Blockbuster Settles No Late Fee Suit

fistfullast33l writes "In a followup to a previous Slashdot story, Blockbuster has settled a lawsuit with 47 states and the District of Columbia over its No Late Fees advertising campaign. The New York State Attorney General's Office released the following: 'The Attorneys General alleged that the advertising campaign launched in late December 2004 was misleading because it failed to clearly disclose that, seven days after a movie or game's return due date, the consumer would be charged its selling price if the item were not yet returned. The Attorneys General also alleged there was insufficient disclosure that not all Blockbuster franchise stores were participating, leaving customers of those stores wrongly believing that they, too, would not have to pay late fees.' Blockbuster will be refunding customers as part of the deal." Additional commenary available on MSNBC.

Comments

Anyone know...

[LoganAvatar]

... what 3 states were not involved, and why?

Hidden charges

[Bifurcati]

I really hate companies that try and slip extra charges into the fine print. There was a phone card company in the UK that advertised "No connection fee!" but when you looked in the fine print there was a "Disconnection fee" of 25p - the same as everyone else's connection fee! What a crock!

And the problem is that when people get hit by this fee, they don't do anything about it - they just roll over and pay. So good to see some action being taken!

Re:Good.

[MightyMartian]

You've revealed the other side of this dishonest advertising campaign. It hurts competitors by convincing customers of an impossible scenario. When the competitors refuse to stoop to the same level as Blockbuster, customers are lost. This campaign in particular is so unbelievably slimey that you just have to wonder at the people running the company's legal department. I mean, I can understand crooked executives and mentally-challenged marketers, but did the lawyers actually think that they were going to get past consumer protection laws?

Its in the details

[smashin234]

I went to a blockbuster a couple days ago, and they have a big sign on their door that explains the details.

Yes, they will charge you full price for the item after 7 days. However, if you bring the movie back after 7 days you will not be charged full price. You will be charged a "restocking fee" instead of a "late fee". Granted, it wasn't that bad at $1.50, but I still laughed after reading about the "restocking fee."

Automatic Purchase Program and Franchise Revolt

[HackingNetflix]

They just changed late fees to an automatic purchase program. Worse, when you return the movie after you've "bought" it, they give you a store credit and sock you with a handling fee.

Up to 20% of stores are franchises and many revolted against the "No More Late Fees" program, causing customers to be totally confused. "No More Late Fees" commercials running on all channels and yet my local Blockbuster still charges late fees?

I've been covering this story and more at: http://www.hackingnetflix.com/

- MikeK @ HackingNetflix.com

Re:You must be the only one

[Rufus88]

I figured there was probably a catch, but also thought that maybe they were adopting a Netflix-type model, where a customer could keep a movie as long as he likes, but couldn't rent any more until the late one was returned.