July 30, 2010

Hello readers,

Last week on my way back from the mall, I decided to stop over at a Walgreen's Redbox to rent a movie. It was my first time renting at this location. I browsed through the catalogue and was excited to find Greenzone, a movie that I was looking forward to watch. I added it to my cart and was almost an inch away from touching the "Checkout" button when I noticed something strange.  The taxes were higher than usual! wait what? that cant be! I looked up a little more higher and it got more interesting, Redbox was actually charging me $1.25 per night for the movie instead of the advertised rate of $1. Well atleast that explains the higher taxes but why $1.25? Did they increase the rates? I looked around the kiosk to find any notice of rate increase but everywhere it showed a $1 per night. I then verified the movie to be normal dvd and not a blu-ray (which then should have been $1.50 instead), but nope it was a normal dvd! I cancelled the transaction but I did decide to snap some pictures before I left. They are posted below.

So how do we explain this?  Was it a glitch? Is Redbox practicing a bait and switch? or is it a random scenario setup to squeeze an extra quarter of people? Give me your opinion at the forum. As for my advice, always verify the total price before you swipe your card!

Sincerely,

Admin