Movie Gallery Meets Falling Down
February 2nd, 2010 | 
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Local Commentary – So, I walked into our local dvd rental shop, Movie Gallery, and was suddenly an unwilling witness to a verbal clash between a customer and a member of the counter staff, each channeling a different Hollywood character. The salesman was one of the seagulls in Finding Nemo only his repetitive phrase was more like, “PowerPlay, PowerPlay. PowerPlay“. The customer had a much larger script and only needed to remain in the character of Michael Douglas in the film Falling Down. I know just how she felt…
Falling Down
“I’m the bad guy? How’d that happen?”
Movie Gallery
We rarely go to the local video store these days, and I’m sure we won’t now. It was nothing personal. Well, it wasn’t at first. We simply found Netflix. Netflix works for us, just like it works for thousands of folks around the country. It’s not about the money. That’s why price wars won’t work. It’s about the selection. You see, if I want to rent a copy of Falling Down for instance I have to hope Movie Gallery has it in the store. Given the sort of eclectic movies I enjoy, they rarely seem to. With Netflix I know they have it. A brick and mortar just can’t compete with that. The fact that I have to wait 48 hours is no hindrance when the local shop may NEVER have a particular movie I want to watch. That’s not even getting into Netflix’s instant selections..On those occasional days when our Netflix que leaves us without a new movie we can simply play a board game. Better yet, we can get outdoors! It’s all good.
Falling Down
“I don’t think anything’s wrong with the street! I think you’re just trying to justify your inflated budgets! I know how it works! If you don’t spend the projected amount this year, you don’t get the same amount next year! Now, I want you to admit, THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH THE STREET!”
Movie Gallery
If we are really, and I mean REALLY desperate we can always go down to the local $1 move kiosk outside the gas station. We only need the movie for the day so those Movie Gallery advertisements with all the yelling and robot voices don’t really discourage us. A dollar a day is fine. We don’t need to keep a movie for a month.
Falling Down
“That’s a hell of a way to treat a vet, man.”
Movie Gallery
This brings me back to the battle of Movie Gallery 2010 and Powerplay. The first time PowerPlay was brought up to us we said, “No thanks.” never expecting to be challenged. The clerk hit sales point after sales point, often talking right over our refusals. She went to her computer and pulled up our lifetime data while other customers waited. She returned and said something to the effect of “Look, you spent $600.00 on rentals in the last 10 years!”, then continued the PowerPlay pitch again. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that to make her statistical argument she needed to look at our rental data since we became Netflix customers. Including data from when we had no other option simply rigged her numbers. How many customers fall for that? Too many I bet. But to take the time to explain the folly of her argument would simply drag on an already mood destroying experience. This was, “Movie Night” after all, right? We left the shop feeling bad. Can any one in Movie Gallery’s marketing team put meaning to the results of such encounters?
Falling Down
“Why am I calling you by your first names? I don’t even know you. I still call my boss “Mister”, and I’ve been working for him for seven years, but all of a sudden I walk in here and I’m calling you Rick and Sheila like we’re in some kind of AA meeting… I don’t want to be your buddy, Rick. I just want some breakfast.”
Movie Gallery
We did go back. Again we were not allowed to say, “no”. We again felt badgered. A different sales rep this time, same results. Finally and exasperated the guy asked in a demanding tone, “Don’t you WANT to save money???”. “No.” I said. We left. That was some time ago now. Apparently the taste had dulled.
Yesterday we were shopping for other things and while in the parking lot we wondered if there were any new films. With an almost sinking sensation we wondered.. do we dare go into Movie Gallery? We sat in the car and actually held a short therapy session about how we felt and what we would do if we wanted to rent a movie. Did we really want to face the pressure? ”Well,” we decided, “Let’s go in and just get a feel for it.” We shut off the car and walked in. Not one minute into the shop and we heard raised voices. We, along with our 8 year old, had walked into the argument that started this article. An argument that went on at least 3 minutes which is a long time in an otherwise quiet video store.
Falling Down
“I am just disagreeing with you! In America, we have the freedom of speech, the right to disagree!”
Movie Gallery
The customer, a middle aged woman and a sales guy were standing in the back of the store arguing. She was desperately telling the sales guy that “NO, Means NO!” She pleaded that he should leave her alone after she says she’s not interested. Her voice was cracking, but she was trying to hold her ground and make a point. We knew exactly what she was talking about.
Falling Down
“You think I’m a thief? Oh, you see, I’m not the thief. I’m not the one charging 85 cents for a *stinking* soda! You’re the thief. I’m just standing up for my rights as a consumer.”
Movie Gallery
The salesperson responded as sales people often do by turning her pleas back into sales points. All roads lead to “PowerPlay”. You could see she was going to lose it. “NO, MEANS NO” she repeated, each time her voice getting louder. The sales guy, finally seemed to sense what was going on and said something to the effect of, “I’d get fired if I didn’t sell it.” He continued, ” It’s just like offering French Fries with a burger.”
I almost laughed. He didn’t get it all. In fact in trying to blame his “job”, he totally missed the point. If I say I don’t want fries with that, the guy at the fast food place stops asking. It’s not the promotion that’s the problem, it’s the badgering.
Falling Down
“I’ve passed the point of no return. Do you know what that is, Beth? That’s the point in a journey where it’s longer to go back to the beginning. It’s like when those astronauts got in trouble.”
Movie Gallery is in a tough spot. Even if we loved the local shop we’d not go very often because the other options out there serve our lives better. But we still did go sometimes. Sometimes simply because it’s an enjoyable diversion to browse real covers in a real shop. Sometimes the staff can offer good suggestions. It could be a good thing, if they played their strengths. Thing is, the recent desperation and the foot-in-the-door tactics are a total turn off and magnified when we are talking about an entertainment experience. Facing the way that woman was treated, and with our own fear of running the “Movie Gallery Check Out Gauntlet” we probably won’t go back. I can’t image that woman will either.
What are your thoughts?
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Your encounter doesn’t surprise me. But it does make me sad.
The sales pressure is enormous right now at Hollywood/Movie Gallery. In my store, we don’t hound you – if you say no, that’s great. No skin off our back. I’ve been in CS long enough to read body language and listen to a customer.
It’s stores like this where the district manager is so obviously punishing associates by terminating them if they can’t sell that ruin it for the rest of us.
My store’s classified as an indie store – I’ve got an independent and foreign new release section, a HUGE foreign section and a staff picks that we must keep stocked on a daily basis because it rents so well.
I’d love to have you as a customer at my store – we do have Falling Down.
It’s just sad that you had to resort to blogging about your horrible experience at a store that clearly doesn’t live up to the Hollywood/MG standard and has management that forces its people to push Powerplay down their throat.
Stick with Netflix. I know I will.
The choice to write about it was based on watching another customer feeling as we did, and not feeling that she was heard in any way. Back when I worked in retail I was tought to ask a customer what we could do to correct the situation, then if at all possible do just that. In this case, she simply wanted to be respected and free to rent a movie without fear of confrontation.
Hello,
I am a movie gallery employee. I’m not a the store manager but I did want to say that you will be written up and then maybe fired over customers not buying Powerplay.
How do i know this you may ask? well, that because i have been written up because i did’nt sell powerplay to customers. Crazy right? well, that’s the truth.When customers came up to be checked out i was ask if they would like to buy one of our discount plans called powerplay, if they said no. I would then ask if they knew and understand how it works. the customers say yes they know and understand but still didn’t want it then i would stop talking to the customer about powerplay, and just let them know the total for their items but if the customer say they don’t understand how the powerplay work, i would in small detail explain it to them because we have to do this. I dont want to make my customer feel like they have to buy powerplay, but i sure do wish they would buy one from me so i could keep my job because i work for the same reasons everyone else does (family,house payment,car payment and other monthly bills). I’m really sorry that this happen to but it is movie gallery’s rule.
thanks for your comments. I know you guys are put in a corner and certainly not paid enough to pressure sell customers. It’s a tough spot to be in.