10/10/09

The Insufferable Staff is Getting More Tolerable

by DonnaRhea

It's great that Movie Madness has a policy (official?) to keep a VHS copy of a film if it's no longer on DVD and/or to replace it with a DVD once that is released. With new hires (love the B52s esque lady) there seems to be a better balance of hipster douchebag staff with genuinely nice, down-to-earth people. Daniel is consistently a first class, all-around a**hole - I challenge anybody to give me an example, otherwise. Once my friend went in looking for a film and had a staff member "help" her. Faced with the usual Belmont tude, she asked, "Could you be a little less cool right now?" Best line ever. And one more of us should ask these people.

Personally, if I'm looking for something, I call Clinton St Video first. They charge the same rate but you can keep the titles 2 days longer and I've never once encountered a staff member even a hint as annoying as at Movie Madness.

Oh, yeah, and the skinny blond girl (the shorter, curvier one is very nice) is an absolute killjoy about late fees.

• Pros: seemingly best selection in Portland
• Cons: see headline

05/03/09

Rude staff

by VictorWolf

Firstly, my account was randomly deleted by their system, so I had to sign up again; Minor annoyance. Then, they wanted a $200 deposit for an out-of-print VHS movie. When they swiped my card for the $200 authorization, it sent it into fraud mode (absolutely no fault of my own). After spending 25 minutes chewing out my bank over the phone, I still couldn't get the block removed, so I had to go the ATM for the cash. All said and done, it took a full hour get the movie rented, so I half-jokingly asked them to hook me up with a free movie or something. I mean, account deleted, $200 deposit for a VHS movie, putting my card into fraud mode (major inconvenience)... the least they could have done was give me a free rental credit ($2.50 value) or a frigging piece of licorice.

Instead, they actually had the nerve to imply that I was 'un-cool' and that I had a bad attitude. It was the end of the night, and they were tired, so I suppose they thought that gave them the right to get a little grouchy. Well, guess what guys... I work nearly 60 hours a week between two jobs AND go to college. I work until 11 PM, then get up at 6:30 AM for the next job. I get to hear people shouting over the phone at me, and I treat them like gold. When I'm trying to rent a movie and have a little R&R with my friends, during the precious little time I have off, I don't want to go to hell and back to rent a movie, then be treated rudely. While your selection rocks, Videorama's staff are easily 10x nicer. The employees there are good, quality, laid-back people, and I look forward to seeing them and having a little chat about film every time I go. I don't care how cool you guys think you are, or how fantastic your selection is, learn how to treat your customers! A little red vine can go a long way.

• Pros: Great selection, Neat museum
• Cons: Sub-par service

03/04/09

Customer service from Hell (great movies though if you don't have any problems)

by farreach

Movie Madness is great, I've been a customer for 8 years. The one problem they have is the uber-hip (sarcasm) staff will treat you like you like a criminal if you have a customer service issue such as these two I recently had:

-Late fee query (snowed in and can't return by due date)

-Movie forces software install then crashes on scene 6 if watching on laptop.

The pattern at MM goes like this:

-you calmly state the issue and problem

-you ask for a credit

- the staff person starts out by disproving you

- the staff person then blames you indirectly (argues with you)

-you feel unsupported as the customer and demonized

-you get irritated and maybe raise your tone or swear etc. (annoyed but not aggressive)

-another staff member jumps in to condemn you and make you feel bad.

- you leave unsatisfied and feeling attacked.

-you call the owner and he fixes everything (he's great).

This is the pattern, it has happened exactly the same to me in the past 3 months. I never have any other problems, only when there is some issue.

Movie Madness needs to get out of the dark ages and stop treating customers like Soviet Russia in the 1950's.

• Pros: movie selection
• Cons: staff attitude and lack of training in basic customer service skills