Buying DVDs from shops

[Jeff]

Don't you just hate it when you buy a DVD at a shop, only to find that they have taken the DVD out of the case for safe? storage and that when you get it home you find scratches and thumb prints all over it. Today some spotty kid from MVC couldn't believe that I wouldn't buy Stigmata simply because they didn't have a shrink wrapped copy.


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Jeff

My DVDs WWW.DVDTRACKER.COM/~YERKESS (http://WWW.DVDTRACKER.COM/~YERKESS)

[dUnKle]

Ok i have two points of view on this, nothing like sitting on the fence for getting splinters in the arse. Anyway...

My main point is that yep its annoying for some people but never me, trust me i work in a shop, people like you really annoy shop workers, in an ideal world were there was no theft MVC would be able to put there stock out live and be safe knowing it would stay there.

Hang on this is turning into just 1 point.

There are some terrible things going on in the world today, children are missing, people starving and worse and people like you are moaning that there are a few fingerprints on there shiny DVD. Wise up, yep scratches are annoying so just check b4 you take the thing home, for all you know people could have wiped there arse on the thing b4 posting it to you from mail order. Fingerprints are surely something that is not a big deal, or are you one of these anal guys who hold the disc with a tweezer at the very edge b4 slowly placing it in the tray of the player.

Come on im sorry if i have upset you but what other solutions are there, these companies are trying to make a profit, thats why they charge more than mail order, for every DVD that gets stolen, the profit on most retail items is so low that the shop has to sell 5 extra DVDs to make back the money on the 1 stolen.

[LV426]

Sorry Duncan, but, although I sympathise with the plight of retailers and missing stock, I agree with Jeff.

The problem is that the cardboard or plastic cases that most shops use to keep "out of package" DVDs are so crudely constructed and stored, and many shop assistants (OK perhaps not Duncan) so utterly careless as to result in physical damage. Which makes the disc effectively no better than second hand.

It surely can't be too difficult for retailers to obtain "dummy" cases for display, and to retain the real product, shrink-wrapped in its original case behind the counter. If it is difficult - then the retail industry should lobby distributor to make it easier.

Easy solution. Just say NO to scratched and marked discs. Retails will soon learn that this is no way to treat their customers.

[dUnKle]

The majority of shops do sell there stock in boxes, WH SMITH, VIRGIN and HMV. Those who dont tend to be MVC or WOOLIES who are part of the KINGFISHER group of stores.

Now I have purchased many a DVD from a shop, and also a vast number of PAL LD's over the years and have never found retailers to be careless.

Im not try to defend the shop assistants there are some out there who dont give a **** but the majority are trying to make the best of a bad lot. The point which I suppose angered me most was not that of scratched DVD's but that of the sales assistant being refered to as a spotty kid, if you have that attitude with him what attitude has he of you, and also seeing as you were in MVC I hope you are not a member as I have heard some very funny stories about what they do with your name and address when you anger them.

What Im trying to get at is this, if the DVD HAS to be placed from a cardboard sleeve into the box then just check the disk B4 paying. Then object politely to a damaged disk and get one that is suitable.

The only time suppliers issue dummy boxes is when supporting a pre-sell campaign.

All I am saying is get a perspective.

Oh and one last thing, places that sell DVDs shrink wrapped often open the box, borrow the film mess about with it and then re-shrink the box back up just to annoy people. Childish ? Yes, Funny ? Slightly.

Oh and B4 I go im not some slob who does not care about his collection. I have 250 + DVDs many of them have finger marks on them, I enjoy my hobby, I love to show off my system and as a result of this things get grubby, so if i get too bothered i'll clean them. I have not yet had to though. The grubbiest disk I have is a region 1 pulp fiction which is now almost 2 years old it is covered in finger marks and even has a scratch but still plays like a dream. Seems like tommorows world was right.

Anyway sorry to bore you all, lets just try to live in harmony

[Jeff]

What can I say I collect DVDs, I want to keep them in good condition so they are still good in 10 years time. Out of the 90 DVDs that I have purchased here and in the US all the shrink wrapped ones have been perfect. The 4 or 5 that I have purchased which have been handled by the shop all have minor scratches. Anyway it was MVCs loss, I bought the DVD from Virgin instead.

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Jeff

My DVDs WWW.DVDTRACKER.COM/~YERKESS (http://WWW.DVDTRACKER.COM/~YERKESS)

[mickrick]

Oops... Was in Woolies last week and lifted a cover to have a look at it. I heard a disc rattling about inside and took it to one of the till punchers for them to remove it for "safe storage". Guilty as charged, your honour. Just make it a quick death...

[Elephant Man]

Jeff I agree with you. Who wants to buy a DVD with someones sticky finger prints on it. They could of picked there nose or something.

But our prices two for £30 is good, especailly if you hate having to wait for your order to arrive in the post.

[Kevin]

I haven't had any major problems with fingerprints or scratches.

However I have noticed that some shops (ie Woolworths) will put all manner of stickers on the cases. This is not so bad with the jewel type case (although I have spent many an hour peeling off the stickers and cleaning the cases). However with the cardboard type cases I have often ended up with small rips.

I now try to buy all DVDs with cardboard cases from shops that use shrink wrap.

I totally agree with you.
Why on earth should anyone pay their hard earned money for anything that has been treated in such a way?
I for one will not hand over my money for a disc that is not in at least an original (as from manufacture) condition I expect it to be in.
There is no argument to say it's ok for your goods to be handled so poorly.
At the end of the day, would you accept other goods you buy in the same condition?
Most people aren't extremists, but it comes down to standards.
If a shop considers it ok to manhandle your goods in such a way, then I for one will not buy from there.
I know it's not a perfect world, but in this day and age, it's ok to expect more for your cash.

Guy.

[mog]

This problem happens with all DVDs, data CDs etc.. (Audio dosent matter so much, data not so critical).

But if you look at this site www.c-3d.com (http://www.c-3d.com) ,
you will see the future is bright it's

Optical discs, and 6 DVDs on just one.

I know it dose not solve the problem now, but shop assistants and customers will get on, and you can show it to all you freinds.
http://www.homecinemachoice.com/ubb/wink.gif

[This message has been edited by mog (edited 16-07-2000).]

[Matt]

As far as i am aware a laser does not need to scan over the surface of a carrot to pick up the minute pits of digital data. I believe that you can wash/peel/scrub food to remove finger marks and other blemishes, I am not sure about scrubbing a DVD disc that I have just paid 20 quid for

[Popester]

Now now Duncan!

Come on...poor handling DOES damage discs and can be a right pain in the arse when bent, scratched, or dirtied by some 16 year old muppet on minimum wage can't be bothered to spend 2 seconds extra.

At the end of the day.....if ya don't like it buy from somewhere else...it's your money.

http://www.homecinemachoice.com/ubb/wink.gif

[dUnKle]

Do u know something, I haved just been to Safeway to get some veg and the guy working there was putting it out and people were touching the veg and everything. So now im buying all my veg from www.cleanveg.com (http://www.cleanveg.com) its tasty and nice and comes wrapped in cling film. Apparantly its all un-touched by human hands and they send me this special tool which consists of a glove and a pair of tongs so i dont have to touch the food, its great

[eatond]

Originally posted by DuncanWardle:
Come on im sorry if i have upset you but what other solutions are there, these companies are trying to make a profit, thats why they charge more than mail order, for every DVD that gets stolen, the profit on most retail items is so low that the shop has to sell 5 extra DVDs to make back the money on the 1 stolen.

Profit on retail items is low? This is rip off Britain. Do you own the shop or work there? Perhaps you should inform us all of the dealer price and the discount you get on the ammount you buy. I'm sure the profit margin is very big.

[Duncan]

Guys, can we refrain from this "spotty kid" and "16 yr old" cliche it really doesnt give much credence to your otherwise good arguements when you allow yourselves to use such stereotypes.

These youngsters who work in shops are at least bothering to earn money- rather than sitting on their arses taking money of mummy and daddy. Weve all worked in our teens and I would bet that we all hated smartarse customers!

Also I would say that it is a rare occurance that you get a DVD that isnt shrinkwrapped- howabout you guys vent your anger on the real villains of the home cinema world.................the salesman who talk complete ****e to inexperienced buyers..........i'll never forget the time when this guy down Tottenham Ct Rd told me and a pal that the early Pioneers didnt suffer from any Lip Sync problems- out came the HCC and off went the salesman.

Also while were at it howabout cable prices- Monster S Video cable rrp- 64.99 + VAT, cost price to retailer 21.99 (well thats the cost price I paid) hmmm.............!

[dUnKle]

Sorry the point I may not have made my point about profit that well. The most profit on DVDs is about 20% and this is for major retailers. This is quite good, not the best though, that tends to be on gift products like cards.

Anyway the point I was trying to make is that if a DVD gets stolen and retails at 19.99 then we have to sell four extra copies B4 we go back into profit.

Retails would love to be able to display live i.e. with have stock in box but because of the threat of shop lifting this is the main reason why they dont. However this said most retailers on the high street including the one i work for now display the stock inside plastic security keepers.

So all I was asking is that you please bear in mind that it is not the assistants fault that the stock is not live and also the vast majority of shop assistants, including some of the saturday / junior staff are very customer focused.

Like you said the consumer has the right to demand more for there money. Shop with you waller and go for the quality service. But dont slag off people just cos they work in the shop. I've been in retail 8 years and have never met a spotty little herbert or however they were described.

Sorry if this sounds like a rant but it is annoying to be branded

[Popester]

As you work in a shop you are forgiven http://www.homecinemachoice.com/ubb/wink.gif

However clearly you have a better class of salesperson in Scotland than I do in Camden, London. Ignorant, spotty Herberts or moronic wageslaves they most definitely are! I recently went into Dixons to buy a blank DAT. Having managed to break up a 4 person staff chat (5 mins it took) not one of them including the manger knew what I was talking about. I got offered answering phone tapes, dictaphone tapes you name it! For God's sake!!!! They sell the damn things in HMV and Tower - where I eventually bought them having walked out in disgust.

The cheapest place to buy here is Woolies, lack of handling care? - speak to the hand because the face ain't listening!

Finally, you clearly work in a small shop or you'd get better discounts on the dealer price. Shame I know how hard it is to compete with the chains these days.Most large shops allow for stock theft in the accounting and/or have insurance against it. Can see how that might not matter to a private shop though.

http://www.homecinemachoice.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Duncan]

Well said er other Duncan!

I know all about branding- as I work in IT and apparently we are all nerds!

[dUnKle]

No i work for one of the major high street stores and it is a common misconception that profit is so high.

Dont get me wrong profit is very good but like i tried to explain shop theft eats into this in a HUGE way.

Some things we have even been known to sell at almost breakeven. Things such as one of orders of obscure classical CDs or something. But this is how we try and provide a service.

To give you some idea of how important most people in retail regard customer service let me give you an example.

Things like taking something back that I had myself as a customer wanted it and could not wait 2 weeks for an order.

Traveling by train to other stores to get some lost property left behind.

The biggest one for me was B4 DVD was released in a big way in the UK. I hooked up my player to the store TV to give a customer a demo of what all the fuss was about.

Also people have this view that the profit is

Selling price - Buying price

but bear in mind staff costs, heating and the hundreds of other overheads

I admire small stores who can keep going and agree with the statement my my fellow namesake that we should aplaud the young people who go out to work.

I myself and sick and tired of people going on about how hard done by they are and have never even tried to get a job. Lots of my friends who went to UNI are now in early 20s and have never done a days work in there life, just sucked there parents dry

[Glimmer]

In Australia and NZ the K-Mart chain of stores put the DVD case (with enclosed DVD)into a special anti-theft plastic case which is transparent and allows the browser to see the movie information on the DVD packet.

This prevents having to keep the disc seperate in a dubious environment. If you still really need to see the disc, its usually not a problem to ask staff to open the security case and inspect the DVD.

[RobT]

Hmmm pimply kids behind counter - sorry never came across one. Ignorant adults and Dixons-esque to**ers yes but kids no.

Course if this sort of scenario was featured in an episode of "The Simpsons", we all know which young, cap-wearing, squeeky-voiced, spotty character would play the shop assistant.

Hmmmmm, pimple grease - wonder if that stuff rots polycarbonate... http://www.homecinemachoice.com/ubb/smile.gif

Cheers

[General Skanky]

Seems like a raw nerve has been touched upon. At the end of the day, where you buy from is only a means to an end. Heres to some great films at really cheap prices.

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Guy
Douch!!......Wot's da madder, da CIA got you pushing too many penzils?

"At the end of the day, where you buy from is only a means to an end. Heres to some great films at really cheap prices."

I'll second that. http://www.homecinemachoice.com/ubb/biggrin.gif


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