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I owe Blockbuster a movie from 1998...
Drez
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I still have the original DVD version of Pulp Fiction from Blockbuster way before any of the Special Editions were even released. I'm about 10 years late in returning this.
Assuming I want to repair my relationship with Blockbuster, what would be the best way to approach this situation? Should I assume I'm still in their system? Should I go and pretend I'm a new customer? Should I bring the DVD and explain that it entered a time vortex and I couldn't find it for such a long time?
Assuming I want to repair my relationship with Blockbuster, what would be the best way to approach this situation? Should I assume I'm still in their system? Should I go and pretend I'm a new customer? Should I bring the DVD and explain that it entered a time vortex and I couldn't find it for such a long time?
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Only then can you get away with this crime
IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
In fact, ive known bank managers to withhold forclosure on the basis that the gent behind wears a hat, which is as thus
No, seriously.
If you do go in and they know about the movie for some reason you can just say you did indeed return it. There is literally nothing they can do. Movies don't get checked in all the time (I'd seriously see it happen every day).
It would have been awesome if instead of pulp fiction is was a porno.
Only if he wears a zach morris t-shirt, sports a mullet like AC and when he arrives on the doors opening he says, and i quote
"Wow, i was saved by the bell"
All transgressions would be removed by the awesome
Haha saved by the bell...
He'd have to wear air jordans, and have a walkman though. 90's aren't complete with out a walkman....man...
All points considered i believe this, or my prior hat option, to be the only logical, sensible and sexual means of leaving without a fine
As a former Blockbuster employee, I know that they "write off" these sorts of things very soon after they become late for an extended period of time. If they can, they will try to pursue the person and get them to pay for the cost of the DVD. But if they can't contact them, they just write it off.
Odds are it was written off 9 1/2 years ago.
That doesn't mean it won't come up if you go back with that account, but it DOES mean that you'll only have to pay for the retail price of the DVD.
Now, the other less well known thing about Blockbuster is that their system is only pseudocentralized. Individual Blockbuster locations only pull information from each other on an as needed basis. There's a chance that, if you go to a different location, they won't even know you had something outstanding at the other one... especially after this many years. But again, even if it did happen to grab the information from the other store (maybe because the original store had issued a flag on your account for it), the most you'd have to pay if I remember correctly is the retail cost of the DVD.
EDIT:
Also, if you start a new account, they will never, ever, ever be able to find your old one. Unless they upgraded their system in every store around the country.
Which they haven't. I went to a Blockbuster a month ago or so, and they're still using that old pre-Windows POS (the same one they've been using for going on two decades now). Because of the fact that the stores can only directly communicate with each other if the account code being used matches another store, if you make a new account at a different store that old account will never be found.
Because account information is stored at the store you created it in, and accessed only on an as-needed basis from other stores (i.e. when you present another store your card. It basically dials into that other store's server, pulls your data and stores it locally so it can use it), there's no way that your old account can be found at a store as long as you never used your old account number there... and even then, I don't think they cross-check, but I could be mistaken.
Just to note, the account numbers are as such:
2XXXXXYYYYY
2 = If I remember correctly, the 2 is a code identifier. It's been a long time since I worked there though, it may be part of the store code.
XXXXX = Store Code
YYYYY = Account Code within the store
If your delinquent account (which may not even be delinquent anymore, or may not even exist it's been so long) was at store 01234, and you make a new account at store 55555, store 55555 would have to check the records of every other decentralized store in the entire nation to find a match. They do NOT do that, for obvious reasons. So store 01234's account would never be found again, and it's as if you never existed with them.
I don't know if it'll find you if you try it at the exact same store though.
TL;DR
Make a new account at a store you've never been to before, and no one will ever know your old account existed due to Blockbuster's uber antiquated decentralized system.
OR
Use your old card, they may or may not see a flag on your account, and if they do you'll have to pay the cost for the movie.
Fun Fact: This old decentralized system is also the reason why a given Blockbuster location can't look up your account info if you've lost your card and you've never been to that specific location before. Without a centralized system, they either have to call a location that DOES have your info (one you've been to before) and have them read you the number so that their system can pull your information with said number, or they have to create a new account for you. I know a lot of people got frustrated with that when I was working there, but in this case it genuinely is the system's fault.
That may have just been in California though now that I think about that... anyone work in Blockbuster in a different state? California has a robust set of consumer protection laws, which may be why they can't charge more than the cost of the DVD there for late fees... so it may not be true in other parts of the country.
Also, this was quite a few years ago, my memory's pretty hazy on it. I may not be remembering this correctly.
I actually think at that point, it would be better for you to just call them directly, give them your account number, and ask how much you owe, and bring up the fact that you JUST found the DVD and you feel like a complete idiot for not returning it, and that you never realized you still had it. If it's too much, you can decide from there.
As for which advice I chose; I've decided to legally change my name and die my hair green. It seemed easiest.
But really, just bring it to them.. It's not like they'll arrest you.
Ah, cool. Then it's probably already been resolved and Drez doesn't even know
Huh... I wonder if Hollywood has the same policy. I have a uh... $30 late fee that's several years old. I never recieved anything about collections, but still live at the same address. I have Netflix, so it's not a big issue, but I do occassionally want to rent a game or something on the spur of the moment.
Actually, though the UI for the system still looks like a DOS shell, it has been updated extensively. Assuming the same system is being used in the States, the customer index is cross referenced with a persons ID/license number. The old account will come up unless you've changed provinces/states and have a new number, or if the home store for your account no longer exists (which means the store code will be invalid).
BBV USA and BBV Canada are a little different when it comes to delinquent balances, but in Canada we really wouldn't care and would just tell you to keep the movie. Any fees would have been already sent to collections ages ago, and checking in known shrink just makes matters worse.
Also, I really like BBVs point of sale system. And it does get updated all the time.
EDIT: Customer accounts at BBV Canada are dropped from the local database after 9 months of being inactive. They can still be pulled back down from the central database in Toronto using the account's number, or the primary card holders ID/license number, just FYI.
That must've been a monumental undertaking given their horrible distributed system concept they were using for so many years. Yikes. I'd hate to have been on the dev team that was assigned to figuring out how to make that happen for every store in the country without having everything grind to a standstill for a day or more.
Just drop it in the return slot.