[Astro_Bot]

Here's something that p*sses me off no end ...

Have you ever had your local video rental store screw up the return scan and have a DVD still registered as out even though you've returned it? This happens to me frequently, including the regulation text/call a few days later with, "Just a reminder that your DVD is overdue ...", or maybe they tell you next time you rent. I always explain it was returned several days ago, etc. They check the shelf, find the DVD, and then give me a half-hearted apology, of the kind that they know they have to but don't want to. And that's that, until next time.

It annoys me greatly that, in between the text/call/whatever and eventual apology, even with their atrocious record of stuffing up return scans, they still adopt that tone - you know, when they listen to you explain, but they don't believe you and think you're a thief, especially when they trot out that standard line, "But our records show ...".

It makes we want to reach over the counter, or down the phone line, and grab the pimply-faced, teenage little s___ and beat some sense into them.

In the latest debacle, I rented a TV series, disc by disc, one at a time, in sequence, roughly once per week. I just finished and returned the last one a week ago. Tonight, when renting a movie, I get my usual surprise, with "Do you still have ...". No, says I, all returned. "But maybe ...". No, says I, I rented them one-by-one, and they're all back. I go over to the shelf and actually find the damn thing for them (the last disc in the series), and bring it to the desk. But, as it turns out, it's the second-last one they've stuffed up, and not bothered to tell me about before now. I explain, again, that I rented on-by-one in the correct order and if you have the last one back, why do you think I would still have second-last one? I politely point out the last few stuff ups they've made. "But our records show ...". Aaaarrrrrgghh!

I think I'm going to have insist on some kind of return receipt to put an end to their erroneous ways.

And roll on movie downloads, so I no longer have to put up with this ridiculous, annoying cr*p.