Blockbuster’s tiny little asterisk

I have been enjoying a free trial of Blockbuster’s Total Access program for the last three weeks. I know a lot of people prefer Netflix but I’ve always thought it was kind of cool to be able to take a DVD that showed up in my mailbox back to my local Blockbuster to exchange it for an in-store movie. Blockbuster then returns my mailed DVD, lets me keep the newly rented DVD and still proceeds to send the next DVD in my rental queue. Pretty cool.

Well, almost pretty cool.

Today I went in to exchange two mailed DVDs for two new in-store rentals and the woman behind the counter at Blockbuster told me that it would be two dollars and some change for the in-store movies. I kindly explained that I was on the Total Access program and that in-store exchanges were supposed to be free. She acknowledged that but then told me that I had exceeded the in-store exchange limit with my second DVD. What?!?!

Of course, being a techie (and a cheapskate) I immediately did two things. First, I refused the second in-store DVD and walked out with only my freebie. Second, upon returning home, I immediately accessed the Blockbuster web site to see if I could find proof of this in-store exchange limit.

And there it was, the tiny little asterisk followed by some tiny little print. Some plans limit the number of paid or free in-store exchanges per calendar month. And even deeper on the web site, 5 in-store exchanges/mo*.

How could I have missed it? It’s almost as if Blockbuster didn’t want me to notice it. Yeah, that’s sarcasm folks.