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

Am I the only one?

[slapout]

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?

Re:Am I the only one?

[porcupine8]

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.)

Good.

[LewsTherinKinslayer]

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.

You must be the only one

[AtariAmarok]

"Did you think they were just going to let you keep the movie?"

That is what the ads strongly implied.

Re:And this is important becuase...

[LewsTherinKinslayer]

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.

Bittorrent: No late fees!

[AtariAmarok]

Anyone care to evaluate the slogan in the topic?

The entire store has no movies now

[diediebinks]

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.

Re:Anyone know...

[blueskies]

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.

Re:And this is important becuase...

[Professor_UNIX]

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.

Re:And this is important becuase...

[StalinsNotDead]

I imagine most readers are perfectly legitimate.

And some are just bastards.

Never trust these ad campaigns

[AtariAmarok]

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.

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:And this is important becuase...

[ziggy_zero]

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.