupons good for FREE in-store movie rentals OR…
Now, E-coupons are good for FREE game rentals as well.
Here’s how it works. When you’re ready to return an online DVD, drop it in the mail OR bring it, sealed in its return envelope, to your local participating BLOCKBUSTER store and exchange it for a free in-store movie rental. The store will mail back your DVD for you and the next available movie in your Queue will ship out right away, giving you double the movies at no extra charge! On top of that, your E-coupons can now be redeemed for in-store movies OR games.
Have questions about BLOCKBUSTER Total Access™? See complete program details at http://www.blockbuster.com/totalaccess.
Enjoy!
Your Friends at BLOCKBUSTER Online
i want to choke somebody, NOW
on 08 Mar 2007 at 2:12 pm 102.Justin said …
I have experienced the same BS - no DVDs for 2 Weeks. Only got 2 ecoupons as consolation. Called “Customer NoService and get continuous busy signal?
I was just at the local BB last night and talked to 2 people who were are recent members and who are getting their DVDs on regular schedule. One guy still was member of Netflix and debating whether to switch. I told him what he can probably expect if he does.
It seems they are trying to keep the recent members hooked at the expense of the “older members”?
This may require a call to Clark Howard’s “Customer NoService Hotline”. at clarkhoward.com
Something really smells bad at BB. This is not normal
business practice. They need to be investigated.
on 08 Mar 2007 at 2:31 pm 103.Glenn said …
Just noticed that Blockbuster just made a change on their web site. Previously, when you emailed customer service, the note on the site indicated that you would receive an email response in 2 - 4 hours.
I just sent them another email and noticed that they have now changed the response time to 12 hours.
Still no movies shipping and customer service gets even worse.
on 08 Mar 2007 at 2:46 pm 104.JR said …
I, too, have not received movies since Feb. 24th. I have e-mailed and called on several occasions and have received the same responses as most of you. I have kept logs on all of this and have spent at least two hours on the phone with them, most of the time on hold. I even had a new account set up to no avail. My last conversation was with a floor supervisor in the Dallas office who gave me a month free (we shall see if that comes through correctly), 3 e-coupons and told me that the problem would be fixed on Friday (seeing is believing). I appreciate those of you who have gathered up contact information for the BBB and FTC and shared it with us. I will also send a letter of complaint to these agencies. If I do not start receiving my DVD’s on Friday then I will send the letter I have drafted to the Blockbuster Corporate Offices in Dallas. I do not expect much from that office because of how they have handled this issue. They have not acknowledged that there is a widespread problem. They have not noticed any of the customers about it, and still have been advertising the Total Access program. In fact, I just recently received an e-mail from them with just such an advertisement.
They must have had some software update or virus. But the least they should do is acknowledge it and own up to it.
Good luck to you all, I shall keep you posted.
on 08 Mar 2007 at 3:13 pm 105.Olaf said …
I am showing the first movie as being shipped out after 15 days.
Did not want to harp on just the bad stuff..
on 08 Mar 2007 at 3:24 pm 106.CJ said …
So it’s been two weeks, over a dozen emails, and two long phone calls to BB for me. Emailing is pointless, as I swear by their pre-prepared answers they don’t even finish reading my message before they click reply. Calling is pointless, as well. After holding for over 35 minutes the second time I asked for a supervisor and was put on hold for another 10 minutes. Finally, “TJ” came back on and told me that there was no supervisor available. I asked for a more detailed explaination, and he said they did not have anything to give. He said the best they could do is include me in a message they were sending out acknowledging the problem — i.e. “giving some lame, fake excuse for what is happening.” My educated guess based on experience with Netflix and past experience with Blockbuster is that this is because they are losing money and are trying to balance their check book by holding back on people’s rentals. It really is quite sleezy, and what makes it worse is their attitude that they can get away with this. When did it become okay for a business to behave like this, offer no explanation, and then imply if you don’t like it, too bad? If we are held to a contract as a customer upon first signing up, shouldn’t they be held to the same standard by taking our money? The best part about this whole thing is that they aren’t even really trying that hard to cover this up! Their explaination of a “system glitch” is half-baked at best. It’s really quite insulting. I thought if I bombared them with emails they would finally give in and start sending me my movies, but they would rather waste time paying someone to respond to the emails, than pay for postage to send my next availble movie. What a joke. My advi