I am sure I am not the only one who returned videos way late or never ever returned a video to a video a store for whatever reason.
I want to hear your stories.
Here's a one of mine for now ( I have plenty more ) :
Back in 87/88 We went to a place called Focus Video. We rented The Untouchables (On New Release / Recent Arrival or whatever you guys call it). For whatever reason we never seemed to get around to returning it. As far as I was concerned I was a kid and it was my Dad's responsibility. Anyway, we decided one night that we wanted to rent a movie so this tied in nicely for returning the Untouchables (only thing is that 1 year had now passed). I remember my old man sliding the video across the counter and sarcastically saying to the video store clerk "Whadda I owe ya?" After a drawn out jiggle on the 80's brick like computer the clerk replied "You're membership has been terminated." It did not matter though cos back in the 80's video stores were everywhere including next door to this video store. We just went there for that one night. Anyway about a week later after being there for years the store that terminated our membership was replaced by another video franchise (Blockbuster Video) so we signed up straight away and carried on like nothing happened. Nothing in the store was even changed as far as how the videos and stands were arranged. The only thing that changed was Blockbuster signage and slightly different deals on video rentals.
[ 20. April 2015, 08:27: Message edited by: Bernie_Lomax ]
Posted by the young warrior (Member # 9554) on :
At my very first video shop Bernie they had a queuing system where you'd put your name down to reserve the most popular titles but you had to wait in line if someone had put there name down prior to yours,you just had to sit tight and be patient.
It wasn't like your big blockbuster stores where they had hundreds of copies of the most popular titles,this store normally had just the 1 or very rarely 2 copies of the same title.
I take it focus video wasn't like this and they had more than 1 copy of the untouchables as I wouldn't have wanted to be the guy next line waiting for your copy to come back in.
I bet he would have thought at this rate it's going to turn up on free to air TV before I ever get round to seeing it!
Bernie Do you reckon focus video probably had to move it from there new arrivals to the classics section when you eventually brought it back in
Fancy getting terminated,you should have said to them in your best Arnie voice "I'll be back"!
[ 21. April 2015, 01:40: Message edited by: the young warrior ]
Posted by Bernie_Lomax (Member # 8571) on :
Yeah, I remember that queuing system. I remember waiting absolutely ages to see White Men Can't Jump back in '92. Usually though when they said that there is 27 people in front of me I just didn't bother. I need instant gratification
Focus did not actually have lots of copies of new releases. Blockbuster seemed to really phase that in over time. I guess my old man just didn't answer the phone when the video store clerk was ringing him off the hook
As for the guy next in queue, I could just imagine him saying to his family, "The guy at the video store says it's gonna be any day now." Perhaps he might have got into bootleg movies in desperation
I believe when we returned The Untouchables it went straight to the old movies bin they try to get rid of. It went from $6 a night to $4 for full ownership All I can say is that we certainly got our money's worth out of that movie
I know when the guy said we had been terminated I felt impending doom setting in but my old man just laughed at the guy and walked us to the video store next door.
Have you got any stories yourself or are you just hanging around this thread for fun? Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
Quite a story, Bernie
In Finland back in the day, they´d probably have called the cops. Renting a tape was really strict business here, you had to give your name and address everytime. It was like this at least in the mid to late 80s. If you didn´t return the tape in time, there was a fine you had to pay.
One rental tape cost around 1000 marks so the store owners really looked after them. Posted by Bernie_Lomax (Member # 8571) on :
That's pretty extreme. Imagine the cops rocking up on your door for returning Gremlins late or doing a 3 to 6 stretch in Sing Sing for not returning Police Academy
Out of all the video stores I have joined (and it's been a lot) you always had to show photo I.D. and all that kind of stuff but law enforcement was never involved. The video store would just send account letters until you either caved in and paid or they just gave up. Usually you would only pay if it was a small amount or it was a prerequisite to you hiring videos again (such as when they spring it on you that you owe money when you are at the counter about to rent some movies). It's like a game (you know you owe money but you act baffled).
I heard almost 10 years back that video stores were going to start adding defaults to people's credit files for not returning videos. I thought I was going to be screwed as I started thinking of all the video stores I had been disloyal to but none of that stuff ever eventuated.
I can't understand why the videos cost so much. Is it that they have to pay more for the video because it is going to be used commercially?
I remember my VCR chewing up Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead back in about 92 or so. They said I was going to have to pay them 100 bucks (pretty extreme price). I said, "If you can prove that it was the fault of my video player and not your tape I will pay, until then it aint gonna happen." Needless to say they never got their money Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
quote:Originally posted by Bernie_Lomax:
I can't understand why the videos cost so much. Is it that they have to pay more for the video because it is going to be used commercially?
Most probably yeah. I think that only the most popular titles cost that much.
But i think that while the rental fee was 30-35 marks/day in those days, storekeepers got their money back pretty easily.
Posted by Bernie_Lomax (Member # 8571) on :
Back in the 80's video stores were swarming with people so yeah they would have cashed in fast. Now, a video store is probably lucky to even get someone walking in.
Sad to say but video stores these days are few and far between and their days are numbered. This is most likely due to legal/illegal downloading of movies and sites like You Tube I guess.
Posted by Fightertown (Member # 7418) on :
When video stores were abundant before Blockbuster and Hollywood Video came to play. Smaller shops would lease multiple copies of new release movies from their suppliers.
Movies were not cheap when purchased. A VHS copy of 'The Professional' would cost more than what a single Blu-Ray copy cost now. If someone had a balance under $500 small claims court/lawyers wouldn't waste their time on it. It's a wash.
Posted by Nostalgic for the '80's (Member # 37454) on :
One of the many reasons I hated video rental stores was because they would make occasionally mistakes re: videos they said I hadn't returned.
I.e., I remember renting "Return of the Jedi" on VHS tape circa 1994 - I returned it promptly, but even after that Blockbuster would contact me for months afterwards saying they didn't have the tape. I eventually straightened it out, but it was a huge hassle while it lasted.
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