where is my $50 movie credit from the christmas special?

[MrMonsters]

Re: where is my $50 movie credit from the christmas special?

Hey it could be worse, Vudu could just charge you $20 for some lame ?account activation fee? Then you get nothing for it
Think Cell phones. Far more inappropriate if you ask me?

[jokeysmurf]

Re: where is my $50 movie credit from the christmas special?

I disagree about being inappropriate. There's probably a large number of boxes purchased as gifts by a completely different person than the one using it. Additionally, most of us have used two different accounts for purchasing the box vs. the normal movie watching. I can easily see people using a regular credit card to buy the box but then using a debit card for movie watching.

Bottom line is that the system is the way it is. You have received a very good deal. We can disagree on this until the cows come home but it's the way it is. Now go and enjoy your box.

Nah, you seem to be missing the crux of the issue. It's not that there are not a plethora of logical reasons for having the system be the way it is, it's that Vudu failed to advise the consumer of this additional expense. In short, it can be a case of false advertising, even though it was not intentional. There is not to my knowledge an asterisk that leads to fine print on this in their offer. If there were it would be a different matter.

I also think that trying to defend them on this is actually not helping the situation because people who got burned on this are going to feel stronger about it than those that don't care, and it's only going to keep the issue alive longer. Vudu should now change their verbage to make this additional expense clear.

Like I said, it didn't affect my overall feelings about the product, nor is it keeping me from advising friends and colleagues to switch to Vudu over Netflix and even BlueRay, but to deny that it was an innapropriate (if accidental) stipulation for account registration ignores the essence of a consumer's right to know what they are getting when they are buying into a product like this.

[NA9D]

Re: where is my $50 movie credit from the christmas special?

jokeysmurf: As I stated - let's agree to disagree. End of discussion.

[aaronwt]

Re: where is my $50 movie credit from the christmas special?

All this over $20?!?

[Nded]

Re: where is my $50 movie credit from the christmas special?

All this over $20?!?

As I said earlier - yes, Vudu could do a better job making the account setup minimum $20 fee understood before the purchase decision. How about we let this thread die. My monthly cigar budget is larger than that...

[jleavens]

Re: where is my $50 movie credit from the christmas special?

Well, you could use a DEBIT card instead of a CREDIT card....

No, no, no... never use a debit card for transactions that aren't in-person.

I can't even tell you the number of issues that exist in the transaction processing system that could totally screw up your checking account. With a credit card, maybe your "available balance" goes away for a few days - but that's access to their money you lose. When it's a debit card, it's your own cash that you lose access to.

[Nded]

Re: where is my $50 movie credit from the christmas special?

No, no, no... never use a debit card for transactions that aren't in-person.

I can't even tell you the number of issues that exist in the transaction processing system that could totally screw up your checking account. With a credit card, maybe your "available balance" goes away for a few days - but that's access to their money you lose. When it's a debit card, it's your own cash that you lose access to.

I guess you didn't find this same meaning in my symbol?

[NA9D]

Re: where is my $50 movie credit from the christmas special?

No, no, no... never use a debit card for transactions that aren't in-person.

I can't even tell you the number of issues that exist in the transaction processing system that could totally screw up your checking account. With a credit card, maybe your "available balance" goes away for a few days - but that's access to their money you lose. When it's a debit card, it's your own cash that you lose access to.

I do it all the time.

Now, it's true that when you charge to a debit card, that money gets put on hold for something like 24 or 48 hours in your bank account so you don't have access to it. But I do a ton of transactions this way and really don't ever have a problem. What's the difference if it's in person or over the net...My money is still put on hold...

[HeadHodge]

Re: where is my $50 movie credit from the christmas special?

Hey it could be worse, Vudu could just charge you $20 for some lame ?account activation fee? Then you get nothing for it
Think Cell phones. Far more inappropriate if you ask me?

VUDU should create the Bank of VUDU. Then they could get TARP bailout money. That way we can get all Americans to pay the tab, instead of just us lowly VUDU customers.

[jleavens]

Re: where is my $50 movie credit from the christmas special?

I do it all the time.

Now, it's true that when you charge to a debit card, that money gets put on hold for something like 24 or 48 hours in your bank account so you don't have access to it. But I do a ton of transactions this way and really don't ever have a problem. What's the difference if it's in person or over the net...My money is still put on hold...

Here's something fun about credit card processing:

If a merchant uses Address Verification (AVS) or Card Verification (the 3-4 digit "secret code", also known as "CVV") to verify a transaction, if either of those checks fails the transaction will fail. However, if the basic information like the card number and expiration date is correct and there is an available balance, your card bank will still consider the amount of the transaction as "authorized" on your account. So if you have $500 available balance on your credit card, and the merchant misspells your street name on a $100 transaction, the transaction will be refused but you'll now only have $400 available. Sure, in 3-5 days the authorization will fall off your account and you'll have the appropriate available balance, and hopefully you won't need that money in the meantime.

But I've seen many a phone rep listen to the customer say "no, that card is good!" and just hit re-submit. Again. And again. Now that they've hit your credit card five times, your $500 available balance is now $0. Or maybe their computer system goes a little wacky and resubmits it a few times. If it's a credit card, who cares? But if it's your bank account, you could theoretically start bouncing checks. I've seen it happen. And there's no way to reverse an authorization without the merchant calling the bank and jumping through a lot of hoops.

Why do credit card companies apply authorizations that are not approved? Who knows. I discovered a new rule this week with one of my clients: an authorization more than seven days old is easily disputed by the customer even if you've provided them with the goods or services. Credit rules for sale items are that you can authorize a credit card charge at the time of sale, but if you're not immediately delivering the product you aren't supposed to capture the funds until you ship it. Usually you can capture the funds from an authorization for about four weeks. But now, even if you capture the funds from an authorization - meaning that the credit card company has already approved your transaction for X number of dollars - if it's been more than seven days the customer can dispute the charge and win. Your authorization was valid and the capture was successful, but you will lose a dispute. And the answer from the credit card company was? Re-charge the customer's card. I did that already! It's the craziest thing I ever heard, but the credit card companies are doing crazy things.

So what was the question again? Was there a question? Oh yeah, kids, don't use debit cards on the internet or over the phone. It's only fine until it's not.

[NA9D]

Re: where is my $50 movie credit from the christmas special?

Justin,

It's a good point. But, I know for a fact that the holds go off at my bank in 24 hours. And they are pretty good in that if there's a "double" hold placed, they can see it and correct any overdraft issues (they also cover all overdrafts up to something like $2500 so you won't bounce a check unless it's really big).

Also, the one major problem I had was that if the card can't be read by the stripe for some reason and the person entering the card number and CVV code, get the CVV code wrong something like 3 times, the card is locked out. All further transactions are denied. This happened to me at a Starbucks where the gal kept getting the CVV code wrong and I ended up paying a different way. Then later that day, I tried using it and couldn't. Because it was the weekend, I had to wait until the next Monday to talk to my bank. So no ability to get cash all weekend. It took the bank forever to figure out what happened. To top it off, there's an even deeper layer of hold that I fell into later that if this happens so many times or something it gets held. I had them working for about 4 hours at the bank to figure out why my card wasn't working! They finally figured out what it was but it was annoying and that was an in-person transaction where this happened.

But your point is well taken and something I'll definitely consider for the future. However, a recurring charge like the Vudu, I don't really see a problem with as the "good" (ie: movie credit) is provided at the time of the credit transaction.

[aaronwt]

Re: where is my $50 movie credit from the christmas special?

I just find it easier to use my credit cards. I never use my debit cards. Heck I don't write checks either. Before online payments I used a bill paying service in the early 90's now with bill payer, all my payees are electronic except one now.

Anyway i like the float on the credit card. That way I can pay it up to 1.5 months later depending on when the charge occured during the billing cycle.

[newdrum]

Re: where is my $50 movie credit from the christmas special?

This thread seems to have gone a bit off topic.
I'm a new users and concerned with the original topic as posted.

24hours since my initial set up and the $50 credit I paid for is still not showing up.

Have others had it take this long?
Have you been forced to call customer service (when they are open) to get it added?

Thanks for your help

[Nded]

Re: where is my $50 movie credit from the christmas special?

This thread seems to have gone a bit off topic.
I'm a new users and concerned with the original topic as posted.

24hours since my initial set up and the $50 credit I paid for is still not showing up.

Have others had it take this long?
Have you been forced to call customer service (when they are open) to get it added?

Thanks for your help

You can't "call" customer service, and you don't have to wait. All direct service requests must be initiated from the website at support.vudu.com/contact - Include your system ID and the amount of credit you think you are missing.

[aggiesnlc]

Re: where is my $50 movie credit from the christmas special?

You can't "call" customer service, and you don't have to wait. All direct service requests must be initiated from the website at support.vudu.com/contact - Include your system ID and the amount of credit you think you are missing.

FYI - I activated my box on Friday and noticed the same thing, that as of noon today, it was not posted.

So - taking Nded's advice, I sent an e-mail at noon to customer support, not expecting a repsonse until Monday. Howver, with their great customer service, They corrected the issue and posted the VUDU bucks this afternoon! I did not have to include my system ID, only sent this meaage from the email on my account. They would need your system id if you have more than 1 box or send the message from a diffferent e-mail account I would guess.

My exprience with VUDU has been exceptional. If the product continues to improve, I would imagine I will have 3-5 systems by this time next year. Just like satellite receivers. Started with one and now have 5 active. Yes - there have been bumps with VUDU, but really - when compared to any company I have dealt with - they are dong a fantastic job in my opinion.