Since you're reading this blog I'd imagine that you feel similarly about Blockbuster's business model - that's to say retail movies are going the way of dialup internet but that's not what I'm writing about. Nope, tonight's post is about how blockbuster just doesn't want to get my money and has enacted policies to insure my customer experience is simply horrible and then gone the extra step and denied their team, even their managers, the ability to make things work.
Tonight's story started out the same way most trips to the video store start, an impulsive need for a particular movie. As the guest of my parents I was sent off to rent the movie at a store I've been to before [but we'll get into that in a minute]. After stumbling around the isles for Casino Royale (it's no longer new, wasn't in drama and the action section wasn't labeled unless you were in the far corner of the store) I went to checkout. Since I'm just visiting the area I didn't have a card on me and handed the clerk my id. The first issue came up when I explained the account was under my parent's name... no, that can't be used, can't call them, can't go there. How about my accounts from southern California? Oh, those don't work in other stores, the databases aren't tied together and only local stores can be contacted.
Thus my only choice was to fill out a brand new application to rent a single movie. That's right, spend 10 minutes filling out a very long page, another 10 waiting for the clerk to input the data and in a few more while they give me yet another card with yet another customer ID. I can only imagine the fun their marketing team must have in cleaning the database before every campaign.
Of course if this was an isolated experience I'd not have bothered writing about it but this is my second time being denied a rental. The last time I was with a parent who had credit cards with their name but no id. Guess what they were told? No rental. Forge the fact they could buy the movie, renting it without a picture ID was just out of the question. Of course in that instance I was able to rent the movie since I had an ID - that day I didn't have to be on the account.
In both instances I managed to rent the movie we wanted but the only reason we completed the transaction at Blockbuster was a lack of alternatives. Had on demand offered the movie [we didn't check so perhaps they did] or there been a Redbox nearby they'd have lost the sale. And after two bad attempts you can bet my reaction next time I'm in town and a movie comes up - either I'm buying it or driving to a rental kiosk that has a little faith in me to be an honest customer - and that offers a much better rental fee than the $4.63 I paid blockbuster for a 24 hour rental.
Most interesting to me, my transactions involved a manager; a manager who saw the stupidity in the rule but he was powerless to do anything other than say "its policy" and "sorry". Over the next few years I'm certain we'll see an even further decline, if not complete eradication, of movie rental stores thanks to technology but with such bad experiences blockbuster certainly isn't gaining any brand loyalty or appeal. So I say thank you technology.
As my father so aptly put it, you can rent a $45,000 car with just your credit card and id but getting a $3 DVD without a 2 page application? That's just nuts.
And I've already twittered, posted to facebook and now have this blog post up -- just another example of how you can't afford to get customers upset in this age.
So with that all said, Netflix, what's up with making your streaming service include your entire movie library? At this point I'd be fine with a pay-per-view model, just make it happen before I have another movie impulse.
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