Comments on: Say goodbye to Blockbuster

With poor results, Blockbuster looks like a company on life support. And according to Don Reisinger, it's time to pull the plug.

[_T.]

I hope you're wrong...

I had NetFlix for over 3 years, and while I didn't have a problem with their service, I found the deal at Blockbuster to be considerably more compelling. For about the same amount of money (~$20/month), I have the convenience of turning in my videos for new ones at my neighborhood brick and mortar store, and I also get a coupon each month for a free game/video rental. I use this coupon strictly for games, which is about an $8 value, and offsets over 1/3 the cost of my monthly membership. This deal is absolutely worth it to me - mega-conglomorate or not.

[Nizzuts]

heh - how's that working out for you now? Didn't they recently limit your swaps, take away your eCoupon and raise your rates. Yeah - so compelling.

[jgilliam1955]

Blockbuster bad decision

[jgilliam1955]

Blockbuster bad decision

Blockbuster has decided to only carry Blue-ray & not both types. Why **** off the ones with HD? Think I'll go down & cancel my membership. I haven't been back since I discovered Netflix & Redbox.
Change is good!

[GothamCityGeek]

Let me help them pack!

Blockbuster had a great idea once and never looked back. But customer needs change and businesses need to look ahead. Look how many years it took Blockbuster just to adjust the shelving displays so we could read the movie titles left to right instead of walking around with our heads tilted to the side like clumsy zombies in an open-air library. After the world had gone DVD, the stores remained 90% VHS, eventually and begrudgingly making the switch. Netflix offered a new idea, and has definitely had some snags along the way, especially with figuring out how to deal with high-volume rippers, but at least they offerd a service that considered the customer. They got the industry thinking. Once the content providers (cable, fios, online) enable on demand high-def capability for all programming (tv, movies, independent), Blockbuster will be a footnote.

[sonsos]

Bye Bye Blockbuster

Blockbuster deserves everything it has been experiencing because it is run by a really outdated management style where they bully their employees into shoving promos in the customers face. Coming from an ex employee stand point Blockbuster has been digging themselves into a hole for a really long time and have just been sloppy in their attempt to find a fix. While their rental programs worked enough to compete with netflix Blockbuster was basically giving everything away to supposedly crush netflix. I actually subscribe to netflix just to be one more person on the netflix boat. Blockbuster has marred their image by alienating customers and creating robot employees who's only goal is to sell 30 online memberships in a 4hour shift and not to make the customer happy.

[Rompwomp]

This post is absolute garbage

do you have any idea what BBi's financial condition is? this post was made by someone who has no idea what financial analysis is. it reeks of some chump day trader who is short bbi stock. get a clue.

[satish rao]

They were arrogant

I remember the day when I left the store angry and dejected. I was thinking, I wish they shutdown and be finished as a company.
These guys were so arrogant while charging the customers and downright ruthless on the late fees.
Thinking now, I do not wish the company to close down, but hopefully they will be able to survive and learn that customer is the king, you can go only so far by considering them to be insignificant.
Learn and Live BlockBuster.

[mikel1049]

But how do you really feel?

I left Netflix a few years ago because I was sick of having to plan my movie rentals in advance. I wanted the ability to decide what I wanted to watch the night I wanted to watch it. BB Online offered me the best of both worlds and still does. Comparing my experience with the two, I can't figure out why so many people stick with Netflix. Netflix has a slightly better selection of indie movies and the video download feature is cool. But BB, Netflix, and the dinosaurs will ultimately share a common fate thanks to the telecom giants Verizon and AT&T. It's just a matter of time before they go beyond pay-per-view and start competing head-to-head with BB and Netflix. Once their FiOS and U-verse networks are available in all, or most, major urban areas, any remaining video rental services will be confined to a steadily shrinking population without access to these super high speed networks.

[chat6196]

Don's "facts" are incorrect...

Don,

Blockbuster recently purchased the Movielink download service, so it is only a matter of time before they begin combining downloads with their current offerings.

Second, exchanging DVDs in their stores is very convenient when you run out even with the best planning (I watch a DVD a night). Though Blockbuster recently did decrease the power of this program by putting a quota on how many DVDs a subscriber can exchange, 5 DVDs per month is still a very good deal and more than enough for most people as their own research likely indicated.

I could go on, but I do not have time. The fact is consumers love competition as we benefit. If Blockbuster was to ever go out of business, you will see Netflix adopt policies of monopolies as it will no longer have to compete for customers.

[dallasskins]

More half truths

Lot of half truths here. Blockbuster gives you a week after the movie is due back and than charges your account the cost of the movie - the cost of the rental. If you return the movie within a month they credit back the cost of the movie and only charge you a $1.25 restocking fee. Trust me this is killing them. The whole time your holding the movie they are unable to make any revenue off of it. A month is plenty of times to return a movie. It is not five days later.

Also total access is a much better deal than netflix with the free returns to the store plus the free coupon for either a game or a movie, and with Movie Link you will soon be able to download from site.

Also you can rent HD and BLUE RAY both from the website, just not in the stores. If HD becomes more popular (and with new prices of $99 a player it might) it will be back in stores soon, but it was cost prohibitive to have both at this time.

[ralston6000]

Blockbuster is here to stay. Who is this guy?.. making such grand proclamations. Very funny, really. 2 years before it goes under? NO analyst has predicted this ever. For AT LEAST the next five years, brick and mortar stores will still be in demand. That's a fact. And Blockbuster not only has the best online movie rental program with Total Access but they also also have online downloads and supermarket kiosks to compete with Netflix, Vongo and Redbox. How pro-active is that? I will say that their online search is not good and this needs to be revamped. Try looking for new Horror releases by "release date" and you will only get one 2007 release. But Blockbuster Online is 1000 times better than Netflix.

[KillerG1]

ralston6000 ur nuts!

They just raised their fee for total access ten bucks. I had Netflix went to BB and now will go back to Netflix, plus Netflix has online downloads. BB will be a year to two years behind and will lose even more market share do to this. Did you read the stock price? It will be a penny stock here soon. Get of the BB band wagon. Let me guess you?re 50 or older and believe that green backs will be the money we will use forever. Times change and large corporations that have old hard line business people who force there business practice on the market and refuse to change to customer will. Well they will always lose as there too big to turn their bloated sinking ship.

[KillerG1]

OMG You people who believe BB will survive are insane. Have you looked at the stock price over time? Have seen that they will be a year to two years behind on downloadable content? BB business practices in the past and current is and will kill them. I don't care who survives, but it will not be BB. They are to big and to arrogant. I used BB then Netflix and now back to Netflix after a ten dollar increase with No notta nothing in any new service future or perk for this extra ten bucks. So for all you BB fans can you really tell me that if any company charges you ten more dollars for the same service you won?t look elsewhere for that service? I e-mailed them and their response was the increase was to satisfy their shareholder. I could give a rat?s ass about the shareholder. Provide a competitive price point with better service than the competition and I would stay, that would satisfy their shareholders. This is not the case total access is now twice the cost for the same service as their competitors. And to the people talking about brick and mortar....these are not assets they are pure overhead that their main competitors do not have or will have

[madeserto]

I tried out Blockbuster's new offer to pre-order video games. I have pre-ordered alot of games in my time from gamestop and have never had a problem. Blockbuster failed their test, and in result of not getting the game through them, it will be on back order for weeks and I will get it late. Im not trying to whine here, but for god sakes a company that is in shamble's should represent it self a little better. Very dissapointed iv already got my subscription to netflix, as the merge with Tivo seems to be alot better than anything Blockbuster can pull out of their hat! praise Netflix!

[madeserto]

I tried out Blockbuster's new offer to pre-order video games. I have pre-ordered alot of games in my time from gamestop and have never had a problem. Blockbuster failed their test, and in result of not getting the game through them, it will be on back order for weeks and I will get it late. Im not trying to whine here, but for god sakes a company that is in shamble's should represent it self a little better. Very dissapointed iv already got my subscription to netflix, as the merge with Tivo seems to be alot better than anything Blockbuster can pull out of their hat! praise Netflix!

[milesf12185]

Honestly, I did not read through all of the comments and i'm sure there are a mixture of good and bad for Blockbuster. However, what I found humorous was the writer's problem with late fees. Considering Blockbuster hasn't had late fees in about 3 years now, it's actual called a restocking fee, which is actually A LOT better than a late fee. Apparently he like most customers of Blockbuster have apparently forgotten how much late fees really were. Where as now if you keep a movie or game for up to a month you are only charged an extra dollar something. True different states have different things going on, since apparently people were too confused on being charged a dollar something extra for keeping a rental that long.

Blockbuster wouldn't have so many problems if it weren't for people keeping movies and tearing them up and then turning around and complaing wanting free stuff constantly and then complain about a restocking fee. Netflix won't put Blockbuster out of business since it's a flat market for online rentals, downloading and these new red box vending machines will help give more options than just the local rental store. Blockbuster tried to help make renting easier for customers, but without any kind of penalty for keeping a movie way over it's due date how do you expect Blockbuster to get their product back?!

I feel sorry for the writers who waste their time writing about a company that apparently was too complex for them to understand such as, walking into the local store, finding a movie they wanted to watch, handing a blockbuster card and money to the cashier, then taking it home watching it and returning it in a timely manner. WOW! such a difficult process isn't it?

[Ellemax]

2 years? Really? Are you so sure about that blogger? I believe this was posted in 07... it is now 09. Wow... time surely does fly! Personally, I love BB. Its manageable, and much more helpful to have someone there to talk to you and tell you if a movie sucked, rather than paying for one that no one told you was ******. Take Max Payne for example. That movie blew. An employee told me so, so I didnt rent it. A friend of mine didnt listen and rented it and confirmed the employees opinion. A waste of money. Unfortunately, had you gotten it through Netflix, you would have to wait days to turn that piece of garbage in and get a new movie. If you live in a farming area with no people around, or out in the sticks where there arent any humans for 20 or 30 miles, then go for gold and get Netflix but seriously, if you live in any town, BB is the way to go. The movie pass is best because you can just come in and get a new movie over and over again and only pay 30 a month. If you do the math, if you rent more than 6 movies in a month... you have saved yourself a dollar... 7 movies, $6, 8 movies, $10. I know people who are in and out of blockbuster almost twice a day, everyday. So lets see if we can figure out the math here. 2 movies a day every day for a month would be about $315 they would spend if they didnt opt to pay 30 dollars and get unlimited returns. I think that is pretty good for a company that should be going under. No late fees if you are a decent, responsible human being. For those of you who get the one week rentals and STILL need that extra week to turn it back in, you are pathetic. For the rest of my BB enthusiasts out there! Keep on Rockin the Block!

~Elle

[Ellemax]

2 years? Really? Are you so sure about that blogger? I believe this was posted in 07... it is now 09. Wow... time surely does fly! Personally, I love BB. Its manageable, and much more helpful to have someone there to talk to you and tell you if a movie sucked, rather than paying for one that no one told you was bad. Take Max Payne for example. That movie blew. An employee told me so, so I didnt rent it. A friend of mine didnt listen and rented it and confirmed the employees opinion. A waste of money. Unfortunately, had you gotten it through Netflix, you would have to wait days to turn that piece of garbage in and get a new movie. If you live in a farming area with no people around, or out in the sticks where there arent any humans for 20 or 30 miles, then go for gold and get Netflix but seriously, if you live in any town, BB is the way to go. The movie pass is best because you can just come in and get a new movie over and over again and only pay 30 a month. If you do the math, if you rent more than 6 movies in a month... you have saved yourself a dollar... 7 movies, $6, 8 movies, $10. I know people who are in and out of blockbuster almost twice a day, everyday. So lets see if we can figure out the math here. 2 movies a day every day for a month would be about $315 they would spend if they didnt opt to pay 30 dollars and get unlimited returns. I think that is pretty good for a company that should be going under. No late fees if you are a decent, responsible human being. For those of you who get the one week rentals and STILL need that extra week to turn it back in, you are pathetic. For the rest of my BB enthusiasts out there! Keep on Rockin the Block!

~Elle

[piddy26]

I've been a Blockbuster Employee for almost 8 Years now and ive seen my shares of the changes that have gone through blockbuster...from management changes to let go of employees that have been with the company 12 years or more...and why have they stayed long as much as i have..because the dedication to the customers...i know that Blockbuster as a Company isn't perfect and as updated as Netflix, Redbox, and the others...but one thing that ive taken in more that means much to me as anything is the satisfaction of customers that ive taken cared of in my 8 years..They are like my extended family and friends that recognize me even when im off work....they're always the ones who just come to me for movie advice since i give my honest truth on whats going on with certain movies and new upcoming ones for them to look out for. Blockbuster is also where i got to know everyone and anyone that lives around my block and Im happy to see them every chance i get. They always ask me why i havent become a store manager for blockbuster since ive been with them for a long time...i tell them i can become one but choose not to because I know that although the pay may be more as a store manager but knowing previous store managers from the years before its not all as they say it is...thats why i didnt become even an ASM....Regional managers have also changed over the years as well. Our current District Leader has been a former Best Buy district manager and to me he seems to be a nice guy but ive heard otherwise about him. There are however 2 Blockbuster stores that are closing that are nearby my neighborhood due to Landlords raising the leases to the buildings that needed some real attention yet they chose not to help and fix the buildings so that it can last a bit longer for the buisness to run. In closing i know nowadays its really hard to find a job at the state that were in but ill keep working for blockbuster no matter what ups and or downs this company has been going through...and even if so that the end may be near at some point in time at least i know that i have been able to make alot of lasting memories with customers as well as fellow employees for as long as i have. To the supporters of Blockbuster i say Thank You for all your support,,,to the ones who were former Customers i dont blame you for changing or switching to other brands it happens but i have to thank you guys as well for at least being a part of my life as an employee and friend. Heres to movies...the cenimatic escape to lifes problems and to the enjoyment of life with the warm glow of our HD TVs and Home Entertainment Theaters...!!!!!

[dlmvegas]

All I can say is GOOD. I hope it's only 6 months before they go under. I have had nothing but problems with these jerks. No matter what problem your having them, customer service seem to have an excuse for everything. It always seems to be the customers fault. The latest change of policy has now turned me off for good. You could exchange your online rentals for store rentals and still receive online rentals. Now they've changed the policy so that if you exchange for in-store movies they don't ship you anything from your online queue until you return the in-store movies. Another downgrade in service for your dollar. If they had left their online rental program the same as it initially was they might be doing a lot better. Has anyone ever checked into a class action suit against Blockbuster?

I use to have Netflix. They are just as bad as Blockbuster. Both will throttle you and slow down the number of movies you receive. Trouble is, if Blockbuster goes under Netflix will screw everyone since they will be the big monopoly.

[dlmvegas]

All I can say is GOOD. I hope it's only 6 months before they go under. I have had nothing but problems with these jerks. No matter what problem your having, customer service seem to have an excuse for everything. It always seems to be the customers fault. The latest change of policy has now turned me off for good. You could exchange your online rentals for store rentals and still receive online rentals. Now they've changed the policy so that if you exchange for in-store movies they don't ship you anything from your online queue until you return the in-store movies. Another downgrade in service for your dollar. If they had left their online rental program the same as it initially was they might be doing a lot better. Has anyone ever checked into a class action suit against Blockbuster?

I use to have Netflix. They are just as bad as Blockbuster. Both will throttle you and slow down the number of movies you receive. Trouble is, if Blockbuster goes under Netflix will screw everyone since they will be the big monopoly.