Blockbuster Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Blockbuster part-time for more than 3 years

Pros – - Evening and weekend hours suit students well, or those with daily commitments
 - Pay is average to ok for the industry
 - Subject matter is interesting, movies, games etc
 - Non-physically demanding work
 - Lack of manager on most shifts gives a better chance to bond with co-workers

Cons – - Terrible bureaucratic processes within HR
 - HR in name but nothing else
 - Failing company not willing to change or adapt to new policies
 - Far too rigid in dictating how staff interact with customers
 - Staff support from corporate is non-existent, store managers are given incredible arbitrary powers and are sided with over employees every time.
 - Staff are seen as highly expendable, which to an extent is true, but this mentality clearly pervades the hiring and firing process
 - They changed my job title subtly during my employment from Customer SERVICE Representative, to Customer SALES Representative - and then brought in a host of new reforms designed to turn us into salesman rather than service providers.

I felt pushed out the door for the last year of my work, simply because I filed a grievance with my manager. A manager that would come in early to watch the CCTV tapes when I was on shift, trying to pick up any little detail of my wrong doing (which was non-existent).

I was eventually fired in 2011 for forgetting to correctly scan through a bottle of water I had drunk on shift, due to being incredibly busy at that point. Realising my mistake after clothing I came in the next day with the correct change and a large apology, only to be told to leave - I was suspended. After a long drawn out suspension of nearly 2 months, I was summarily dismissed.

Advice to Senior Management – Give front line employees far more confidence. My sales always increased when given minor freedoms to interact and chat with customers. Repeat business is essential in a failing industry. Realise that you cannot compete on price or convenience anymore, and that service is all you have.

I have had a very uneven managerial experience. My first was tremendous, and this was clearly down to her years as a CSR, and so she understood our role and our point of view far better. Outside hires cannot and do not relate to front line staff.

Diversify, and re-think your business model or expect to fail dramatically in the next few years. Staff are in exodus, and frankly given that you are a service company now it is ironic in the extreme your narrowest focus is on the human resources of the business.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Blockbuster

Pros – Great fun
Loads of free rentals
You gain lots of knowledge on films and tv
Flexible with shifts and pay more on bank holidays
Great if you're a student or need a part time job as they do evening shifts
Great for meeting like minded people

Cons – Pay is quite low
Hours are in shifts

Advice to Senior Management – Keep up the good communication about the business strategy

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Blockbuster part-time for more than a year

Pros – great employees
mostly respectful returning customers
a lot of fun and laid back

Cons – little chance to move up in the company
going out of business
pushed sales of confection budnles and online deals with no commision for employees

Advice to Senior Management – give employees incentive to sell.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Blockbuster part-time for less than a year

Pros – It's a pretty easy going job, not a whole lot of work that needs to be done.

Cons – It's pretty boring since there's not a whole lot of busy work. Once you get done with organized the dvds and there's not one to help or at the register, you're just left with standing around doing nothing.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Blockbuster part-time for less than a year

Pros – You get the title of Customer Service Rep. when you're just doing sales associate tasks, the pay was better than other retail stores in the area.

Cons – The bosses (not managers) will try to overwork you, don't care about external circumstances

Advice to Senior Management – A sales associate shouldn't get written up for the mistakes of another employee. I was once asked the day before by another employee to cover their closing shift, I told them I couldn't, and told the manager I couldn't because I had something I needed to do that evening. The employee didn't show up, and I got written up for not staying until close. Poor management decision, especially since I was the only sales associate that stuck around until our store closed. But you guys still wrote me up for every mistake that other people made.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Blockbuster part-time for more than a year

Pros – Free movie rentals, fun environment, good corporate structure. Overall, it's a relatively stress-free environment to work in. I recommend it if you like movies a lot.

Cons – Outdated computer system. Also, being pushed to sell lame marketing deals gets kind of annoying, but you'll likely encounter that at almost any retail environment.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Blockbuster part-time for more than 7 years

Pros – The people are great to work with at the store level

Cons – Upper management does not know what they are doing

Advice to Senior Management – Quit

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Blockbuster full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Great people. Free movie rental and some basic business/customer service training.

Cons – Ineffective business practices and inability to adapt let to their closure.

Advice to Senior Management – Sinking ship unfortunately.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Blockbuster part-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Pretty easy, customers are "usually" nice.

Cons – Relatively low pay, no promotions/raises, mandatory sales quotas.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Blockbuster part-time for more than 7 years

Pros – All of the people and most of the customers were awesome.

Cons – Unrealistic sales goals. Too much high pressure sales.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company