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I own a DVD Rental Kiosk and never have to deal with a customer, right? Although it is not often I do have to deal with issues that arise. Most of the time these issues are very menial and can be dealt with by offering the customer something for their trouble. 

It seems like when I started the DVD rental business I dealt with issues a lot more than I do now. I am not sure if people are more acclimated to the process now or if there is another reason for the decline. What ever the reason I like it. The less complaints that I get the better for business.

Here is a list of complaints that I have dealt with since November 2007.

1. Approval non-charges on the bank cards. If you accept debit cards in you kiosk (and you had better) then get read for this one. When you preauthorize a customers debit or bank card the bank will lock or freeze the amount you authorize. Unfortunately when you charge off the sale to the customers card and the charged amount differs from the authorization amount, the locked money is not the money the bank takes. It creates a new transaction crediting their account and leaves the locked money frozen. The frozen money may stay locked up for ten to thirty days depending on the bank. I have had several calls about this. Unfortunately, when the customer calls the bank the bank teller usually tells the customer that I have taken the money from their account. Apparently it looks that way to the teller and it takes some serious explaining to the customer to make them believe I am not trying to rip them off.
2. Movie would not play: This is what I have been most surprised by since starting into the DVD Rental Kiosk business. I am amazed at how people treat my DVDs. Some of the DVDs look like they have been scrubbed with sand paper and used as a Frisbee on a gravel parking lot. It goes without saying that in this instance you have to remove the DVD from the machine. I am thankful that most of the time it is something other than a permanent scratch and I can take a cotton cloth and gently rub the smudges off.
3. Movie will not go back in the kiosk: Typically it is an RFID tag issue when this happens. Generally speaking customer has usually damaged it somehow. The machine has a feature that allows the customer to bypass security and return the DVD with a damaged RFID tag. The DVD is locked and I have to personally inspect it before the customer is billed and the DVD released for rental. Obviously I would want to look and make sure the DVD was returned in the jewel case, not only to know what amount to charge the returning customer but to make sure no one else rents an empty DVD case. My DVD Kiosk also requires an ‘insert this way’ tag on the DVD Jewel case. If that tag has been removed by someones child or pet then the movie will not go back in the machine. There is no way around this one so I have left several stickers at the store locations and taught the employees how to adhere the stickers.
4. Sticker came off in my DVD player: I have had this complaint only once. I was told by a customer that the RFID tag came off inside their DVD player. While I was not 100% sure about the customers ’story’ I was very quick to offer the customer a free movie rental for their trouble.

Customer satisfaction is my goal 100% of the time. Each time a customer calls with a complaint or an issue I am quick to offer them a 100% refund or a couple of movie rentals for free. I have noticed that the customers are very loyal to the machine after using the free rental coupon codes I give them. I like purchasing a product where I know it is guaranteed and I will give my customers no less.

What complaints are you guys/gals getting and how do you handle them?