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Hollywood Video has a program, called MVP, that allows you to rent unlimited videos for one monthly charge (keeping two at a time) with no due dates. Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Unfortunately, Hollywood Video can't count to 30 and it turns out that their ineptitude can be pretty expensive - for the customer.
We joined the MVP program in July. The program renews every 30 days and the fee is deducted from one's credit card or bank account via debit card. On August 16, the fee was deducted and we enjoyed another 30 days of video membership - except, wait, it wasn't 30 days. It was 29. They deducted the fee again on September 14.
September 14 is the day before payday. I planned on this deduction coming out on September 15 - payday. I didn't have the money to cover the fee, though I did have enough to cover two smaller ones that I'd already planned to be deducted on the 14th. (Some pay periods we cut it a little closer than others and this one was one of the close ones, with every penny planned and accounted for till payday.) Hollywood Video's fee hit first, it caused an overdraft (less than $1.00 but an overdraft nonetheless) so the bank charged us an ISF fee, the next two debits came in (the ones which would've been covered if the Hollywood Video folks could count to 30) and we were charged overdraft fees for those as well. I found the customer service e-mail address and sent an e-mail asking why they'd deducted their fee early (it has yet to be answered).
Friday evening we went into the store to see what had happened and the store manager (who was very nice and as helpful as he was allowed to be) looked up our account and confirmed that yes, HV had made an error and the money shouldn't have been deducted till the 15th. He apologized that he was not allowed to do anything to correct the problem and gave me the phone number to HV customer service.
I called them this afternoon at 4:30 (the phone line is open 8-5 PDT) and was on hold for 25 minutes. I explained the situation and received no help whatsoever. The CS agent on the other end insisted first of all that I was incorrect about the date the August fee came out - I had to keep reminding her that, not only did I have my bank statement on the screen in front of me but the store manager had spent several minutes with us going over the account and had confirmed the date. She then insisted that from August 16 to September 14 was 30 days. I work in a law firm - do you have any idea how many tools we have for figuring out 30 days from any particular date? Paper calendars, date finder wheels, computerized calendars that will count the days for you.... I told her that I was looking at a date finder as we spoke and 30 days from August 16 is, indeed, September 15. According to her, I was wrong.
In the end, I got nowhere, got no satisfaction (I wanted them to refund all the ISF fees caused by their error but would've been happy with a lot less), didn't even get an apology for their error. The CSR insisted until I hung up that HV had made no error - basically implying, though of course not stating, that I couldn't read (my bank statement), the store manager couldn't read (my account history on his computer screen), and neither one of us could count. (It doesn't matter what she keeps insisting, August 16 to September 14 is 29 days. I can't make it come out any differently.)
When I expressed my dissatisfaction with their customer service, the CSR did say she was sorry I felt that way, which was the closest to an apology I got. I suppose some would say - and they'd be right - that if we hadn't cut things so close this pay period, this wouldn't have happened. That's beside the point, though. HV made an error, but won't acknowledge that fact, won't fix it, won't even make an attempt to keep some goodwill with their customers. Who needs it?
So no more Hollywood Video. This isn't a problem for me - I love Netflix. Irish, however, doesn't like Netflix and the HV membership was for his benefit. He's more upset than I am, though, and is in complete agreement with canceling our account. We really shouldn't be spending the extra money anyway, not along with Netflix. That's money that can go elsewhere, like our moving fund.
We joined the MVP program in July. The program renews every 30 days and the fee is deducted from one's credit card or bank account via debit card. On August 16, the fee was deducted and we enjoyed another 30 days of video membership - except, wait, it wasn't 30 days. It was 29. They deducted the fee again on September 14.
September 14 is the day before payday. I planned on this deduction coming out on September 15 - payday. I didn't have the money to cover the fee, though I did have enough to cover two smaller ones that I'd already planned to be deducted on the 14th. (Some pay periods we cut it a little closer than others and this one was one of the close ones, with every penny planned and accounted for till payday.) Hollywood Video's fee hit first, it caused an overdraft (less than $1.00 but an overdraft nonetheless) so the bank charged us an ISF fee, the next two debits came in (the ones which would've been covered if the Hollywood Video folks could count to 30) and we were charged overdraft fees for those as well. I found the customer service e-mail address and sent an e-mail asking why they'd deducted their fee early (it has yet to be answered).
Friday evening we went into the store to see what had happened and the store manager (who was very nice and as helpful as he was allowed to be) looked up our account and confirmed that yes, HV had made an error and the money shouldn't have been deducted till the 15th. He apologized that he was not allowed to do anything to correct the problem and gave me the phone number to HV customer service.
I called them this afternoon at 4:30 (the phone line is open 8-5 PDT) and was on hold for 25 minutes. I explained the situation and received no help whatsoever. The CS agent on the other end insisted first of all that I was incorrect about the date the August fee came out - I had to keep reminding her that, not only did I have my bank statement on the screen in front of me but the store manager had spent several minutes with us going over the account and had confirmed the date. She then insisted that from August 16 to September 14 was 30 days. I work in a law firm - do you have any idea how many tools we have for figuring out 30 days from any particular date? Paper calendars, date finder wheels, computerized calendars that will count the days for you.... I told her that I was looking at a date finder as we spoke and 30 days from August 16 is, indeed, September 15. According to her, I was wrong.
In the end, I got nowhere, got no satisfaction (I wanted them to refund all the ISF fees caused by their error but would've been happy with a lot less), didn't even get an apology for their error. The CSR insisted until I hung up that HV had made no error - basically implying, though of course not stating, that I couldn't read (my bank statement), the store manager couldn't read (my account history on his computer screen), and neither one of us could count. (It doesn't matter what she keeps insisting, August 16 to September 14 is 29 days. I can't make it come out any differently.)
When I expressed my dissatisfaction with their customer service, the CSR did say she was sorry I felt that way, which was the closest to an apology I got. I suppose some would say - and they'd be right - that if we hadn't cut things so close this pay period, this wouldn't have happened. That's beside the point, though. HV made an error, but won't acknowledge that fact, won't fix it, won't even make an attempt to keep some goodwill with their customers. Who needs it?
So no more Hollywood Video. This isn't a problem for me - I love Netflix. Irish, however, doesn't like Netflix and the HV membership was for his benefit. He's more upset than I am, though, and is in complete agreement with canceling our account. We really shouldn't be spending the extra money anyway, not along with Netflix. That's money that can go elsewhere, like our moving fund.
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