My Pocketful of Thoughts

I added another item to my new years resolution, ask more question and send more emails to companies that do not have your questions answered in their Help/Frequently Asked Questions section.  So here’s to #5 on the list.

I love watching movies, all kinds of genre’s catch my attention.  Although which one I watch depends entirely on my mood.  As you know, in the spirit of spending more time with myself, I have rented quite a few dvds in just this past week alone.   I rent from the local redbox machines, which are quite convenient.  For $1.00 you can rent a new released dvd if you’re at the machine bright and early on the Tuesday morning it comes out or with a reservation on their website. When you return it and you happen to be in a different location, its OK, you can return it to another Redbox location.  So Sunday night I rented 3 dvds, went to bring them back on Monday and the machine was full.  If there are not enough slots to hold another dvd the machine says ‘Sorry this machine is full, please bring the dvd to another redbox location’.  So I had the free First Monday coupon code and rented another movie.  Now there was space for 1 more dvd in the machine and returned one.  But then I still had 2 dvds left to return.  As luck would have it, a man and his son rented 2 dvds, enough room for the rest of mine.  I then leave to go to Stop and Shop to run an errand for my mum and I decide since I have my boyfriend’s coupon code that I’d pick up another dvd.  In my head I’m thinking what are the chances of the machine being full again tomorrow.  Well that was wishful thinking!  I went to bring back my two dvds on my way to work in the morning to read FULL… stopped at the Stop and Shop in Shelton, where I thought for certain I could drop it off, NOPE FULL!!!  Stopped at one in the afternoon, FULL!! So I took a look at redbox’s Help section on their website.  They address what happens if it is full, to stop at another location or you can keep it for another day and pay the daily fee.  I did not see what to do if it happens to you two days in a row, so I wrote them a letter.  Like to hear it? Here it goes:

Hi,
I understand that if you cannot return a dvd because the redbox is completely full, and won’t allow you to return a DVD, I am to return the DVD to another location. However, I am having an ongoing issue whenever i go to return a dvd the machine is full, i go to another location and the machine is full.  Sunday I rented three dvds and went to return them on monday…I had to swap out dvds by renting new ones, which is fine whatever, but then I tried returning the ones i got monday night on tuesday, again sorry machine full…SO i kept them an extra night, what’s 2 bucks…but they were already watched…I attempted to return them this morning…again Sorry full, went to the stop n shop in shelton, sorry full, tried again a few minutes ago, sorry full, I am not keeping them another night to be charged another two dollars for dvds i watched on monday night and couldnt return on tuesday because all the machines are full.  I like redbox, i like the fact that new releases come out on tuesdays, i like that its 1.00 to rent, i like that i can return it to another location, I mean how convenient is that….but this is progressively annoying.  Can you please tell me what to do when you’ve gone two days in a row without being able to return your dvds because the machine is full?

thanks in advance
arelis
“If you want to get somewhere you have to know where you want to go and how to get there.  Then never, never, never give up.”

~ Norman Vincent Peale
 

On my way home at another location, FULL!  I finally found a redbox at another Stop and Shop to return my dvds to, and as I inserted them into the machine I had serious thoughts of renting from redbox again.  However, seeing as this was my first run in with full machines after months of renting from them and because of the value it does provide, I’m sure I will.

Most might find that writing an email like that is just a complaining consumer/customer letter that will more than likely be ignored or responded with a “Sorry for you inconvenience”.  This may be true.  However, it also alerts the company in question of a potential ongoing issue that was never brought to their attention.  It also may result in a reimbursement, either in partial or in full.  So in the email give a compliment, what your dilemma is and how you would like it to be resolved, or ask how they would normally handle that situation as they may just not have it posted.  I’d be interested to hear some of your stories from the past and in the future. 

On a happier note, I’ll be adding a “DJrel’s Movie Review” soon so look out for that.