Q & A for Blockbusterstore482

[omg_bbv]

Originally Posted by ufo SM

That's weird. There's no late fees here, it will just asale if 10 days late, still no fees if it asales and then you return within 10 days of sale. It will just reverse. Maybe there doing a test on employee rentals in your district to see if fees make employees return quicker. I wouldn't put it past them, but anyways no fees here.

Same here, but of course, we're probably in the same District.... we probably work at the same store (ok, I doubt it, but you never know!) - Anyways, yeah, i always keep my movies/games a few days past the due date... never been charged.

[wheresmikey]

I know all my coworkers well enough to recognize the style of their rantings if they were to start posting on this site. i would hope any of you would know your coworkers to that extent too.

[omg_bbv]

Originally Posted by wheresmikey

I know all my coworkers well enough to recognize the style of their rantings if they were to start posting on this site. i would hope any of you would know your coworkers to that extent too.

I definitely do, plus most of the situations I post about... yeah, they would totally recognize me. I just hope none of them would take it personally, cause everything I bitch about is more directed at BB than any coworker... and I don't care if they know me on here.

[TheAnomaly]

Originally Posted by almondSM

i have no idea where to post this question and didnt think it warranted a new thread. Anyway, the new DL feature of looking a member up is soo convenient, however..while i added someone into the system with their driver's license..i then went to print them a card and it won't allow me to print them a card. i type in the account number, and it just goes right back to the main screen. I thought i might need to wait over night, and when the lady came back a few days later..i still couldn't print her a card. This has happened with a few members we have added in with the DL feature. Does anybody know why?

Originally Posted by wheresmikey

I look forward some insight as well. This happened to me for the first time last night.
Pulled someone up with the DL feature and tried to print a card.

Originally Posted by Antithesys

Omigosh, I was convinced the printer broke! I spent the last half hour of my shift yesterday trying to fix it...and every time I tested it I plugged in the same acct number!

OK. You're all gonna hate yourselves for not thinking of this. (Not really, because why would you think to check this?) Anyway, I had this happen too. Messed with the printer, restarted the computer, still nothing worked. Hit PF3 to view the last screen and it said...

"Printing 0 cards for CUSTOMER, FAKE"

Number of cards was set to 0! So, easy fix. Edit, 20, 1, pf1, clear, print card.

[Blockbusterstore482]

Everyone should keep in mind that no every part of the country is on the same rental term and rules. Until last March we had so many different terms markets you needed a spreadsheet to keep up with them.

[Propoxy]

Why do Quick Adds now download without a space between the last name, the comma, and the first name?

ie
Customer,Fake instead of Customer, Fake

We have to edit the name after remembering to look it up with only the last name. Annoying.

[Flantanella]

Originally Posted by Blockbusterstore482

Everyone should keep in mind that no every part of the country is on the same rental term and rules. Until last March we had so many different terms markets you needed a spreadsheet to keep up with them.

Then why just keep one business plan and stick with that plan. During my tenure the price of rewards went up to 20 bucks numerous times. That TA push really killed of Netflix heat but then you guys changed it to limited exchanges whre you lost people. Even that summer movie pass, was actually pretty good. But you guys failed to continue the idea


What you guys need to do is stop fucking around and think of a reason to make the average joe come to you, instead of Netflix or Redbox. Now I can give a few reasons why to skip netflix and redbox on some situations


1)Movie Pass- The best product you guys ever came up with, no late fees and 2 unlimited exchanges. With the 28 day delay you guys can stir some heat. Of course you fail and pushing for TA, but I know why.

2) Total Access- Why oh why did you guys change the unlimited exchanges, that caused so much bullshit in the past. If you really wanted to beat netflix and hurt them. Then just charge higher prices and with the reward to come in the store for exchanges. I am willing to bet 1000 bucks that some would still stick with Blockbuster TA

3) Rewards- At 10 bucks its easy to sell this crap but when you raise the price to 20 bucks. Most people will laugh at your face. You miss one factor in this plan. The 12 month coupon is only for BSI movies, many dont give a flying crap about the middle section. They want new movies, now if say each month you offer a new release movie coupon for free. Gee maybe someone might want to buy


4) Back in the day before the interweb, I could come to Blockbuster and check if they had a movie. If not, they can order it for me and save it. Why is not happening anymore? Stop with the gay presales of twilight

5) I read of SD download, which even I say is a good idea. Why not do this before? You could have easily put netflix and redbox on its knees. There is still some flaws as most players, and computers cant read SD memory chips

6) And last the good people of your store. These are the guys and gals that run the place each day. These are the people that know what the customers want. They would know its useless to sell a presale of Call of duty to a grandma but still have a chance to score on either a movie pass or rewards. If you treated the good workers right, I am sure Chris site here would be free of employees

The point is that the small guys in the stores know the people and their needs. So instead of fixing the small guys, Fix the DM's and the RDO's. Those that hardly show at the store but yet demand unreasonable sales to customers they never met.

So if you can focus on your best aspects instead of your best bullshit then maybe some people would come back instead of going to netflix, redbox, or the interweb. You might just end up like Radio Shack, Sears and Kmart, companies that still survive to this day.

[Gonzo]

Originally Posted by Flantanella

3) Rewards- At 10 bucks its easy to sell this crap but when you raise the price to 20 bucks. Most people will laugh at your face. You miss one factor in this plan. The 12 month coupon is only for BSI movies, many dont give a flying crap about the middle section. They want new movies, now if say each month you offer a new release movie coupon for free. Gee maybe someone might want to buy

Especially when you factor in that the BSI and new releases are the same prices. Most people don't want to waste their time searching thru the BSI to find something they haven't seen, especially when it's not in alpha order and we may not even have the movie they're looking for.

Let them have a new release for free, it's got to be back in 4 days anyway.

[Spohiesmom2008]

Ok 482 since your last visit we have been on a rant about availability of supplies, the terrible condition of our stores and employee rental policies. And you chime in on.....
Employee rentals....great. Enjoy your day at the tower while we are doing an almost 1000 piece reprice of regular retail and PRP, plus reset of endcaps while trying to make the appearance of our stores NOT look like we are imploding into a black hole. With minimum labor of which we have to cut so the region can get back on track when my store was never off track!
Why is it no one seems to be able to move these tasks around so they don't all happen at once. I understand retail reprice comes with the reset but why in the same week do we have a huge PRP reprice and yes I know its the holiday coming up but could it not have been split up into 2 weeks. If you think customers are going to get the attention they need over the next 3 days you along with everyone else are deluded!
My store is pretty small so I dread to think what big stores have.

[deathbydanny]

Here's another gem for you--

I've been let go from Blockbuster about six months ago. When I was let go, out of the five computers we had (not counting Compass), only two worked. Two. In a store that regularly does $1,500 a day (or at least did). Of course, that meant long ass lines, and impatient customers, most of who would just walk right on out, and if they DID stay the course, only to walk out, it was because we were "rewarding" their patience by being forced to give them a sales pitch that took even longer than the time they spent in line.

Well, last week, when I was in my old store to rent movies, guess how many working terminals they had? Two. The exact same two. I know what a headache it is to get everything fixed again, having personally had to call Computer Support and get technicians there, but really? My old store has had to do without working computers for SIX FUCKING MONTHS? At my new job, you know how long it took? Six hours. From first phone call to technician leaving and asking me for a store stamp, done.

I don't know how it is for some of you guys, but I was with BBV for four years, and three and a half of those as management, which meant that a LOT of the customers got to know me. I've gotten to know them and their families, I've been out and about having nights out and run into them and had a couple of friendly beers with them, and (pay attention, corporate) listened to what they had to say. Due to the nature of the job, even to THIS DAY, a lot of them know me as "Danny the Blockbuster Guy", and I'm not exaggerating when, of the many, many old customers I still run into, not a goddamn one of them still rents at Blockbuster. They all have wonderful things to say about the staff at my old store, but the compliments end there. I've listened to them, which I think is just as accurate a "test market" as anything. And they can't help but, even now, when my involvement with Blockbuster begins and ends at this board, complain about the state of it. Despite being gone from BBV for six months, people STILL see me in public and ask me if the stores are closing. People still complain to me about how they can't rent movies without being deluged with sales pitches. People still complain about how the constant moving around of the sales floor confused them enough to call it quits. They still complain that transactions take too goddamn long because there are only two functioning computers, and when they finally make it to the front, they spend just as long hearing out a sales pitch as they did waiting in line. They can't get new cards because the printer has been broken for SIX FUCKING MONTHS.

It's no exaggeration to say I've literally been recognized around town, or at work, from BBV at least once a DAY for quite a long time, as I was there so much and so often. Old customers can't HELP but tell me, much as I don't want to hear it, their complaints about Blockbuster. Lest you think I had a shitty store at some point, some customers had issues with moving and having an even worse experience at another store, through little to no fault of the employees. I mean, really. It's next to impossible to get a guy to come fix the computers (with one guy showing up a few days after the phone call to tech support, and he was from TWO STATES AWAY), and it's like pulling teeth with rusty pliers, using dissolved tylenol as anaesthetic, to get supplies necessary to run a business for a single day without cannibalizing other stores, but Corp can sure as hell pay guys to go paint a yellow wall white? That's useful! I bet some egghead in the office made that decision: "Customers aren't coming into the stores because they don't like the color of the walls, and studies show that people will spend more in the gumball machines if the walls are white instead of yellow." Yeah. It has absolutely nothing to do with low employee morale, constantly broken equipment, constantly sparse supplies, and browbeating them with sales pitches for online programs that make stores anemic and a jar of foot cream, the ol' Movie Watching Staple, because I know that I couldn't enjoy Kick-Ass without my oh-so-necessary foot cream and Snuggie. By the way, I have a Netflix membership now, and the last time I put a movie in my queue, The Internet didn't tell me I would need foot cream and a pickle to enjoy it.

It's seeming like Blockbuster thinks it has it's finger on the pulse of the customer base, when really, their method of checking pulses is just sticking their head up an ass. I mean, really. Blockbuster is seeking to return to it's glory days. I remember going with my family to rent movies and games throughout the 80s and 90s, and although I remember things like "Rent Tetris Attack on Super Nintendo Free With Any Other Game Rental!", I sure as hell don't remember Mighty Blockbuster asking us if we wanted pickles and candy along with it. We gave them the movies and games, gave them our money, and walked out. What a concept!