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Anytime you deal with people you are going to be surprised. Even when you think you have heard it all, along comes another question. The same is true when you own a DVD Rental Kiosk. Very rarely do I have face to face contact with customers but when I do most of the time it is memorable.

Each and every time I go to the kiosk I am asked by customers, “What is coming out this week?” This is a question I like because it shows interest in my inventory and possible conversions to rentals. It humors me though because the first thing I do when putting in new movies is to place a sign on my machine alerting customers what the new releases of the week are.

Why don’t you have movie “fill in the blank” in your machine? Most of the time I have never even heard of the movie in question but the times that I have the movie may have grossed a million or two at the box office. I politely tell them I have never heard of the movie or it just did not do well enough at the theaters for me to purchase.

One of my favorites is, “Hey, why don’t you put this kiosk over here at this location?” Meaning they have a better place in mind for my kiosk. I have been asked this many times including while standing next to one of the managers with whom I have an agreement to keep this kiosk in their store. I just let the person know that I am quite happy with my location and if they are interested in a kiosk of their own I will get them the number to a distributor. I do remember the locations however, just in case I one day purchase another machine.

One of the hardest questions to answer is, “Why did you charge my bankcard twice?” I get this question about twice a month. You see, when you use a credit card to rent a movie, my kiosk checks to see if you have $ 2.14 available on your credit card. It actually reserves that amount until the transaction is closed with the movie returned and the full price of the rental charged. However, on a check/debit card it works differently. When the customer first rents the movie a hold is placed on $ 2.14. That hold is reserved for as long as the bank wants to hold it. Some banks are 10 days while others are up to 30. Even if the movie is returned and the balance is paid in full the $ 2,14 reservation remains attached to their account until the bank decides to remove it. When the customer calls the bank to verify what I have told them the unknowing teller at the bank tells them that I actually have taken the money from their account. After assuring them many times on the phone I ask the customer to please wait a few days and it will clear up on its own. They usually do wait and it always clears up.

My favorite question is, “Why do you not take cash?” I know, you think I am making this up. I really am not. I have been asked this in the past week. When asked, why I don’t take cash, I typically start out with a big grin. Trying my best not to let the customer hear an audible laughing sound. Once I am composed I very politely explain that the credit card is the only mechanism I have of identifying the customer. After a little more explanation about how someone might possible take a few of my movies out of the machine for $2.14 and never return them, I see the light turn on in their heads. Oh, the say. You mean someone might steal your movies.

I would love to hear your most frequently asked customer questions.