After recieving a notice from the collections notice from a rental company, in this case Blockbuster, for a debt, is it too late to return the late merchandise in order to rectify the debt?

Go to the store and speak with the manager, and bring the game back. I had the same problem with Blockbuster – except I had returned the game inadvertently to the wrong store in town. They are marked accordingly, so all the store that I dropped it off had to do was send it to the right one, or call me and ask ME to bring it to the right one. Instead, I got thet letter you mention. I immediately called the store where I returned it and they said they didn’t have the game. I called the store where I SHOULD have returned it to see if they got it. Nope. In the end, and I wouldn’t give up as I had NEVER gotten a collections letter (and this was going to be a $50 total problem here – peanuts!). I called the store every day to see if they found the game. Lo and behold, an employee who knew the game didn’t belong there had taken it home! When he heard they were on the lookout for it – he brought it back. They called me and I returned it to the correct store. And I never, ever rented from Blockbuster again. And, both of the stores are now out of business. Good enough for them.

So, yes, go to the store and return the game and that should clear up your debt. Good luck.

I’m an expert on this one because we never return movies on time, or at least I do, but no one else that lives here ever does.. Just return the movie to the store (I recommend the night drop) then wait a few days to pay the late fee, should be a fraction of what the notice said. Unless they’ve changed the policy within the last six months, you’re good to go. Their objective is to get the DVD back, not sell it to you.

Hm, I would talk to the manager before dropping it in the inbox. third party debt collectors can be a real bitch and the last thing you wanna do is pay extra money for a dvd you don’t even have anymore.

Naw, Blockbuster’s collection agency is in TX, and the stores have really good online connection to them, and to their central database. Their IT department must be awesome. The reason I feel have expertise on this subject is that for every 100 videos we rent from Blockbuster, 95 are returned late, and 80 are late enough to get the collection postcard in the mail. You do end up paying a late fee, and it’s dumb to do it this way, but for some reason the other members of the family accept it as a fact of life that they will pay late fees, either for themselves or another family member. I personally either watch movies on TV, buy them or go to a theater.

The whole family is ADD/ADHD

Once you get it cleaned up. Stop using Blockbuster. NetFlix and GameFly is the way to go. Blockbuster is so overpriced. Especially on game rentals.