Rentrak - Your experiences with them?

[JeffK]

We are a small indie store in a rural town with 1 small chain store and another indie store that carries mainly VHS as our competition. We are looking at signing up with Rentrax. The deal seems just too good to be true. The output programs look great. I have seen a few negative posts on them, but not that many. One negative post has excessive charges and delivery problems. I have searched google under their name and found nothing bad. Maybe it's me, but I get an uneasy feeling about them. Their contract states poloicies different than their brocheres or what their sales rep is telling me. If anyone out here deals with them, could you please relate to me your experience with them? Thanks in advance.

[Hardcopy]

They are a good program, but also a bit tricky. My main problem with them was that my rep transferred to another dept and I wasn't given a new one until my account was so screwed up (I didn't know it was screwed up) it couldn't be repaired. Airborne Express wasn't even making attempts, they'd just mark down attempts (most of them when we were while we are opened) after two "tries" they'd ship them back to Rentrak and we wouldn't get those movies. Now in addition to not getting the movies we needed Rentrak charged us $35 per copy for THEIR lost revenue.

They ended up cancelling our account and charging us $35 per copy of movie we should have gotten during the 2 month cancellation process, bringing our total owed them to like $1500.00. Before we could pay this they filed a small claims court suit for $5000 (the maximum in Oregon). We filed a response and got the response returned to us by Oregon courts the day after we received their judgement. They had returned our response because we didn't pay the court charges (which we weren't informed of). So basically our bill jumped from $1500 to $5000 with no discernable evidence.

Now I don't want to come across that they are a horrible company. They are not. They are a very respectable company, but their program is one that needs to be used cautiously. Insist on training (they didn't give me any training nor did they tell me it was neccessary). With any good program, the failing of one part (in my case it was not having a rep) can cause it to fail.

Their program can definitely be a bonus to you, on the other hand it can also hurt you badly if something goes wrong.

Rich.

[JeffK]

Rich,

Thanks for the input and quick response. A few things first.
1. That Airborne Driver should have been fired.
2. That is just "bad business" on Rentrak's part.

It makes one wonder how many accounts this rep had, and how many were fouled up. What was your new rep's take (explanation) on why they did this to you? They don't seem like a very good partner if they wouldn't work with you on this. After all, you didn't have a rep for a month? I realize business is business, but that is pretty "hard-nosed" on their part.

We have the same kind of problem here with our UPS driver. We don't open until Noon, and he comes by at 10 am and leaves a sticker. I talked to UPS and they said he has to come by during our business hours. They gave me the number for local office to call. I did and he is good for a period of time and then starts it again. I call the local office and the cycle starts over..  :twisted: I lost First Video Exchange, and an adult supplier (IVD) as distributors because of this, they each got a package back, so i can relate to what you are going through. It also raises a flag on the possibly of something going bad with Rentrak. $5000 it a big hit to take. I have sympathy for you.

I do have a few questions. How long were you with Rentrak before this happened, or did it happen right when you signed up? In your post, you don't sound like you have a total hatred for them, which I wouldn't blame you if you did.. I would imagine it's more on Airborne. I am assuming by your post, you did have some good experiences with them? Like I said in my prior post, it sounds to good to be true, and they brochure's seem to contradict their contract. Sorry to be long, but really curious about this company. I would appreciate hearing from others that deal with them. Thanks.

Jeff

[Hardcopy]

A month? It was more like 10 months. If I screwed it up in a month then it'd be my fault. It was over a long period of time. It ended up a nightmare. It wasn't my reps fault either. It was whoever was supposed to assign my account to another rep when he was transferred (some unnamed entity), and the fault of those in accounting. At one point they suspended sending movies, yet started charging me $35 a pop for the ones they didn't send me. It was not a good situation.

[vidwiz1966]

arghhhhh...just spent 35" writing about a recent experience, and lost it all by tapping the wrong key!!  I hate when that happens!  So....short version:  

Anyone on Rentrak: Be Forewarned!!  You must be able to account for every single current term title if and when they walk in for an audit!!  I have a one person store with only occasional help or help for emergencies, and titles that were out for repair at my house (I fix 98% of all damaged videos/dvds at my home), titles you have taken home to review, etc, must be rented out in the computer.  I had been gone for 3 days, and the week before home part time with a very ill child and so my store was quite disorganized due to teen helpers.  An auditor came in and found a number of missing videos and due to a "series of unfortunate events",  I now owe $$$$ for movies that weren't  immediately found on the premises.  A number of these were actually there--but my help had placed them in a box while they were being bumped to "recent hits" until I returned, and these not realized until after the auditor left.  The auditor assumed the worst case scenario and would not give any benefit of doubt.  Also a number that had been on the "PVT Sale" shelves were at my home to my ill child, and could have been produced within 30-45 minutes, but I was not allowed to go and retrieve them!  Bad News!

[Hardcopy]

When I closed my account with them they also sued me for $5,000 when I owed only $1,400. They took into fact that I was given a very short time to respond to the court case (small claims) and my response was sent back saying I had to appear in person and pay $40 to respond. Now I got this notice along with the summary judgement.

Rentrak CAN be a good company to work with. They can also ruin a company with little regard to them.  Just be careful, they have full access to everything you do with your POS system. They know how much you make, what you rent, etc.

[Victor Franqui]

Amanda posted an email to a rep and I send him an email to please conatct me so I could get some information an also to see if he could join our community so we could all ask this questions and get feedback that was 2 days ago will see if he responds???

 :blink2:

[vidwiz1966]

Here is one of my concerns now.  Any idea how to handle this?  I have about 50 single titles that they are charging me for, that have been either sold but had not yet been "sold" through the POS system because my helper was worried she would do it incorrectly.  I prefered to actually enter those myself but I do have a list of the upc codes as we either pull them off and stick them on the list, or write down the numbers.  

Just recently, we were running about 2 weeks behind in recording in the PC, plus there was about 10-12 titles wrapped and prepared for shipping but were still on the premises that had been prepared on the previous Monday, the Audit occured on Wednesday. We have been experiencing a recent theft problem and a few had been stolen but not yet discovered missing.  Some were still on the shelves---he spent over 4 hours performing his inventory.  He wasn't even going to leave me a list of his findings, but fortunately, I have a copier on site.  Once I made my own copy and began to look it over, in 15" I had found 4 titles, ON THE SHELVES, that he had missed!  When I expressed my dismay that there could be more such missed items, he became irritated and defensive and then was in a hurry to leave. He said, you're not going to find a bunch of movies after I leave are you? The copies prepared for shipment, the other videos that were at my residence, (for review, for repair, etc. ) and the 15-20 or so that were in the box waiting to be 'bumped' when my gal put Tuesdays New Releases out, are all still in the computer as active titles.  
If I mark the sold ones as sold,  will they charge my account a 2nd time?  I can see no way to differentiate these as he did not record the missing upc codes!

And what about the ones that he listed as "missing' but weren't?  If I don't remove them from inventory now (how to do that properly?)  And I either record them as "Sold" when we actually sell them, or rent them out again, then I will be paying revenue to RTK for titles that they are charging me full price for!  

It is a nightmare!  They wanted the full amount, about $2500, to be paid within 14 days!!  Then they offered me 4 weeks, and wanted $750 per week plus my 'regular' payment.  No way I can come up with this figure, so they told me they are turning it to their collections department, which also means no more product shipments.  (Thank god for Wal*Mart.)

[Victor Franqui]

8O

[Anonymous]

Are you blaming Rentrak because you did not record the sales through you POS properly and failed to keep all of their property on the premises or checked out on the POS?

I have used Rentrak since 1991 and have always found them to be the most professional and retailer friendly distributor available for IVR's.

The main reason I never even considered Rentrak was because of my subscriptions. For $19.99 a month the customer gets unlimited rentals. One guy went through 68 movies in one month. He would of cost me money if I was on Rentrak. Another sinario is if the same customer gets the same movie mulitple times, this occurs more in the family movies than the other. One person took the same movie 10 different times (Princess Stories).

[Hardcopy]

I got extra billed through Rentrak (when I was on GOOD terms with them) because their techs couldn't get THEIR portion of the software to work correctly. It wasn't a huge amount, but that isn't the point.

The biggest thing with Rentrak to remember is that they provide a service, but they have also had problems in the past. This does not mean that they do this as a rule (they wouldn't be in business if they did it as a rule now would they), but they have done it.

After Rentrak sued me and won, they garnished the wages of one of our owners and then sent the Sheriff to collect ALL merchandise from the store to cover their costs. The sheriff refused because they were trying to "double dip" by garnishing AND trying to take property.

My biggest question is why would anyone bother with rev sharing any longer with the low cost of DVD's and VHS's being pretty much dead. What exactly are they offering anyone? (just for the record, I am no longer angry at them, merely dismayed that anyone still has THAT much use for what they offer. VHS in my store is a customer's last resort when all the DVD's are gone. I can't remember the last time I had to purchase more than 1 VHS)

[tiptoen]

About 3 years ago my competition, a mile from me, went on the Rentrax system. The first few months he cleaned my clock with all the depth of titles he had. Then all of a sudden he contacted me wtith an offer to buy his store.  Seems Rentrax was nailing him with huge bills that he claimed was bogus. They sued and he wanted out. I ended up buying all the inventory that wasn't rentrax property. In short you have a partner when on the Rentrax system weather you like it or not. They have ALL the power. I agree with one of the other posters. Why would you share a 15.00 video. After I sell mine previewed for 10.00 I have a 5.00 investment and keep ALL the revenue and I answer to no one. (Except the wife).

[yburan]

Anyone having positive experience with them?

[PhabyN]

Reasons that I'm still thinking about using them:
-I really like the idea of ony paying for product as it generates $.
-I'm in a rural area and VHS is still big... really!
-I actually don't care so much about most new releases. I'd love to have an output program and be able to focus my limited time and money on good catalog titles.
-I have invested in a very good POS system (V3Plus) which will accomodate Rentrak.
-I'm automating as much as possible, so my staff knows that everything must go through the POS system.

I'm still weighing options, there are other distributors who offer revenue sharing.
Not to minimize anyone's misfortunes, but I'm still optomistic that I can get alot of benefit from this program. It's good to hear all of the stories (yburan - I'd like to hear more positive ones too) because it emphasises to me how much importance to place on our POS and filing/tracking system when training staff.
I'm glad I haven't started it yet. I've been waiting to get my POS completely dialed in and move some shelving around. I wanted to have my foundation solid, because I do understand that its not my product till I buy left-overs at the end of their term.
-Good discussions! Keep it up!