I returned the DVD, Hollywood Video says I did not

TexiKen

I just got something in the mail today from Hollywood Video, a simple piece of paper saying it was a friendly reminder that a DVD I rented last month, For Your Consideration, has yet to be returned.

But I did return it. I rented it the Saturday after it came out on DVD, had it for the 5 days, and returned it on the last in the afternoon.

Now, I rather like this Hollywood Video and have never had a problem with late returns before, so is there anyway to contest this without burning bridges? I am going tomorrow morning to see what I can do, and just would like to know if anyone has had this problem before, as it seems to me it's going to be "he said, she said"

Doc

After working in a rental store through high school, I can say that's it's somewhat likely that they fucked up when scanning in the return, and it's sitting on the shelf in the store.

Feral

Yeah, I've had this problem before a couple times, once with Hollywood and once with Blockbuster.

Both times they were pretty cool. With Blockbuster, they just took my word for it. With Hollywood, they mentioned that they discovered a bunch of DVDs that had been returned to the shelf by an employee without being properly checked in and the date/time I ostensibly returned my movie happened to be on that person's shift.

They should know that mistakes happen and if you have a long history with that location they shouldn't give you any shit about it.

Doc

Also: keep your cool. Yelling or getting aggressive will get you nowhere.

Kyougu

As a current video store employee, I'm going to repeat what's already been said, it's most likely employee error. Before you go into the store and contest it, just make sure you did turn it in, or you didn't turn in the empty case and left the dvd in your player (Happens alot).
If you're positive you turned it in, just go in, and calmly explain how you rent there all the time, how you wouldn't have a reason to keep the movie, and what not. They'll most likely just cancel the movie. If they give you a hard time, you can be an ass and ask them to check the movies on the floor, to make sure it's not sitting there.

Yar

Yeah, the normal route these issue take is to politely explain that your returned it, and if they don't want to accept that, politely insist that they check all copies in the store, becuase that is almost always where it ends up.

TexiKen

So I went today around noon, and spoke with the employee there. We looked for the movie, yet it wasn't there. I explained that I did return it, and have never had a late return since I've been a member. I now have to go back this afternoon to speak with the manager, because the employee couldn't do anything since the DVD is not there.

Basically, everything hinges on the DVD actually being in store. I know it has to be barring someone just taking the movies from the drop off bin or they sold it with their pre-viewed movies before checking it in.

Any advice on where this goes now? I'm willing to pay a late fee if there is no way I can defend myself other than my words (I'm thinking 5 bucks), but I don't want to have to buy the movie.

Thanatos

Talk to the manager. Odds are, if you've been going there for that long without a problem, he'll probably just let it slide.

Shurakai

This happened to me once, though I was because of my personal error. I actually ended up dropping it off at the wrong rental place after a week long rental because the two stores (different companies) used the same outer packaging for thier movies and games (both used The Movie Gallery labels, when one store was Video Update and the other was a Video Headquarters). Probably didnt happen in your case, but just some food for thought.

thej3w

I had that happen to me a long time ago with Hollywood Video. They never budged, man this was prolly like over 10 years ago. They didn't believe me and they accused me of stealing the movie. Needless to say, I just stopped going there after that. A year or two later I got a letter of some sort saying that they found the movie. Yeah, I still never went back there.

The Green Eyed Monster

Just politely insist with the manager that you returned it. Don't threaten to take your business elsewhere, that's just annoying, or pull any of that other needy customer shit. Just explain that you insist that you returned it, and that you would be pretty upset if they couldn't take your word for it, and that you'd like to get the matter resolved as quickly as possible (read: at the moment that you are speaking with the manager). The manager should be able to just return it in the system for you and move on.

Oh -- also possibly was never checked in properly and then moved to the used racks, might want to ask if they checked that as well.

I worked at a Hollywood for a while, if they don't take care of it for you, they're being pricks and you will want to call their regional manager. Don't threaten that, though, unless the manager has absolutely, steadfastly refused to take the movie off your record.

Invisible

This stuff happened all the time when I worked there. If we couldn't find it usually the manager would just tell the customer to buy a cheap used version of the movie and we'd erase the fine and manually enter it as returned. If the manager is a jackass and refuses to help, call the customer hotline. They're pretty good about helping the customers out.

I'm assuming the person working there did this, but they did check all of the movies on the shelf/return counter and completely removed everything from the return box you used, right? If you can get the item number you can check the shelf, just to be sure, and items fall behind the inner drop box all the time.

TexiKen

I went back when the manager was there, and what she said, after doing the whole dvd number check on the wall and other piles produced no results, was that it may come up when they do inventory, which is this week. If they find it, they'll scan it in as returned. She said to come back in the middle of April to see if it was cleared.