Blockbuster Sued Over Late Fees Claim

DesiVideoGamer writes "CNN has a story about Blockbuster's violation of New Jersey's consumer fraud act in which they made false claims in their "No More Late Fees" campaign. New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey filed a lawsuit today in hopes that Blockbuster would stop misleading their customers into thinking they could keep their movie rentals as long as they want without penalty."

Comments

Re:Well, it is worse--

[nacturation]

Uh, you have that 100% wrong. If you keep the item out for more than a week past the due date, you are charged a $1.25 restocking fee. If you keep the movie for more than a month, you are charged the full price of the movie.

Re:Well, it is worse--

[Morganth]

I take issue with the fraud idea. They aren't charging late fees anymore. They just set it up so you buy the video implicitly if you keep it seven days after the due date. Thats really not that unreasonably.

I don't know why some /.'ers and other people in "real life" find the need to defend corporations no matter how bad they are. I guess it's a sign of the times, as society plunges headlong into a mix of fascism/corporatism, but let's stay on point.

When Blockbuster announced in their television ads "NO MORE LATE FEES!" with song, dance and Hallelujah, most people thought, like I did, that this meant the new policy was MORE FORGIVING than before. When I saw the ad, the first thing I thought is, "That's awesome! How do they do it!"

So to get out of your bubble for a second, just imagine this. Imagine you're using a car rental company, and you've used them before. In the past, their policy for late returns was charging 2x the normal price per day for every day the car is "late". I have no idea how car rentals work, but just go with me for a sec.

Now imagine you run a bunch of ads where you say, "Hey, no late fees anymore on these cars!"

So someone rents your car and when he's running a little late (wants to stay another week in Arizona, or whatever), he figures, eh, no worries, there are no late fees.

But guess what: you are now the owner of your very own Kia Rio!

See how that's deceptive? Or are you still gonna give me some stupid argument about the "lazy consumer?"

Re:Well, it is worse--

[anethema]

Ok well lets move back to the old system of paying the rental fee for every day late. Genious.