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Blockbuster Settles No Late Fee Suit

Posted by Zonk on from the truth-in-advertising dept.

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.

25 of 392 comments (clear)

  1. Late fees indeed by Bifurcati · · Score: 4, Funny

    Guess that's some serious late fees for Blockbuster!

    --

    Physicist, consultant, science communicator
  2. And this is important becuase... by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 4, Funny

    And this is important to Slashdot readers who probably download their entertainment because...

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
    1. Re:And this is important becuase... by LewsTherinKinslayer · · Score: 5, Funny

      And this is important to Slashdot readers who probably download their entertainment because...

      Not everyone who reads /. does nothing with his spare time but download illegally pirated movies and warez programs. I imagine most readers are perfectly legitimate.

    2. Re:And this is important becuase... by Professor_UNIX · · Score: 5, Insightful
      And this is important to Slashdot readers who probably download their entertainment because...

      Do you really waste hours of time downloading television programs and movies from the Internet? I've found it's much easier to just go rent a movie than to spend hours downloading some 8 gig DVD rip only to find it's gay porn some jackass put up with the same name as the movie I was looking for (which was not gay porn BTW). I guess I'm just getting old, but I have more money than time these days.

    3. Re:And this is important becuase... by StalinsNotDead · · Score: 5, Funny

      I imagine most readers are perfectly legitimate.

      And some are just bastards.

      --
      Thanks to the internet, we can now all die alone together! -SomeWoman
    4. Re:And this is important becuase... by ziggy_zero · · Score: 5, Funny

      You know....you don't have to watch the little progress bar when you download stuff...you just kind of let it sit there for awhile on its own and you are free to do other things! Amazing, I know, but true.

      --
      I belong to the ______ generation.
  3. Am I the only one? by slapout · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wow. Am I the only one that said "there's got to be a catch to this" when this thing started and went to their website to check it out. I knew that they would charge you for the movie because I looked it up. Did you think they were just going to let you keep the movie?

    --
    Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
    1. Re:Am I the only one? by porcupine8 · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Well, given that Netflix really has no late fees for real, I don't think that it's entirely ridiculous to think that Blockbuster was offering the same. True, Netflix works on an entirely different business model, with a subscription fee and a limit to the number of movies you can have out at one time, so upon further inspection BB's deal is unlikely to be the same.

      But for some random guy whose buddy is using Netflix and just knows his buddy can keep movies as long as he wants, why shouldn't he take BB's claim at face value?

      (Aside from the inherent problem in taking any advertised claim at face value - but in reality, you can't expect the general public to think that way.)

      --
      Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
  4. No Late Fees - You Just Have To BUY It... by Stanistani · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Truth makes lousy advertising slogans, dunnit?

    --
    You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
  5. Good. by LewsTherinKinslayer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I used to work at GameCrazy (a part of the Hollywood Video chain,) and we had a lot of customers who would come in, and basically say, why should we be renting from you anymore? Blockbuster has no late fees. When we informed them that if they didn't return the movie within a week of the due date they would be charged the full price for the item, not a single customer told us they were made aware of that fact.

    I went to Blockbuster myself a couple months ago and the man who checked me out, the manager, said to me "And don't forget, we no longer have any late fees!" Certainly a misleading comment.

    1. Re:Good. by MightyMartian · · Score: 4, Interesting

      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?

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  6. Anyone know... by LoganAvatar · · Score: 4, Interesting

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

    --
    loganavatar.com
    1. Re:Anyone know... by blueskies · · Score: 5, Informative

      Why?

      Probably because they are demanding more from blockbuster? It was a settlement not a judgement, so I'm assuming that the other states are holding out for a bigger settlement.

      Blockbuster wants to settle:
      Blockbuster spokeswoman, Karen Raskopf, said the settlement excluded the state of New Jersey, which last month filed a lawsuit accusing Blockbuster of failing to disclose key terms of its new rental policy.

      ``We continue to talk to them. We are hopeful we can reach a resolution with New Jersey,'' Raskopf said.

  7. You must be the only one by AtariAmarok · · Score: 5, Insightful
    "Did you think they were just going to let you keep the movie?"

    That is what the ads strongly implied.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
    1. Re:You must be the only one by Rufus88 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      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.

  8. Hidden charges by Bifurcati · · Score: 4, Interesting
    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!

    --

    Physicist, consultant, science communicator
  9. Bittorrent: No late fees! by AtariAmarok · · Score: 5, Funny

    Anyone care to evaluate the slogan in the topic?

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  10. The entire store has no movies now by diediebinks · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Anybody actually been in a Blockbuster since they instituted the No Late Fees? The only thing this promotion did was make it so there are no movies in stock.

  11. Its in the details by smashin234 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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."

  12. Blockbuster's Slogan by mikeboone · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Their slogan was honest. I remember the commercials:

    "The end of late fees. The beginning of more."

    I jokingly said to myself that they meant the beginning of more fees, but I guess they weren't joking and instead were being honest.

  13. netflix model by xant · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is precisely what the Netflix model is. They send you a movie, you keep it as long as you want. Along with the 2 movies we received recently I've got a DVD next to the TV we've been meaning to watch for 3 months. Netflix doesn't care. You send it back when you're done, you get another DVD. The only thing sending the movie back does is refresh the choices you have next to your TV.

    Buried underneath those somewhere are a couple of DVDs we had when we closed one of our Netflix accounts to change the name it was under. That was over a year ago. Netflix doesn't care.

    Blockbuster introduced "no late fees" as a direct answer to the Netflix model.. at least, that's what people apparently thought. They only wanted to create the impression that they were like Netflix, obviously, without actually doing any of the work.

    --
    It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
  14. Never trust these ad campaigns by AtariAmarok · · Score: 5, Funny

    Blockbuster: No late fees.

    McDonalds: Our fried lard-balls are fat free!

    NBC: Must-see TV

    Click the monkey and win a free iPod

    Napster 14 day trial: Download a million songs for FREE

    Nigeria: Give us $14,000 and we'll give you millions.

    Slashdot: Our moderation system is fair and balanced.

    Fox: Our news is fair and balanced.

    On the other side, you have one of the most true ad campaigns in history, for the Eagle car company: "Eagle: Not intended for the general public". The general public wholeheartedly agreed.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  15. Automatic Purchase Program and Franchise Revolt by HackingNetflix · · Score: 5, Interesting
    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

  16. Who would believe it? by AtariAmarok · · Score: 4, Insightful
    "Sure, you're right. But who would actually believe this?"

    Looks like we agree that the ads are rather deceptive. I hate frivolous lawsuits as much as the next guy, but it is not frivolous to sue over late-free harassment when you respond to a "no late fees" ad. What part of "no" do you not understand?

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  17. But of course by AtariAmarok · · Score: 4, Insightful
    "So, you figure that a fee that is charged if and only if the video is late is not a late fee?"

    It is merely a delayed mandatory financial assessment. How dare you assume it to be anything like a "late fee" !!!

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.