Blockbuster Canada
I had been a customer of Blockbuster for a number of years however, we rarely rent movies anymore and haven’t from Blockbuster for quite some time. If we do decide to rent, it became easier to visit our local Rogers Video store as we are client’s of theirs with all our cable, internet and phone services and we receive better discounts.
Well, to my surprise I just received a bill from the Credit Bureau indicating I owe Blockbuster $26.99 apparently, and their letter also indicates “after many attempts”. Are you kidding me! – not once has Blockbuster tried contacting me by phone or letter advising of any outstanding balance which I find ludicrous since I have not used their services for years. I was never late returning a movie and last time I would have been in, it should have been brought to my attention at that time. But I do remember times when I had returned movies, yet Blockbuster indicated I did not…and when they checked again…Oh yes, they did have them.
So now I have 48 hrs to pay the Credit Bureau which I will not be paying until someone at Blockbuster sends me a detailed invoice for these charges. I am a very detailed person and always keeps track of my finances and if I owe someone money…I will be sure to pay the bill. In this case I was not aware of any charges made to my account.
Blockbuster is well aware when a customer has not been in for some time. In the past, they have called me or sent me coupons in the mail to try to get my business back. So why can they not have the decency to send a detailed invoice when there is a balance owing on an account?
After being treated this way, I know I will never step foot in a Blockbuster store again. Rogers will continue to get our business going forward.
Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.
November 24th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Dear Customer,
We are sorry to read about your frustration regarding our collections process and apologize for any upset this has caused you. Our intent is to simply inform you of the balance owing and ask that you kindly clear it at your earliest convenience. As is stated in our letter, our collections process does include several attempts to contact you prior to the letter sent from Credit Bureau Services.
We begin our process with an automated reminder call when items are overdue for five days, and again at nine days past due. Once your balance reached 45 days owing, a letter is sent to your address from Blockbuster Canada. A second letter is sent when the balance reaches 75 days past due. Finally, once balances are owing for longer than 90 days, we enlist the services of an agency known as Credit Bureau Services Canada (CBS).
CBS is third-party agency that assists us in the collection of balances outstanding. We utilize CBS only after balances are owing for greater than 90 days as we recognize that in this case the customer is less likely to return to the store to pay the balance. Credit Bureau Services offers customers the ability to pay balances via telephone or online, whereas our stores cannot. It is our policy not to post customer accounts such as yours to a credit reporting agency.
By your account, it seems that you did not receive our first attempts at contact, and we apologize. We will be more than happy to provide you with details regarding your account balance and answer any other questions you may have. You may contact your local store location for balance information or to make payments on your account at any time. Alternatively, you may contact our Customer Service Department at 1-800-900-1656 x 1003 or email us at customer.servicecanada@blockbuster.com.
We look forward to resolving this matter for you as soon as possible.
Best Regards,
Customer Service
Blockbuster Canada
1-800-900-1656
customer.servicecanada@blockbuster.com
November 25th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Wow I’m very impressed with how you handled this Blockbuster. Very impressive use of the internet and turning a negative into a positive. I wish that more companies would follow your example. If you can actually resolve this person’s complaint, I’d be more than happy to post a full story of the account as an example for other corporations to follow. Far to many businesses feel that they have to fight when all people really want is to be heard and treated fairly.
November 30th, 2009 at 10:40 am
I had a very similar problem with Blockbuster back in 1996 in Belleville. They sent me to a collection agency for $12.00 in late fees and made no attempts to contact me with a phone call or invoice. I paid the bill and have never walked inside a Blockbuster since then.
January 15th, 2010 at 10:52 pm
this is just way too funny.
today i’ve received the letter from CBS as well for $11. which i’ve paid already. at the bb location, they’ve told me, they have contacted me number of times, and the headoffice contacted me number of times. unfortunately BB does not realise, some people have a PBX system at home, that has all the call logs, and the BB has called my home # only 2 times, and the call came from the location itself. no other communications from BB did ever occured.
Your policy to send a letter at 45 days and 75 days clearly DOES NOT work, as this is the FIRST written communication i’ve received.
does anyone knows, if BB reports those collections actions to the Credit bureau thus affecting the credit rating?
January 23rd, 2010 at 1:22 am
The same kind of letter was just sent to me…saying I owed a fee of 13.00 when I know that I don’t owe it but the manager at the store says there is no way that they could possibly make a mistake. My advice- Stay away from Blockbuster for movies and use another service. No late fees? Ridiculous! I’ll be following up and advertising to as many people as I can… in a small town that can go a long way to protecting other people from these ridiculous and bogus fines.
March 28th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
we have dealt with blockbuster in kamloops for a number of years a yuong male employee has had my daugter leave the store in tears because of his rude behavour he at times has talked down to me also if he contiunes his behavour i will contact head office and seek his removal form the store /or concel my membership not not contact me or i will cancel my mebership
April 18th, 2010 at 11:56 pm
Woww..apparently I am not the only one having problems with rude behavour with blackbuster’s employees. I am in Montreal. I’ve been a client since even before blockbusters took over the store in Côte-des-neiges corner with Côte-Ste-Catherine. A young fat male employee, was in a very bad mood. Although I was the only client with my son in the store yesterday Satuday around noon he got upset because I was looking into my coupons to get the discount. He came up to telling me he was the manager and he didn’t like clients like me, he even told me I should use my brain, and so many other nasty things. I couldn’t believe my ears. What kind of managers do blockbusters choose? I am very disappointed. The other gay who works there is so kind and human. What a difference with this so called manager and it’s not the first time he behaves like that but this, this is too much.
July 7th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
Just an FYI for all the complainers.. the CBS is just a company they use to produce their letters. The balance will never affect your credit, as stated in the letter (that most customers don’t even read).
As for the ‘no prior contact’, that’s such BS. Automated phone calls are automatically placed to the numbers on your accounts. If you gave a fake number or didn’t update it, that’s your problem not theirs. After two weeks, an employee will phone the number on your account personally. After 45 days you receive a reminder letter. This is plenty of notice. If you don’t bother to answer the phone, then don’t bother complaining.