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BlockBuster Total Access - Bait & Switch
Email | 4/18/07 | Thekidster

Posted on 08/18/2007 5:14:07 PM PDT by TheKidster

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To: TheKidster

even after the Blockbuster change to unlimited exchanges via mail and 5 in-store exchanges, you can easily get more than 20 movies per month and it costs less than $20 per month. I don’t know many folks more frugal than me and i don’t intend to complain about this change.


41 posted on 08/18/2007 6:02:46 PM PDT by fatrat
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To: TheKidster

HBO did the same thing years and years ago. They promised the moon for a monthly TV subscription, and delivered a garbage heap.

The ads listed the movies for one month, but didn’t say that the following month you’d only get ONE NEW movie, and have to watch the last month’s movies over again.

They also promised college-level courses. All they put on were two shows, with fourth-grade grammar, and a similar one for math.

Then they were the first TV outfit that introduced X-rated movies. I wrote and cancelled the contract.


42 posted on 08/18/2007 6:07:58 PM PDT by kitkat (I refuse to let the DUers chase me off FR.)
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To: conservativegamer

Thanks for posting the info, I had no idea! Your movie consumption seems to be on par with mine, so I will look for this alternative from now on...Thanks!


43 posted on 08/18/2007 6:08:43 PM PDT by ishabibble (ALL-AMERICAN INFIDEL)
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To: rawcatslyentist

Time/Warner billed us for a special TV sports program at $35 a month to which we NEVER subscribed. I got it straightened out with them, but got billed for the same thing the next month. That’s when they told me that we’d be billed for a total of four months, and WE had to call THEM each time to have it removed from our billing.

I find it hard to believe that they couldn’t remove it from the bill for the whole four months. I mean, they DO have computer people, don’t they? I wonder how many people never realized they were overbilled, and paid it.


44 posted on 08/18/2007 6:16:59 PM PDT by kitkat (I refuse to let the DUers chase me off FR.)
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To: knarf

***Trust me ... you’ll wonder why you sat through so many movies that did nothing for you.***

Knarf, if I were free, I’d be in love with you.


45 posted on 08/18/2007 6:20:29 PM PDT by kitkat (I refuse to let the DUers chase me off FR.)
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To: TheKidster
Published: Saturday, August 18, 2007 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -- Blockbuster Inc's chief operating officer Nicholas Shepherd and its outgoing chief financial officer, Larry Zine, each sold off about 40 per cent of their holdings in the company, according to securities filings made on Friday.

According to a Form 4, Shepherd sold 40.2 per cent, or about 284,000 shares of his Class A Blockbuster stock on Wednesday and Thursday, bringing his remaining holdings to 421,666 shares.

Zine, who announced earlier this year that he will retire in December, sold about 200,000 Class A shares or 46 per cent of his stake on Wednesday and Thursday, according to a separate filing. He now holds 232,278 shares of Class A, the filing showed.

A Blockbuster spokesperson had no immediate comment on the reason for the large sell-offs. Blockbuster shares rose 10 per cent this week, closing up 3.1 per cent at $4.65 on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.

link

46 posted on 08/18/2007 6:21:09 PM PDT by ConservativeofColor
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To: TheKidster
It didn't cost you anything did it? So don't worry about it..........

Check with your local library, they have DVD's you can check out for free.......

47 posted on 08/18/2007 6:21:17 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (Farewell Turd Blossom, ya done good!)
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To: knarf
Trust me ... you'll wonder why you sat through so many movies that did nothing for you.

Ain't that the truth. Sometimes when I movie shows up in the mail, I can't remember why I put it in the queue to begin with. After watching it, I wish I hadn't.

48 posted on 08/18/2007 6:24:34 PM PDT by Tatze (I'm in a state of taglinelessness!)
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To: TheKidster

I don’t rent movies.


49 posted on 08/18/2007 6:28:25 PM PDT by CindyDawg
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To: conservativegamer
I don’t know if anyone has mentioned it yet, but I always use that RedBox service they have in McDonalds and in large grocery stores. They charge a dollar a day, plus tax, for every movie they offer.

Yep. They have those here (Minneapolis) in the grocery stores as well. A nice little deal!

50 posted on 08/18/2007 6:45:12 PM PDT by Lijahsbubbe
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To: villagerjoel

I don’t see what the big deal is.

If you don’t understand the concept of keeping one’s word I guess this wouldn’t make sense.
If they go broke and close stores down that’s not my fault, they should have done the financial and market research necessary to set the price point they set.

I just signed up for this deal a mere few weeks ago, if this came up after a year or 9 months I’d understand.
To push a deal aggressively and then change it a few weeks after they have hooked you in is just plain wrong and a bait & switch scam. A thorough market/financial forecast would include inflation.
They can change thier price, and do whatever the hell they want, they can declare bancrupt and use the company 401K and pension money to fund executive golden parachutes, they can raise the price every single month by $20 but non of that makes it right.

If we as consumers sit back and allow companies to pull this type of bait and switch crap while advertising false promises it won’t end.
I’m sure you’d have no problem with a mechanic agreeing to fix your car for $399 and then charging $499 for the same service when you come in to pick it up.

I for one will not allow myself to be an all day sucker and I’d like to warn others so they won’t be suckered in either.
It’s not communism it’s capitolism.


51 posted on 08/18/2007 6:48:19 PM PDT by TheKidster (you can only trust government to grow, consolidate power and infringe upon your liberties.)
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To: fatrat

even after the Blockbuster change to unlimited exchanges via mail and 5 in-store exchanges, you can easily get more than 20 movies per month and it costs less than $20 per month. I don’t know many folks more frugal than me and i don’t intend to complain about this change.

You are right, but my complaint is more about the principle of the thing. If my choice was what they are changing to me now I may or may not have signed up. They pushed the unlimited thing as the biggest selling point and now a few weeks later they are reducing service but not reducing price. That’s the point that irritates me. It’s just plain dishonest.


52 posted on 08/18/2007 6:53:22 PM PDT by TheKidster (you can only trust government to grow, consolidate power and infringe upon your liberties.)
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To: ConservativeofColor

Insider trading at it’s best!

classic!


53 posted on 08/18/2007 6:55:16 PM PDT by TheKidster (you can only trust government to grow, consolidate power and infringe upon your liberties.)
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To: TheKidster

“If you don’t understand the concept of keeping one’s word I guess this wouldn’t make sense.”

If it was about “keeping one’s word” then it would make sense to me, but I don’t have to read the contract you signed to know that they reserve the right to change the price.

Now if they changed the price without notifying you, or charged you a different price than what you agreed to for services already performed, then I would agree with you.

Under these circumstances, I don’t see what the big deal is.


54 posted on 08/18/2007 7:06:37 PM PDT by villagerjoel (Give me liberty, or give me death!)
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To: TheKidster

Is this really FR material?


55 posted on 08/18/2007 7:11:22 PM PDT by Tamar1973 (Riding the Korean Wave, one BYJ movie at a time! (http://www.byj.co.kr))
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To: TheKidster

Here is a portion of my e-mail.
..............................

The following are the details of your new blockbuster.com plan:

you will receive unlimited movies, you will receive up to 3 DVDs at one time. At the end of the gift period, the members payment card will be charged the rate offered to new members at that time.

-3 month GIFT 3 at a time, Unlimited rents benefitDescription1

The price of your new plan is 53.97 per month.


56 posted on 08/18/2007 7:13:19 PM PDT by denlittle
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To: Tamar1973

50+ posts would indicate a yes.


57 posted on 08/18/2007 7:14:14 PM PDT by TheKidster (you can only trust government to grow, consolidate power and infringe upon your liberties.)
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To: denlittle

OUCH!


58 posted on 08/18/2007 7:15:30 PM PDT by TheKidster (you can only trust government to grow, consolidate power and infringe upon your liberties.)
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To: TheKidster
50+ posts would indicate a yes.

It doesn't belong in News. It belongs in Chat regardless of the number of posts!

59 posted on 08/18/2007 7:19:51 PM PDT by Tamar1973 (Riding the Korean Wave, one BYJ movie at a time! (http://www.byj.co.kr))
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To: TheKidster

They are obviously insane.


60 posted on 08/18/2007 7:20:40 PM PDT by denlittle
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