Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
Re: JMS\'s Comments on The sales of Season 1 DVD set
$100 is the MSRP, sass. (Well, $99.99, to be technical) You can find it in many stores like Wal-Mart and Best Buy for around $80.00 and Costco has it for $69.99, plus tax. You can get even cheaper deals on the 'net (Amazon.ca - Canada - has it for $48.88 if you're paying in U.S. dollars), but I don't recommend buying the set this way. There seems to have been a slight assembly line problem - like the discs not being properly placed in the case - and numerous sets have been shipped around the country with one or more discs rattling around loose inside them. The loose discs are getting scratched by the hard plastic hubs and rendered either partly or entirely unplayable. It is much easier to deal with this kind of thing when you buy from a brick and mortar store, even if you pay a little more that way.
When I heard about the problem I cancelled my internet order from Canada and bought a copy at CostCo on Friday. Discs 2 and 4 were loose in the case, and both were scratched. I managed to watch 3 out of 4 episodes on disc 2, putting up with a couple of skips and glitches, but disc 4 was trashed completely. I finally got around to exchanging the set today. When I did, I opened the replacement set at the customer service desk. This one had three loose discs. Holding them up to the light, I could see deep scratches in all of them. I brought their remaining two sets to the service desk and the clerk joined me in opening and checking them. All had loose, damaged discs. We finally went through all the sets to see if we could assemble one entire "good" set of discs, but we couldn't. Every single disc 4 was scratched. They gave me a refund and I ended up paying more at Wal-Mart, but at least I got a working set. (Even at Wal-Mart it was the second of two sets I opened, the last one in the store, that had only one loose disc and no visible scratches. I've played that disc through - it was number 5 in this set - and it works fine.)
BTW, there doesn't seem to be anything actually wrong with the cases or the hubs themselves. When we put the discs back in place, they stayed there. That's why I think it was an assembly-line problem - the discs weren't placed properly in the case in the first place. This may also explain why disc 2 was loose in every single set, even those where the other discs were OK. Also I haven't heard any similar complaints about the U.K. set, which uses the same case, so I suspect some particular replication or packaging plant in the U.S. is responsible.
So buy brick and mortar, you'll still spend well under $100 including tax, and you won't pay for shipping. Just make sure you check the discs before you leave the parking lot, unless you live really close to the store. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Regards,
Joe
$100 is the MSRP, sass. (Well, $99.99, to be technical) You can find it in many stores like Wal-Mart and Best Buy for around $80.00 and Costco has it for $69.99, plus tax. You can get even cheaper deals on the 'net (Amazon.ca - Canada - has it for $48.88 if you're paying in U.S. dollars), but I don't recommend buying the set this way. There seems to have been a slight assembly line problem - like the discs not being properly placed in the case - and numerous sets have been shipped around the country with one or more discs rattling around loose inside them. The loose discs are getting scratched by the hard plastic hubs and rendered either partly or entirely unplayable. It is much easier to deal with this kind of thing when you buy from a brick and mortar store, even if you pay a little more that way.
When I heard about the problem I cancelled my internet order from Canada and bought a copy at CostCo on Friday. Discs 2 and 4 were loose in the case, and both were scratched. I managed to watch 3 out of 4 episodes on disc 2, putting up with a couple of skips and glitches, but disc 4 was trashed completely. I finally got around to exchanging the set today. When I did, I opened the replacement set at the customer service desk. This one had three loose discs. Holding them up to the light, I could see deep scratches in all of them. I brought their remaining two sets to the service desk and the clerk joined me in opening and checking them. All had loose, damaged discs. We finally went through all the sets to see if we could assemble one entire "good" set of discs, but we couldn't. Every single disc 4 was scratched. They gave me a refund and I ended up paying more at Wal-Mart, but at least I got a working set. (Even at Wal-Mart it was the second of two sets I opened, the last one in the store, that had only one loose disc and no visible scratches. I've played that disc through - it was number 5 in this set - and it works fine.)
BTW, there doesn't seem to be anything actually wrong with the cases or the hubs themselves. When we put the discs back in place, they stayed there. That's why I think it was an assembly-line problem - the discs weren't placed properly in the case in the first place. This may also explain why disc 2 was loose in every single set, even those where the other discs were OK. Also I haven't heard any similar complaints about the U.K. set, which uses the same case, so I suspect some particular replication or packaging plant in the U.S. is responsible.
So buy brick and mortar, you'll still spend well under $100 including tax, and you won't pay for shipping. Just make sure you check the discs before you leave the parking lot, unless you live really close to the store. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Regards,
Joe
