At the end of November I rented a movie from the Redbox. I received the movie from the Redbox kiosk, slip it in my purse and go home. Later, as I open the case to put the movie in my DVD player, I realized the movie that came out was not the movie that I had selected. Instead of my DVD I received a blue ray disc with a completely different title. I was pretty bummed but I figured I'd call them the next morning.
I did call the next morning and I was on hold for a few minutes. The customer service rep was very polite, apologized for the mistake. He stated it does happen and he would be happy to give me a couple of free codes which was fine with me. He also cautioned me that if I wanted to rent the same movie again that I should rent it before I returned the "wrong" disc so I didn't get the same wrong disc again. Well I ended up just returning the movie since they did not have a movie in the kiosk that I wanted to watch. Surprisingly the movie registered under the correct title and blue ray format when I returned it. Great, or so I thought.
Almost a month later I check my email one morning and there is a new email from Redbox stating that they were charging me $25.68 for the non-return of the movie that I never even got in the first place. Of course I was on the phone with Redbox ASAP when they opened that morning. I again got through to a rep quite quickly. The rep stated that they would give me a one-time courtesy credit of $24.00 but that I still owed them for the 1st night rental of the movie. I thought to myself "one-time courtesy credit", it was Redbox's screw-up not mine, they should credit me irregardless, not as a courtesy. I was told it would take 5-10 days to receive my credit. I was just happy that I would get my money back, and that was how the call ended. I will say I did receive my credit a couple of days later, much faster than anticipated.
Still I wondered had this happened to anyone else so I did a Google search and I was surprised to say the least. According to what I came across I was one of the lucky ones. After everything I read I have not rented since. Some people have been charged, weeks and months after returning a movie or game to redbox. You agree to this in their terms of service when you rent from them. I'm not sure if I will rent again from them or not, I hate "surprises" like charges to my debit card that are incorrect and according to redbox if that should happen again I would not receive a credit since I already received a "one-time courtesy credit".
If I were to rent from them again I would do the following and recommend anyone renting from them do the same.
- Don't use a debit - use a pre-paid or credit card. At least with a credit card you can dispute it. With a pre-paid card you can control how much money is actually on the card.
- Keep track of all your Redbox emails stating returns, charges, etc. in a separate folder or if you use gmail give them all a label, like say "redbox"
- Finally, check your disc's carefully when renting and returning. If there is a problem call the customer service right then and there to try to resolve your problem quickly.
As for now I'll just keep using my Netflix and of course the public library. I'm quite happy with both and can wait a bit longer to see my favorite movies.
