anyone ever have this problem and what did they do about it?

I got a letter from a colection agency yesterday saying I owed sixty something in charges. I called blockbuster and they said I never returned the Lion King, Matchpoint, and some other kids movie. Im upset because I wasn't ever notified that I had a late movies (no phone call or postcard thingy), I am 22 and have no kids so I don't rent kids movies, and each time I try calling up there the manager is never there.

1/25/2007 9:24:15 AM

is matchpoint any good?

1/25/2007 9:26:03 AM

Know your rights if debt collectors call you
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/fdc.htm

ABC News - Debt Collectors Gone Wild
Shocking audio tapes reveal how some debt collectors go about their business.
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2806176

1/25/2007 9:27:07 AM

i got one the other day as well...I also never received a call from Blockbuster. But, I did have the movies sitting in my collection sooooo

creditors 1
LK 0

1/25/2007 9:31:53 AM

Will they send a $1.25 charge to collections?

1/25/2007 9:56:25 AM

they are supposed to send you a late notice in the mail before sending over to collections

they also HAVE to prove the debt with dates and a paper trail...they have to provide this information to you in writing

i used to work in debt collection and i hated it

[Edited on January 25, 2007 at 10:04 AM. Reason : lj]

1/25/2007 10:04:39 AM

I got late fee scammed a long time ago. Back in the day Blockbuster had a return by 12:00 midnight policy. One day they changed the policy to 12:00 noon. They didn't advertise that fact, they just kept saying "be sure to return the movies by 12 o' clock Monday". I returned a video one afternoon and get hit with a late fee. Rather than argue I just decided to pay the fee... and never go back to BB again. And I haven't.

[Edited on January 25, 2007 at 10:07 AM. Reason : -]

1/25/2007 10:06:43 AM

so jen you don't have the movies? I would just go in there and raise hell about it...honestly. If you have your Blockbuster card and there is no one else on your account then blame it on them.

1/25/2007 10:22:45 AM

^Or, you could be calm and polite to them and they might actually believe you and want to help you.

1/25/2007 1:10:08 PM

I second actually going into the store, and speaking to someone. usually on the phone they just keep passing the buck until the person you 'need to speak to' conveniently isnt there.

I've had problems with them saying that I had rented movies that I didnt. I usually went in there and talked to someone and they sorted it out, saying that I had been called by mistake.

-my thing was that I DID get the phone call automatic thing that said I had some late charges or whatever, and I hadn't rented a movie from them in about 6 months. They cleared it up. I did have to go down there in person though, no one would do anything for me when I tried to talk to them over the phone.

1/25/2007 1:22:18 PM

HOW TO GET OUT OF CHARGES!

I used to work for blockbuster for the 3 months of pure stupidity I had in highschool. It is SO FUCKING EASY to get out of charges it's not funny.

Step 1:
Go to the branch that claims you didn't return the movie

Step 2:
Ask to speak to the manager. If he's not there (usually not since blockbuster doesn't know the first thing about employee retention). ask for the asst manager. These are typically college graduates or lifelong (literally) college people. They are usually nice guys who just want to help.

Show them the letter. Explain that you did return them into their return box (which in most situations is no longer there) and that you want them to search the shelves for that specific ID.

NINE TIMES out of 10... if you DID return it, it's on the shelf. Trust me on this one. The people that work at blockbuster are NOT your smartest joes. They are slackers or chicks that parents made get a job.

Step 3:
If they still can't find it ask them why they didn't notify you. Ask them what your address information is in the computer. If your address is correct raise absolute HELL about that they didn't send you a notice.

BLOCKBUSTER DOES NOT SEND NOTICES. THEY CALL YOU and that's it. Never ONCE when I was doing the call thing did I ever have to mail anyone shit. They DONT MAIL CRAP. There is NO tracking mechanism except a notebook they fill stuff in.

Step 4:
Try to convince them it is a huge huge mistake on their part and that you honestly returned them and they are ion the wrong. At this point 90% of all people will cave in just to get you out the fucking store.

Step 5:
If they are damned and determined to get you to pay (and you know you have those movies at home or forgot to return them) offer half. Otherwise ask for the district office number and CALL IT IN THE STORE. Ask to speak to the district manager. Leave a message if they don't answer. Blockbuster requires them to communicated with any customer within 2 business days. If they don't, call back the number and ask for the regional office number. Do not speak with the lady/man... just demand the regional office number. Leave a message that the district manager didn't feel it important enough to call you back so you're leaving a one chance message. CAll me or I'm calling the local news.

Blockbuster has been sued so many times and LOST EVERY SINGLE CASE about this kind of crap they don't even try to fight you.

So lets talk time spent...

Time Required to get out of charges
Best Case: 10 minutes
Worst Case: 2 Hours total.

Average movie = $20 (bullshit blockbuster value).

So worst case... take the # of movies you are "accused of stealing" and multiply that by $20. Now divide that by 2. That's how much money you saved per hour.

I know this works because I had to do it with the fuckers at Mission Valley. Some cock rocket used my card to get 6 video games and didn't return them. It turns out the asshole used a stolen credit card that didn't even have my name on it. Total time fighting this was 2 hours. I also included the phone number of WRAL just to make sure they knew I wasn't bluffing.

I had those items removed and 2 free rentals added to my account. Don't fuck with Raige.

1/25/2007 1:38:23 PM

^She didn't rent the movies in the first place.

And how long ago was it that you went Blockbuster? Because they do send out postcards now and have been for over half a decade.

Jen, this same thing happened to me, but we weren't reported to an agency. It sounds like they just reported the wrong person to the collection agency. I'd check up on that first.

When it happened to us, my dad told him we didn't rent the movies. The punk claimed he had a tape of us renting them. My dad said he wanted to see it. Punk made up an excuse. We left and never went back. They never contacted us again.

[Edited on January 25, 2007 at 2:38 PM. Reason : sss]

1/25/2007 2:37:03 PM

Quote :

"Because they do send out postcards "

umm yeah, i have gotten them sent to my parents house plenty of times

1/25/2007 3:14:42 PM

From BobbyDigital's link:

Quote :

"May a debt collector continue to contact you if you believe you do not owe money? A collector may not contact you if, within 30 days after you receive the written notice, you send the collection agency a letter stating you do not owe money. However, a collector can renew collection activities if you are sent proof of the debt, such as a copy of a bill for the amount owed."

SEND THIS LETTER and make sure that you use certified mail so that you have proof that they received the letter. Phone calls don't count. If you do not send the letter, the collection agency will assume that it is in fact you that owes the money.

1/25/2007 4:13:35 PM

call the collection agency and tell them about it. they will drop it like that (snap of finger)

1/25/2007 8:22:12 PM

Considering you never rented the movies, I'd ask for a history of rentals on the account and figure out when they were rented, where they were rented from, etc. etc. This could be something small where an honest cashier had to manually enter a card number, screwed up, and somebody took advantage of it. Could be a larger case of identity theft for you.

Basically, build up your case with as much information as possible before you go talk to somebody about it. More time researching upfront means less visits / phone calls to resolve.the situation. Usually also means a quicker resolution.

1/25/2007 9:43:12 PM

you may have someone fraudulently using your ID info to rent movies.

1/25/2007 9:48:23 PM

i had something like this happen to me, some guys movies got put on my card.... had to bitch....

i dont think it fucked up my credit tho....

1/26/2007 8:28:40 AM

i had a completely different issue. i had someone else return a movie and they put it in the wrong blockbusters drop box. i didnt know this until i tried to rent a movie weeks later and they said i hadnt returned the last one.

normally this isnt an issue. i was informed they just call up the other branch and then send it over and you dont get penalized (i asked if returning it to the wrong place might have been the problem and she said no because of the outlined procedure).

so i went to mission valley and asked if they had any videos from the garner bbuster. a quick search provided the answer "no." i went back to garner and explained that the person who returned it ONLY did that on their trip out, no eating, no shopping, nothing (and had admitted they had returned it to mission valley). the manager at garner insisted that i had just misplaced it. a few nasty calls later (the most effective being by my girlfriends mother, embarrassingly enough) and it turns out mission valley had it stashed deep under the counter somewhere and just hadnt bothered to look well enough.

that bitch at garner asked if i had "found it in the car or something" when i strolled in later that day, movie in hand. i was sure to let her know what a bunch of dumbasses both she and the mission valley ppl were.

[Edited on January 26, 2007 at 8:41 AM. Reason : .]

1/26/2007 8:40:52 AM