BLOCKBUSTER Total Access policy change — eliminates due dates, limits “overclocking” the queue

Posted on February 23, 2009 by Anthony K. Valley

I’m a former subscriber to BLOCKBUSTER Total Access and the company emailed update (see below) to me today detailing an impending service change for Total Access.   While I lived near a BLOCKBUSTER retail store, I was drawn to this service for the convenience of dropping the mailed DVDs at the store and picking up a “free” in-store retail.  When executed with precision, especially over a weekend, I could effectively “overclock” my three-at-a-time subscription to six-at-a-time.  Maybe others like me were able to use the system to their advantage and persuade the software to send Tuesday’s new releases out on Monday by returning a DVD in the store on Saturday. Most of the time, I had the new release on new release day which was awesome!

Well, sorry, folks, no more “overclocking” for BLOCKBUSTER Total Access.  Maybe the new release trick still works, though. Try it and see, your mileage may vary.

And here’s the email notification from BLOCKBUSTER:

As of March 2, 2009, there will be no more due dates for your free in-store movie exchanges!

  • In other words, as long as you are an active BLOCKBUSTER Total Access subscriber, you can keep your free in-store exchanges as long as you like from participating BLOCKBUSTER® stores.
  •  In order to eliminate due dates, the free in-store exchange will now count towards the number of DVDs you may have out at a time under your BLOCKBUSTER Total Access plan. Once you’ve returned your in-store exchange, we’ll then ship you the next available movie in your queue.
  • Your free in-store exchanges will now show up on your Queue page and in your Rental History, making it easy to keep track of the movies you’ve rented.

    • As always, you can continue to return your online rentals through the mail or drop them off at the counter of a participating BLOCKBUSTER store to have your next online DVD shipped. 

    BLOCKBUSTER Total Access is the ONLY service that offers online DVD rentals plus the convenience of free in-store exchanges.

    This entry was posted in Media Services. Bookmark the permalink.
    • Angry

      This sucks! I chose Blockbuster over Netflix because I could under one plan always have unviewed DVDs on hand–getting DVDs from the Store while waiting for the next delivery to arrive. By the time the new delivery arrived, i'll be done with the Store DVDs and ready to return them.

      Now they've taken that away. I'm seriously considering quitting Blockbuster!

    • Erica

      I totally agree with Angry. I've been a member for a couple years and that aspect was why I chose BB over Netflix. Now I may have to give Netflix a second look. Blockbuster is going to lose customers over this. Dumb move.

    • http://anthonykvalley.com Anthony K. Valley

      Erica, I left Netflix to join Blockbuster a few years ago because I saw the
      value in the return-to-store option. When I moved from an area with the
      convenience of a Blockbuster store, I went back to Netflix. My only reason
      for being with BB was the ability to return movies to the store, walk out
      with a different one, and having another one shipped from my queue.

      I agree, this was a dumb move for Blockbuster.

      Thanks for commenting!

    • What?

      Blockbuster is totally cutting their own throat on this one. The reason to pay the extra money was to be able to get those three in-store rentals to have something to watch while I was waiting. Why would I bother to pay the extra money now when it's just going to slow my shipping down?

    • Jewels

      I am also angry about this and I just emailed the CEO, the new guy who's making all these changes and told him he just put the last nail in the BB coffin! I am switching to Netflix I am so sick of BB and the policy changes every 6 months! Maybe he will have some kind of miraculous explanation for chasing off all their customers in such a bad economy!

    • http://anthonykvalley.com Anthony K. Valley

      Jewels, Good for you!
      It's important for Blockbuster customers (and soon-to-be-ex-customers) to
      express their disappointment with this service change.