BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Cocktails RedBox 'free' promos not free at allThe

I'm trying to become the newest, happiest customer at RedBox. That's who I thought I was until this morning.

RedBox offers a 'free' movie rental to anyone who rents / reserves their 'first' movie online. There are two false elements to that statement.

First, I was forced to pay full price for the first video rental. Seems the 'free' promo works only AFTER the first rental.

Second, I thought I used the 'free' promo code to rent / reserve the second movie. That proved false, too.

The final balance due on the promo rental was $0.00 when I reserved online. I wasn't asked to pay anything when I picked up the movie yesterday, either. Sweet, huh?

However, today, I discover my checking account is short the full price of my 'free' movie rental. After about an hour on the phone, I learned that when you use their 'free' promo codes, they automatically charge you for a SECOND night of movie rental, assuming you won't return the movie in a timely manner. In other words, yesterday I unwittingly paid for the movie I won't have in my possession tonight.

After repeated attempts to understand what's legal about forcing someone, without knowledge or consent, to pay full price for a 'free' promo, they hung up on me. I spoke to three people about the problem and no one seemed concerned at all about truth in advertising, fraud, or consumer protection laws.

Am I the only one having problems with this?

Sandy, no, you are not the only person who has been scammed by Redbox. Go to the Ripoff Report and search RedBox. I think you'll find a lot of soul mates.

You might report the fraud to your state's Attorney General's office. Or you could report them to an investigative service run by a TV station. It just depends on how irritated that you are by their "free" promo.

Thanks for that advice, Connie. I've been feeling like a real . . . jerk since getting so angry with their deception. If they'd offered full disclosure from the get go, there'd be no reason for me to be annoyed with them. But, instead, I feel like they lied about the 'first' rental as well as the 'free' rental. What creeps!

"RedBox offers a 'free' movie rental to anyone who rents / reserves their 'first' movie online. There are two false elements to that statement.

First, I was forced to pay full price for the first video rental. Seems the 'free' promo works only AFTER the first rental."

Now I don't have the original offer, only your transcribed version, but to me this seems fair. (Other than "rent/reserve" in it, those are two different things)

If Joe Cigar offers a free cigar to 'anyone who buys (instead of rents) their 'first' cigar online', I would expect to pay for the first cigar, then get a second free.

Leaving out the contradictory "reserves", how do you read the following "'free' movie rental to anyone who rents their 'first' movie online." to mean that a customer does not have to first rent a movie online?

RedBox is famous for movie rentals. In order to rent one, one is generally expected to go to one of their kiosks and pick out a movie and rent it on the spot.

However, if you go online to open an account instead of going straight to the kiosk, you can browse descriptions, find out who's in the movie, and watch trailers, so you'll know you're getting the movie you're looking for. Another online feature is that you can reserve a movie so it'll be at the kiosk of your choice when you go to pick it up. That way, you reserve the movie you want to rent, meaning it'll surely be there when you go to pick it up. That someone else won't get your movie before you get there. Meaning the rental fee is already paid.

I'm a very research-oriented person and wanted to know as much as I could about their operations before standing outside in 100+ temperatures to learn what I could learn in the comfort of my home. The 'free' rental offer just seemed to me like a happy little bonus at the time.

RedBox says that people like me who reserve their first movie online rent it free. That told me that there would be no charge for the first movie I rented so I reserved the movie of my choice on line. I had to pay the full rental fee for it, though. Later, when RedBox emailed me the 'free' promo code, they told me at that time that the code would become effective only after I returned the first movie I reserved and rented.

I went back online to reserve the second movie I wanted to rent from RedBox. I used the 'free' promo code they'd emailed me and my online transaction reflected a $0.00 balance. I was still happy.

The problem came when I went online to reserve the next movie I wanted to rent, hoping to pick it up at the same time I returned the 'free' promo rental. I also checked my checking account balance. Seems my checking account was one movie rental fee short of accurate.

That's when I invested almost an hour to learn that the 'free' rental was actually presented to my financial institution as a full-price rental that would be reversed only after I returned the reserved movie I had rented using the 'free' promo code. I learned that all movies reserved and/or rented with a 'free' promo code are actually reserved for two nights - the first night 'free' of charge but a second night's rental fee is deducted at full price at the same time, just in case you don't return the 'free' rental on time.

To me, first means the first movie I rented. Free means no charge at any time, not pay now / refund later. Renting a movie for one night means one night's rental fee, free or otherwise, not a two-night rental agreement, just in case. As it is, I've already paid to rent the movie tonight but tonight doesn't yet exist and I've already returned the movie. They still have my money.

That's the problem - misleading advertising, deceptive language, education after the fact instead of full disclosure before an education decision could be made effectively. Had they made all aspects of their reservation / rental / free promo policies clear from the beginning, I'd probably still be a happy camper. Instead, I think they lied to me repeatedly and I think they promote that same lie to everyone. I think that's a violation of consumer protection laws and truth in advertising laws.

If you go to the RedBox website, you'll see the original offer.

I don't do cigars. No contradiction there. Nor do I understand the cigar example you gave; I never tried to reserve / rent two movies at one time. No contradiction there, either.

Status report - it's after 9:00 PM my time. I returned the RedBox reserved / rental movie in question at about 1:00 PM this afternoon. My online RedBox account shows I've still got the movie. My bank account shows I'm still paying for it.

FrankJBN - you seem like an advocate for them: whaddup??

Sandy,

I've never used Redbox's free movies, I"m more of a Netflix kind of girl, however Blockbuster frequently has free rental codes you can use at their kiosk and if you only rent for one night, it's totally free.

Thanks for the Blockbuster suggestion, Maria. I think I'm just going to stick with books. I fully understand how they work.