VIDEO RENTAL KIOSKS

[Bo B Bunny]

I love renting movies and the cheaper the better. I will go to the Blockbusters, or sometimes even the library but lately we use the kiosks in the grocery. We don't have any problems with them...... usually. It's cool cause you can return them to ANY of their kiosk locations. IE. Rent from McDonalds and return it to a grocery store kiosk.

Tonight we went to return a movie and it wouldn't accept it. A lady behind me had the same issue. So we put the movie in the little lock box so they can have it, but then we have to phone the company...... HAHAHAHA! Everlasting hold.

So, I emailed them but called again to be sure. Finally I got someone. She asked for my credit card number and the numbers on the back...... uhhhhh NO! A telephone isn't a secure way of giving information like that. They have my name, phone number and address, email address........ I asked for her supervisor. She didn't like that but I got them........ same thing. I said "Fine, who is the highest rank person there?" (it was actually a call center not home phone customer service reps) and when I finally got her she said "no big deal, I found you, I fixed it."......

Now, it's not worth the hassle. I've rented from REDBOX with no problems and now this company seems to have machines down everywhere all the time (The New Release) I hate cheap knockoffs.

 

[TinysMom]

Bo B Bunny wrote:

(it was actually a call center not home phone customer service reps)

Bo - I hate to disappoint you - but I was ALWAYS supposed to state that I was working from a call center - and I always had IM open with a supervisor who could break in on the line and make it sound like they were in the call center with me...

Just wanted to let you know!

:biggrin2:

 

[Bo B Bunny]

That's not disappointing, it's proof I could be right. I didn't think it was a call center and asked. I couldn't imagine it unless there were/are different companies they answer for..... it wouldn't be enough business in my mind.......

 

[Leaf]

When I was in college I worked for a company that employed about 500 people who were hired out to do cold calls for different companies.

I did a two week stint: "Good Morning, this is Leaf calling on behalf of Sun Terra Resorts in Branson Missouri. I'm calling today...."

Three weeks of: " Mr. X, This is Leaf calling on behalf of Wells Fargo Business Bank. We're proud to be able to offer your business a loan..."

Six days of: "Good Morning, this is Leaf calling on behalf of Qwest, the nations 3rd largest long distance provider. I'm calling today to tell you about..."



etc, etc.

 

[mouse_chalk]

I used to work for a market research company doing pretty much the same thing- one week it would be one electric company and the next week it would be another. I can't tell you the number of times I said the wrong company and confused my customers!

I've never quite trusted those machine renting things.... Now I know why! I remember Steve insisting on using them once- he rented the film, didn't have time to watch it in the 2 nights he had it, returned it late and paid a fee lol! I don't allow myself to rent films because the amount I usually pay in late fees would buy me the film to keep twice over

 

[BethM]

I've never tried those kiosk things. I've put a couple video rental places out of business*, then switched to Blockbuster, then skipped directly to Netflix. I'm totally happy with the Netflix service, and their pricing. Before I signed up, it seemed like a hassle to deal with the queue, and the online part, but it's totally easy and awesome.

*I used to rent at a locally owned place called Video Library, for a couple years. Then they went out of business, so I went to Hollywood Video, on the next block, because Jason didn't like Blockbuster. After maybe 6 months, that Hollywood Video went out of business. We went to a different Hollywood Video, because we thought our membership worked at all locations but it didn't, so we signed up for a new membership. Another 6 months, and that location went out of business, too! A few months of Blockbuster, and I got sick of the high prices. I think that was before the kiosk things were around in so many places, so I signed us up for Netflix and haven't looked back since. And their service keeps getting better, with the on-demand movies. Woo-hoo!

 

[TinysMom]

Bo B Bunny wrote:

That's not disappointing, it's proof I could be right. I didn't think it was a call center and asked. I couldn't imagine it unless there were/are different companies they answer for..... it wouldn't be enough business in my mind.......

Bo - you would really be surprised - I hate to tell you - but if you asked - they are SUPPOSED to tell you it is a call center. I wish I had a dollar for every time I was asked if I was in a call center or where I was and my answer was, "I'm in one of our call centers - I'm located in Texas". I once said I was just outside San Antonio, TX and the guy was like, "Have they finished up the construction off exit XYZ?"

Some companies (West comes to mind along with others) have thousands of people working answering phones - but this two hours shift has 5 employees for one line and 8 employees for another line and 75 employees for a third line. The employees get trained on different lines too and get certified - so they might work a 3 hour shift for Sears repair and then later that day work a 2 hour shift for Pizza Hut orders.

Just my .02 ~ because I happen to know that the company who fills those machines w/ videos hires independent contractors to do it (I refuse that job) and they outsource the majority of the work - even the repair line for the reps who work on the machines is outsourced to India or something...

 

[Becknutt]

LOL! I work for The New Release/MovieCube. LOL!!!! The thing with their kiosks is you can NOT return them to a differant kiosk as you can with Redbox. You have to return it to the same kiosk you rented it from. When you drop DVDs in the dropbox, you don't have to call the company like it says. When we pull the dvds out of the drop box (once a week)we return themat -7 days so you actually get credited back and usually end up getting the rentalfree (unless you called them and told them when you returned it, then they charge you that many days)but if you returned it to a differant kiosk than the one you rented it from, we have to send it back to the warehouse and so you would not receive the credit until it arrived there. I know its a pain in the A** and Idon't rent from them mysef...but anyway thats the way they work.

The thing I hate most is the hundreds of redbox dvds I pull out of my machines...


ETA - YES the call centers are outsourced. I refuse to call them, when I have a problem with a machine I just come home and email my contact directly.

 

[naturestee]

Two words: FAMILY VIDEO. Best. Video. Rental. Store. Ever. Blockbuster is crazy expensive in comparison plus Family Video tends to have more "different" videos available. For example, our area has a huge Hmong population so they regularly get new releases from China, Thailand, and other SE Asian mainland countries. Plus they get some Japanese stuff too, like the original Japanese versions ofThe Ring,The Grudge, etc. <3 Japanese horror movies.

I haven't tried Redbox although we just started getting them in Sheboygan. I can walk to Family Video on a nice day and my supervisor works there for extra money and his movie obsessions so I can pick on him.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Becknutt wrote:

LOL! I work for The New Release/MovieCube. LOL!!!! The thing with their kiosks is you can NOT return them to a differant kiosk as you can with Redbox. You have to return it to the same kiosk you rented it from.

REALLY? I guess I've never tried to take them back to a different machine cause that's the only one I really go by..... most are REDBOX. I imagine you get a ton of those!

Do you work on the machine end? or do you answer calls? or something else?

fyi - you have some cruddy call people :biggrin2:

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Peg, my sister works for West.

I need to get a job answering calls for video kiosks or something.

 

[Becknutt]

I DO NOT do calls! No way! I stock the machines with new releases and process the returns. Its win-win for me. I get to watch all of the new movies for free and I get paid to spend 30 minutes a week stockingeach machine.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Oooo I want that job! LOL!

What made things worse was I didn't even like the movie I returned LOL!

 

[mouse_chalk]

Bo B Bunny wrote:

Oooo I want that job! LOL!

What made things worse was I didn't even like the movie I returned LOL!

:laughsmiley:

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Yeah, I returned another one today..... wouldn't take it. I dropped it in the box and didn't phone :biggrin2: