J H

Review of Orbit (downtown Asheville)

Edit: Please read the owner's reply before readin...

Edit: Please read the owner's reply before reading my review. Three phone calls and in store visit were made. My apologies if the situation seems made up to him. Anyone who problems are escalated to, certainly feels like a manager to me.

I never give bad ratings. And in fact I use to love this place. This rating has nothing to do with the quality of products in this store. It's a great place to find almost anything. This rating is based on the reflection of a situation and how it was dealt with by management and the owner. This situation occured about a year from this review.

I rented a family movie at this store. It was a movie with two discs. When I was checking out, I remarked to the cashier if he had made sure both discs were in the sleeve. We got sidetracked about some Fantastic Planet memrobillia. I left the store without verifying for myself what had happened. A few days later I went to watch this movie with my daughter, and realized I hadn't gotten the first disc. I called them and told them what I thought had happened as soon as I realized there was a missing disc. At first, I received a rather nice reply and they said they would look around for it. The next day, when met by a manager however, was where the incident went south. He started the conversation by telling me I wrong. I had been given the movie. Virtually, signalling that it was "impossible" that any employee made that mistake.

He told me that the whole store had went through basically every case in the store looking for it. Over a thousand movies. In less than twelve hours. Not only was I gaslighted over a family movie, I was patronized. This manager, someone who I remembered we had both worked at a Blockbuster at the same time, informed me I would have to speak to the owner. Of course that was fine. As I left, he made a comment to a co-worker about how awful I was. I'm not, and I've done everything I can in this review to hopefully reflect how polite my tone is.

I was told that their employees "never" make mistakes.

A few days went by, and I spoke to the owner. Who basically launched into a tirade about how movie store rental people are so often victims of bad customers. What bothered me in this sentiment, was that he implied that I was that customer. I mentioned by own background in video rentals, and told him I know where he was coming from. But the thing is, I was not that person. The owner ended the conversation by telling me that not to worry, "I wouldn't be charged any late fees" to which I replied "that I wasn't worried about late fees, I just didn't want to be charged for a movie I never received."

So a few months go by, and I noticed I had been charged by them. Of course, I knew why. I called them just confirm. Offered my condolences that they had lost my business, and that they were once one of my favorite businesses. Of course, I was met with the same patronizing tone that had became the theme throughout this conversation.

I don't write bad reviews, and I know the owner will read this. I'm absolutely sure that he will either respond with same level of apathy I encountered throughout this whole situation. If not, it will just be act of self-realization. No one needs to jump through hoops over a kids movie thats now available on Disney+.

I hate that. I want to support local because I know first hand what the shift in the market has down to rental businesses. I also understand the desire to not want to be taken advantage of by clients. But after visiting this store for years, I never expected to be handled so dismissively by the very people who I had done business with for years. Over one movie. I tried every nice guy line in the book. Empathy and consideration for their situation. Instead I received only flatness and the kind of customer service one would expect at a nameless corporation. My best of luck to them. I know there are plenty of people in who remain loyal. But hopefully they remain cozy with management or the owner. Because it's apparent that's the only time they would ever admit wrong doing. Mistakes happen.