Entertainment & Music Video Ezy

[TRAWP]

Making a copy for private and domestic use is not illegal. Broadcasting, distributing or selling the copied footage is illegal.

It is not illegal to record an episode of whatever crap you want if you're going to miss it. However, it is illegal if you:

• Sell it
• Hire it out
• Broadcast it to an audience at a public place
• Distribute copies of the tape
• Upload it to the internet

So in closing, downloading movies from the internet is not illegal. As you're not pirating the movie

 

[MarcusP2]

I guess it must have been wrong to record episodes of Seinfeld on video cassette back in the day when you were going to miss the episode.

Technically it was. Owners of copyright have the exclusive right to make copies and/or reproduce works. There is an exception for live broadcasts only, but Australia has no general 'fair use' exception like in the US. Just with the massive increase in scale these days it's become more well known.

Also DA given that you seem to hate large record companies what business model could they employ that would result in you actually paying for big-label acts rather than downloading them for free? I noticed this a lot with 'iTunes DRM! I won't pay!' yet still not paying for the now DRM-free tracks. What happens if some indie band signs with a major label?

I download stuff but I'm not pretending I'm 'sticking it to the man' by doing it.

 

[MarcusP2]

So in closing, downloading movies from the internet is not illegal. As you're not pirating the movie

In short, downloading is making a reproduction and is infringing copyright unless you are authorised to do so by the copyright owner.
http://www.ag.gov.au/www/agd/agd.nsf/Page/Copyright_Wheniscopyrightinfringed

Edit: To be clear: it's not a crime. Only commercial reproduction (e.g selling pirated DVDs) is criminal. However other infringements, such as DLing, exposes you to legal action from the copyright owner. It's a civil case.

 

[BigKahunaBlue]

Meh i couldnt care really. I been pirating since i got my first TDK D90 cassette tape.

And i have spent my fair share of buying albums. When i was at school i used to wonder why when my friend came back from his yearly trip to the states he would tell us all he bought 3 CDs for the price of one in Australia. We all felt ripped off even back then.

And the packaging was better back then too if bought from the states.

 

[cfx_1]

I manage one of the largest Video Ezy's in urban Australia and the unfortunate thing is that due to Video Ezy's franchise agreements, late fees are at the discretion of the individual franchise and not centrally controlled. Places with smaller quantities of DVD's and Blu-Rays for rent tend to charge more for late fees as it is more of a deterent to return the movie late and they need as much copy depth as possible to ensure that all customers get what they want, when they want it. Our standard New Release late fee is $3.95 per movie, per night which is two-thirds of the standard rental charge. ($5.95)

I'll clear up some myth's about video stores in general.
​

• Blockbuster is owned by FEG. The same company that owns Video Ezy Australia​
• Video stores are hugely undercut by mass merchants, and do not have the purchasing power to get decent enough cost prices to deliver this onto the customer. Woolworths, JB etc pricing structure means on average a new release dvd to buy will cost around $5-$7 more.​
• Late fee revenue is an integral part of the business. We don't submit that its not. If there were no late fees then no-one would return their dvd's. Managing it is getting incredibly difficult as store loyalty is something of the past with the new generation of sign-ups.​
• The target demographic of video stores has shifted from 18-30 to 30+. This is mainly due to streaming and downloading of online content. Unfortunately this group spends less per visit than the former. And also unfortunately it means that less and less new customers are joining video stores. Foot traffic has decreased between 15 and 20% this year alone​
• Blu-ray uptake has been relatively slow considering the early adoption of DVD in Australia. Stores generally are below 20% penetration.​
• All stores are different with their late fee recovery but in general, if the late fee exceeds $20 and there has been no activity on the membership within 3 months, debt collection is involved. If the debt is over $100 and not paid it effects your credit rating and can definately result in court proceedings. We have quite a few regualar cheques come to us as a forced court order for payments.​
• The main reason video stores are closing are the increasing costs of rent, combined with lower revenue. Commercial buildings are valued at a multiple of how much they can charge in rent. Therefore it is actually more cost effective to leave a store empty and maintain the value of the property, then decrease rent and devalue the property. Also, most commercial leases are 5 years, so if after 2 years the business is no longer viable, the 3 years still has to be paid. This forces franchisees to cut their losses sooner rather than later.​
• The humble franchisee is a small business owner. I have seen a couple of franchisee's lose their houses over the closing of the store, so try not to think of it as "paying the man." You may be helping someone put food on the table, such is the reality of where video stores are at.​
• Also remember that the cost of renting a movie has not gone up (at least at the stores i have worked.. (7+)) in the last 10 years. Compare this with lots of other forms of entertainment and it is still very, very cheap. (though not free)​

To the OP - The new release you hired would have been due back at 6 or 7pm on the due date. The reason it is charged 2 days overdue is that it could have been hired between this time and close on 2 occassions. That is why there is a return time. Also there is no exception in Ezy Retail (the database program used by VE to hire dvd's) to allow late fees to be incurred from a set time, only on a date basis.

I am bemused however that a 3 day hire was charged such excessive fees. Our 3 day late system is $1 per day. Was it perhaps an overnight hire extended to 3 days? Was it a tv series? I would refer your complaint to videoezy.com.au. They email the franchise and get them to make a satisfactory resolution.

 

[TRAWP]

I am bemused however that a 3 day hire was charged such excessive fees. Our 3 day late system is $1 per day. Was it perhaps an overnight hire extended to 3 days? Was it a tv series? I would refer your complaint to videoezy.com.au. They email the franchise and get them to make a satisfactory resolution.

Thanks for your contribution mate, could you explain to me why I would of gotten charged so much interest on my returned overdue movie?

 

[BomberFletch31]

So in closing, downloading movies from the internet is not illegal. As you're not pirating the movie

I was referring to the 'recording' bit alone. But if you insist ...

As piracy proponents are so keen to point out, piracy makes a copy. That's a reproduction. Reproduction of copyrighted material is illegal, unless you're using it for private and domestic purposes. The list I gave are examples of not using the recording for private and domestic purposes.

In short, downloading is making a reproduction and is infringing copyright unless you are authorised to do so by the copyright owner.
http://www.ag.gov.au/www/agd/agd.nsf/Page/Copyright_Wheniscopyrightinfringed

Edit: To be clear: it's not a crime. Only commercial reproduction (e.g selling pirated DVDs) is criminal. However other infringements, such as DLing, exposes you to legal action from the copyright owner. It's a civil case.

Precisely.

 

[cfx_1]

Thanks for your contribution mate, could you explain to me why I would of gotten charged so much interest on my returned overdue movie?

To my knowledge, I have never known a store to charge interest on any late fees, ever. The only add on charges to member's accounts that i am aware of are those incurred by the debt agency themselves, who tac on their own "admin fees" in the pursuit of recovering a debt. Even so, this is only $15 per letter sent to a maximum 4th letter.

I would enquire as to when the dvd was returned, and definately ask to speak to the manager. Get a complete run down of how they charge the fees, the hire date, the return date and record it. A more likely scenario is that for some reason it wasn't checked in. The lates accrued until someone realised it wasn't coming back or lost in store (which is highly unprofessional) and returned it off the system and marked it as 'lost'. In this situation, the worst case scenario would usually be to charge a replacement fee for the movie of a set amount. If they indeed have charged interest on said dvd's again I would forward that email to videoezy.com.au. Something like that would make news and a bad public image and they would have to do something about it.

I have seen someone return movies over 600 days overdue. The lates were in excess of $4000, and I simply charged replacement costs to about $200.

Technically, the membership agreement loosely suggests that regardless of who is at fault, the member must adhere to the late fee policy of the store. If it is truly apart of their policy that interest is charged then you could probably argue that it is unreasonable to suggest that a database of 10 000+ members of a store with a minor late fee could infact be charged excessive fees without knowledge or without being notified.

Also i would ask if that is in fact their policy, then where is the signage to advise members. Late fee policies should be displayed in all stores. Though technically again, it is not lawfully binding if it is not.

 

[TRAWP]

To my knowledge, I have never known a store to charge interest on any late fees, ever. The only add on charges to member's accounts that i am aware of are those incurred by the debt agency themselves, who tac on their own "admin fees" in the pursuit of recovering a debt. Even so, this is only $15 per letter sent to a maximum 4th letter.

I would enquire as to when the dvd was returned, and definately ask to speak to the manager. Get a complete run down of how they charge the fees, the hire date, the return date and record it. A more likely scenario is that for some reason it wasn't checked in. The lates accrued until someone realised it wasn't coming back or lost in store (which is highly unprofessional) and returned it off the system and marked it as 'lost'. In this situation, the worst case scenario would usually be to charge a replacement fee for the movie of a set amount. If they indeed have charged interest on said dvd's again I would forward that email to videoezy.com.au. Something like that would make news and a bad public image and they would have to do something about it.

I have seen someone return movies over 600 days overdue. The lates were in excess of $4000, and I simply charged replacement costs to about $200.

Technically, the membership agreement loosely suggests that regardless of who is at fault, the member must adhere to the late fee policy of the store. If it is truly apart of their policy that interest is charged then you could probably argue that it is unreasonable to suggest that a database of 10 000+ members of a store with a minor late fee could infact be charged excessive fees without knowledge or without being notified.

Also i would ask if that is in fact their policy, then where is the signage to advise members. Late fee policies should be displayed in all stores. Though technically again, it is not lawfully binding if it is not.

I thought it was weird as well I did call the local Video Ezy and they informed it was indeed returned which I then asked why it's gone from a usual overdue fee to couple hundred. They informed me of the interest of the overdue fee.

 

[cfx_1]

I thought it was weird as well I did call the local Video Ezy and they informed it was indeed returned which I then asked why it's gone from a usual overdue fee to couple hundred. They informed me of the interest of the overdue fee.

I'd like to know at what rate they charge the interest at.. I can see the logic that by charging interest, the member pays the fees more frequently, thereby visiting the store more frequently, but i can't imagine the benefits would outweigh the drawbacks. Its a very negative approach to customers trying to do the right thing.

 

[TRAWP]

I'd like to know at what rate they charge the interest at.. I can see the logic that by charging interest, the member pays the fees more frequently, thereby visiting the store more frequently, but i can't imagine the benefits would outweigh the drawbacks. Its a very negative approach to customers trying to do the right thing.

It was about 4yrs ago so wouldn't be able to find any of the information if I wanted too. But never heard anything more from the debt collectors as they probably realised if it went to court they'd lose.

 

[DTRAIN87]

Funniest thing about video eZY HAWTHORN Was you had to walk past the pornos to get to the kids section .

 

[JuddyBuddy]

Making a copy for private and domestic use is not illegal. Broadcasting, distributing or selling the copied footage is illegal.

It is not illegal to record an episode of whatever crap you want if you're going to miss it. However, it is illegal if you:

• Sell it
• Hire it out
• Broadcast it to an audience at a public place
• Distribute copies of the tape
• Upload it to the internet

So going by that logic its fine to download movies/shows through http links, just not torrents?

 

[MarcusP2]

Did you read the rest of the thread?

Downloading it from anywhere to your computer is reproduction (you are making a digital copy of it) and is infringing unless authorised.

 

[DeadlyAkkuret]

Also DA given that you seem to hate large record companies what business model could they employ that would result in you actually paying for big-label acts rather than downloading them for free? I noticed this a lot with 'iTunes DRM! I won't pay!' yet still not paying for the now DRM-free tracks. What happens if some indie band signs with a major label?

I am guessing that's me? I don't hate large record companies at all, I was quoting South Park in the Christian Rock Hard episode. It related to this topic (not the original thread topic) perfectly.

I buy music sometimes, own a number of albums and have used iTunes, but admit to using sites like 4share more often than not.

 

[MarcusP2]

Yeah sorry, got your post confused with BigKahunaBlue's.

 

[DeadlyAkkuret]

Confused with BKB?

That is the lowlight of my Big Footy existence.

 

[nicky]

Confused with BKB?

That is the lowlight of my Big Footy existence.

Don't worry, you're nothing like him.