Blockbuster Price Change – We’re Still on the Older, Better Plan
Tip It!Well, this is kind of interesting… As you may or may not know, Blockbuster recently announced changes to their online movie rental service. In order to increase profitability, they’ve decided to increase their prices and/or decrease service.
At first we were told that they would automatically change us to a new plan (same price, $17.99/month) with 3 at-a-time movies by mail, 5 in-store exchanges (previously unlimited) and no monthly e-coupons for free movie/game rentals at the end of our current month. In a subsequent e-mail, they said that we had to go in and make the change ourselves or our service would stop.
Being the busy (and somewhat lazy) guy that I am, I never got around to making the change before our monthly renewal date. Guess what? Yesterday afternoon I received an e-mail saying that our new e-coupon was ready to be printed, and when I logged in I saw that they had renewed us for at least one more month on the old plan (unlimited in-store exchanges and monthly e-coupons). It’s unclear to me if this is a one-time thing on their part, or perhaps there was something in the language of the original agreement that prevents them from making changes to our plan without our permission, and since I never went in and made the change they have to keep us on the old plan.
Regardless, I’m happy to have received another at the old service level month, as their Total Access service has been great for us.
Published on September 1st, 2007 - 13 Comments
Filed under: Online
About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!
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13 Responses to “Blockbuster Price Change – We’re Still on the Older, Better Plan”
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September 1st, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Freekin thieves , false advertising , lousy coustomer service , everybody should go back to net flix , blockbuster is like a bad drug pusher get us hooked on a good plan than wham raise the price !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 5th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
Did they just cut you off, not even on your billing cycle,.. i cant seem to get a response if they prorate or what.
better check your credit card company
September 5th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
i believe they said in the mail that the change would take effect for current subscribers for any billing periods starting september 1st. this would explain why for a billing period beginning on august 31 you would still get the old package one more time. for NEW subscribers, the change took place earlier in august.
September 5th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
I also forgot to renew and they cut me off completely. I was without any DVDs for 2 weeks! They only sent that one email….no reminders. I’ll bet they lost alot of customers. They are just plain stupid! I stayed with the same priced plan, so now I only get 5 in-store exchanges. Now their movies can just sit there on the shelf at night instead of making alot of subscribers happy.
September 5th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
campletely ridiculous! i do not understand why they are getting away with this. is there any this that members can do to fight back…Class action Law suit maybe??
October 3rd, 2007 at 11:12 pm
Remember in ‘05 when 47 States Settle With Blockbuster over its advertising “No Late Fees” program. I guess that they didn’t learn their lesson. Like most of you my wife and I recently found out the same shocking news of the change. Customer service for blockbuster was useless. I would hope that anyone effected would contact the Attorney General for their respective state to complain
If you don’t know or don’t remember about the issue I referred to here is some referrence material from the Florida AG’s website.
March 29, 2005
Media Contact: Sandi Copes
Phone: (850) 245-0150
For the state of Florida here is some Attorney General contact information:
Fraud Hotline
1-866-9-NO-SCAM
1-866-966-7226
Fax
(850) 487-2564
Citizen Services
(850) 414-3990
October 10th, 2007 at 6:13 am
I, too, was also surprised to learn of the change. I received ZERO notice from Blockbuster. Didn’t find out about it until yesterday when I went into the store to exchange some mailed DVDs and was told I could only rent 2 having reached my 5 limit. I signed up and paid for unlimited. I definitely hope someone starts a class action suit. I’m so in!
October 10th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
I have never been talked to like this guy named Matt from blockbuster talked to me. I called to see why my account was changed after it had not been fooled with by myself or them after the deadline of 9/1. Thought I had better check my account while I was in the site to check what movies I had coming next. I was suprised when I saw my account was changed! So when I called, this guy was so rude and laughed at everything I said, which made very mad, I asked to talk to someone higher up. Well I got Natile who said that he (Matt) was sick that day and I needed to be nicer to him! I like to have fell out! I called her sweetie (not thinking anything about it) and boy did I get told off! She came down on me hard for calling her that and talked down to me on the subject of calling her out of her name. Well needless to say that pissed me off more and now I am not going to the store or using any online services of Blockbuster. I was a great customer and the store people are going to miss me on Tuesdays. When I calmed down I called back to cancel my account (thank goodness I got someone different) to be told that I would not get any money back for canceling and that I had to let the account run its course till next 11/2 when the payment runs out. Lets just hope I get my mailers till 11/2. I have never had a company act or not come to some agreement with their customers like Blockbuster. I am now switching to Netflix and hope for the best.
October 10th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
I cancelled my Total Access plan with blockbuster after receiving a canned reply from their customer service online complaint system. They also changed my plan without my knowledge. Ultimately the action that will stand the test of time in any given situation is in the hands of the people who would use the service. Very simply excercise your right to choose another service! I truly hope that the consumers who are unhappy with the way they have been treated will find this solution to be better and quicker than any lawsuit could ever hope to be!!!!!
NUFF SAID!!!
November 11th, 2007 at 12:19 am
I understand companies increasing their rates/fees. What I do not understand is Blockbusters method. I was sent an email on October 29,2007 saying rates were changing and I would have to choose a new plan as my account would not be continued under my current plan, $17.99 3 out at a time, unlimited in store exchanges, one ecoupon a month. What the email FAILED to inform me was- my account had already been canceled (by Blockbuster) and they would STOP sending me DVDs by mail on October 29, 2007.
As I was paid through November 09, 2007 I was denied the use of a third of the services for which I paid! I UNDERSTAND A COMPANY CAN CHANGE PRICES, BUT IN THE MIDDLE OF A CONTRACT?! This action has got to be illegal. Blockbusters response to my concerns; I cancelled the contract by NOT choosing another plan.
I was informed of the new plans and canceled on the SAME day!! What is going on????????????????????????????????????????
November 11th, 2007 at 10:12 am
IDA: They began notifying customers of the changes back in August, so it’s possible that they notified you previously but it wound up in your spam folder. Regardless, cancelling your service in the middle of a paid month is pretty shady.
December 22nd, 2007 at 6:04 pm
We just signed up at $9.99 per month for the low end program, on December 4, then got the notice of their increase to $11.99 two weeks later! I emailed back that this must be an error and I sent their “welcome” email of December 4. No response, no apology, and definitely no acknowledgement of their “bait and switch” tactic!
–Scott
March 9th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Block”Big Brother”buster. Gotcha again. Kind of expect that from them. And the customer “no service” is as rude as possible, as always. Now there will be an exodus to Netflix and Blockbuster will change the deal to suck everyone back in again…don’t you kind of feel like a yo yo? The change to the in-store rental now counting as a mailer, they don’t send you the next movie until you return the in-store movie, is what woke me up. Cya BB, corporate raping of the consumer strikes again.