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Blockbuster Inc. Complaint - Blockbuster Customer Service
Complaint
Blockbuster's service has gone to pot over the past couple months. I have emailed them to complain about ten times and finally sent them the following email. You won't believe Fredrich's (a customer service rep) response... then again you probably will.
Understand that I have received quite a number of responses over the past couple months. Every one of them tries to come up with a possible explanation for the latest example I wrote to you about. Not one person has taken the time to look at the big picture. Here goes one last time before I cancel and go back to Netflix…
1. There have always been more than enough movies in my queue and the top ones are always available. The representative who creatively explained that my problem was that the ones at the top weren’t available until tomorrow has no idea that Tuesday’s releases are available by mail on Monday. This is scary because there aren’t that many policies he needs to know to do his job. I never add new releases to my queue until the weekend before their release.
2. For years and years and years, aside from at most a handful of times, every time I dropped a movie off at the store, a replacement was shipped to me the very next day. ALWAYS.
3. For at least the past two months, nothing is ever shipped the next day, nothing is ever shipped the day after that, and on the third day I usually receive an email saying that the movie I returned to the store has been received by your warehouse. I don’t care about this and I turned this email notice off in my online options many years ago, but for some reason at the same time my problems began, I started receiving these notices again. Anyway, on the third or fourth day I am usually sent one or two movies and a few days later the remainder.
4. Every weekend I add the big name releases that are releasing on Tuesday and move them to the top, so my queue is not filled with obscure titles that need to be shipped cross country. As I stated previously, if I returned my three movies over the weekend, three of the new releases were always shipped to me on Monday. ALWAYS. For the past few months, not one time have they all been shipped to me by the end of the day Wednesday.
I will ask again. Can someone please pass this problem up to someone with authority past the level where the representative has the choice of a dozen canned responses to choose from. This is not an isolated instance. I want to know what changed over there that made a great service a horrible one. Thank you… again.
Oh, and please DO NOT say “please let me know if there is anything else I can help you with” unless you actually help me this time. Thanks.
Fredrich's response:
I understand that you are waiting for your third movie to be shipped.
Our goal is to ship the movies that are most important to you as reflected by the top priorities you've set in your queue. Instead of sending something from the middle or bottom of your queue, we may skip a shipment for an extra day or two so that we'll always send the titles you want most.
It appears that five of your top selection are yet to be released on 10/13/2009. Once these titles are made available, rest assured that they will be shipped to you.
We recommend you keep 15 or more "Available" movies at the top of your queue to keep movies coming and ensure prompt shipment.
Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.
Fredrich
Blockbuster Customer Care
Understand that I have received quite a number of responses over the past couple months. Every one of them tries to come up with a possible explanation for the latest example I wrote to you about. Not one person has taken the time to look at the big picture. Here goes one last time before I cancel and go back to Netflix…
1. There have always been more than enough movies in my queue and the top ones are always available. The representative who creatively explained that my problem was that the ones at the top weren’t available until tomorrow has no idea that Tuesday’s releases are available by mail on Monday. This is scary because there aren’t that many policies he needs to know to do his job. I never add new releases to my queue until the weekend before their release.
2. For years and years and years, aside from at most a handful of times, every time I dropped a movie off at the store, a replacement was shipped to me the very next day. ALWAYS.
3. For at least the past two months, nothing is ever shipped the next day, nothing is ever shipped the day after that, and on the third day I usually receive an email saying that the movie I returned to the store has been received by your warehouse. I don’t care about this and I turned this email notice off in my online options many years ago, but for some reason at the same time my problems began, I started receiving these notices again. Anyway, on the third or fourth day I am usually sent one or two movies and a few days later the remainder.
4. Every weekend I add the big name releases that are releasing on Tuesday and move them to the top, so my queue is not filled with obscure titles that need to be shipped cross country. As I stated previously, if I returned my three movies over the weekend, three of the new releases were always shipped to me on Monday. ALWAYS. For the past few months, not one time have they all been shipped to me by the end of the day Wednesday.
I will ask again. Can someone please pass this problem up to someone with authority past the level where the representative has the choice of a dozen canned responses to choose from. This is not an isolated instance. I want to know what changed over there that made a great service a horrible one. Thank you… again.
Oh, and please DO NOT say “please let me know if there is anything else I can help you with” unless you actually help me this time. Thanks.
Fredrich's response:
I understand that you are waiting for your third movie to be shipped.
Our goal is to ship the movies that are most important to you as reflected by the top priorities you've set in your queue. Instead of sending something from the middle or bottom of your queue, we may skip a shipment for an extra day or two so that we'll always send the titles you want most.
It appears that five of your top selection are yet to be released on 10/13/2009. Once these titles are made available, rest assured that they will be shipped to you.
We recommend you keep 15 or more "Available" movies at the top of your queue to keep movies coming and ensure prompt shipment.
Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.
Fredrich
Blockbuster Customer Care
Comments:
Posted by Face to Face on 2009-10-12:
Netflix!
Posted by justthefaxx on 2009-10-12:
Go to the movie theater!
Posted by PepperElf on 2009-10-12:
public library!
hey you can't beat free.
hey you can't beat free.
Posted by raven2002 on 2009-10-12:
Netflix was doing this same thing for a while. IIRC, they call it "throttling" and use it on their highest volume customers. the newer, or lower volume customers get the movies shipped first. ANNOYING!
(and yes, I giggled at the reply from the employee; he clearly just chose a canned answer having zero to do with the inquiry)_
(and yes, I giggled at the reply from the employee; he clearly just chose a canned answer having zero to do with the inquiry)_
Posted by MRM on 2009-10-12:
Speaking of movies, I will rent Land of Lost when it comes out tomorrow, as well as, Year One.
Posted by MRM on 2009-10-12:
And as usual, I will copy the movies, bypassing the copy-protection scheme, and return the movie the same day. I can watch my movie whenever I like!
Posted by MRM on 2009-10-12:
Booyah!
Posted by MissMarple on 2009-10-12:
Redbox.
Posted by Skye on 2009-10-12:
ComCast, On Demand. We will purchase a movie, usually have it for 48 hours, if we like it, I'll order from the website I use.
Nothing to go out and rent, wait for in the mail, or have to deal with mailing back.
I don't much of a future for Blockbuster anymore. Maybe for game rentals.
Nothing to go out and rent, wait for in the mail, or have to deal with mailing back.
I don't much of a future for Blockbuster anymore. Maybe for game rentals.
Posted by ejack053824 on 2009-10-12:
I like Redbox to. Blockbuster has gone to the crapper!
Posted by justthefaxx on 2009-10-12:
MissMarple is right, Redbox is great.
Posted by KCRovert on 2009-10-12:
Can't go to the theater, jtf. too many people out there these days think of the theater as their own personal living room...talking, kicking chairs, chatting or testing on their cells phones. It's just too hard to withstand the desire to throttle them!
Posted by andbran on 2009-10-13:
i have blockbuster online and love it. now i mail mine in and get them within 2 days. and sad to say i have about 150 movies in my queue. i usually wait a week when the new releases to put the new ones in front.
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