Renting DVD's!

[PoochJD]

OKay,

I know I may be preaching to the already initiated in this forum, but I swear, this Pooch has had it up to here with lazy-arse DVD renters!

If you rent a DVD from any local or high street Rental Shop, I would greatly appreciate it, if you didn't treat the DVD like a bloody drinks coaster, okay!!!

The DVD is not a drink's mat. Nor is it a frisbee for the kids, a bookmark, a toy, a decorative ornament for the porch, something for you to try and clean by rubbing it against your jeans, or anything else! It's a bloody film!

So, to the arseholes who do any of the above, and to anyone in general who keeps renting brand new DVD's from their local store, only to return them in a less-than-100%-perfect condition...

... STOP IT RIGHT NOW!!

The discs are not your property, and at an average £35-£45 per disc, they ain't cheap neither! So please, take care of them, and stop treating them with such disdain. Otherwise, one day, you're going to find that someone will end-up ramming that mistreated disc, somewhere where it ain't suppossed to fit or be played!

A very angry,

Pooch

 

[Ignatious]

With you on this one, Pooch. I have given up on renting DVD's for the same reason. People seem to think that as it does not belong to them, they can treat a rented product as they like.

 

[kevb]

I could not agree more. Had one the other day where the surface looked like an Ice skating rink. Too quote the old Jif advert "like skates on ice"

 

[PoochJD]

Hi,

Thanks, people. I mean, I wouldn't be so wound-up about it, if the DVD's being rented where older titles, that had been out a lot. But when we're talking about titles like "Mulholland Drive" which has only been available to rent for just over one week, and has only been out twice, it really gets on my tits to find out that:

a) the disc is scratched, but
b) the disc also won't play properly, which wastes my evenings viewing, and my hard-earned money as well!

Another thing that gets on my tits, while we're on the subject, is idiots who don't understand the meaning of "Overnight Rental".

"Brotherhood Of The Wolf" was made available in some rental stores, from Friday 24th August. The DVD has been out once in my local store, and the miserable two-faced SOB has now kept it for three nights straight, meaning I can't rent it. (The video is in a dubbed English version only, whereas the DVD is subtitled in English!)

"Overnight Rental" is not a concept like rocket-scinece, here folks, or brain surgery for that matter! "Overnight Rental" means you keep it overnight, and then return it the following day!

What is it with rental customers that makes them so goddamn stupid?! Are these the same cretins who also don't understand that all videotapes should be REWOUND to the beginning, before being returned?!

If I ever ran a video/DVd rental store, I'd really come down hard on these numbskull prats!

Pooch

 

[gringottsdirect]

Right with Pooch.......DVDs are so much better it would be a shame if careless renters make it uneconomic to continue, renting VHS just isn't the same experience.

 

[kevb]

Some of the problems with rental disks are down to the shops themselves. They should have a sticker or something inside the case, advising if you need to clean the disk do it from the inner edge of the disk to the outside edge. Not round in circles and use a soft/lens cloth and don't touch the playing surface on penalty of death. Failing that clean the disks that require it on return.

 

Nice one Pooch! I totally agree with you! BLOCKBUSTER ARE YOU LISTENING!!! Considering the above who have the largest supply of new films, LOTR was all scratched up! It had only been out a few days!!

 

[juboy]

I have to agree with Pooch also.

One question that bugs me though... how the hell do these discs actually GET that dirty?!?

I mean, surely, you take the thing out, whack it in your player then remove it back to the case before returning it. Now, OK, you may argue that I'm a little anal in actually washing my hands before handling my DVDs and CDs but Christ, if your hands are dirty/greasy enough to make that much mess on discs you should have washed them long before in any case.

Just as it's good etiquette to rewind Video tapes before returning them, people SHOULD feel an obligation to keep DVDs clean and/or clean them before returning them.

I tend to use a lightly covered haze of anti-static spray cleaned off with a sunglasses cleaning cloth. Works a treat before playing the disc... although I have doubts that the subsequent renter appreciates it...

 

[kevb]

A lens cloth of some description is an excellent investment, if you’re a regular renter. I have never had a disk yet I could not clean up and play. After loads of times of having to clean a disk half way through a film, I always clean them first now even if they’re brand new disks. The worst I ever saw was a copy of final fantasy it looked like some kid had been using it as a Farleys Rusk, and if my memory serves me correctly there was even a bogie on it. Nasty.

 

[juboy]

Originally posted by kevb
A lens cloth of some description is an excellent investment

Sunglasses Hut do a cracking own branded, OEM cloth for £5. It's absolutely soft as hell and works better than most dedicated CD/DVD cleaning cloths and is cheaper.

If you don't want to invest in specialist anti-static spray you can also use Mr Sheen anti-static to good effect. DON'T spray directly onto the disc or cloth though, simply squirt a bit in the air and wave the disc through it for a very light coating. As you said Kev, clean from the inner whole to the outer edge, NOT in circles.

I guess at the end of the day, it's all down to selfishness on the part of the 'depositers'. As long as they get to see the film they don't much care about anyone else. It's also, to some degree, the original marketing message fault that people still think CDs and DVDs can be thrown around the room, used to swat flies with and still work fine...

 

[Ignatious]

Not really the shops fault though. I worked in a video store, the chain that shall remain nameless, for a year and the state of some of the customers was unbelievable. You could ask them a million times and all the stickers in the world would not make them look after the discs. All video stores have a hard core of doley renters who spend all their doley on renting films, treating them like rubbish and then returning them late. Best thing is not to bother. I use my local library, as they have a fairly good selection, is cheaper and the discs are far better treated. OK, so they do not have a million copies of the latest films, but they do have a better range of foreign/odd titles that your average chain store would not touch with a barge pole.

 

[Tafsir]

to stop the renters from treating the discs like S**t, the shop should make them pay for the discs if their come back scratched

their have it on the computers how has taken the film out,how has brought it back

like you say a new TOTR is a new film, i got it from my local Blocky a few days a go,it was so F***** up it was not playing ,so i took it back to the shop,and gave them so,just told them give my money back, or give me a new copy to watch,, the man just stood there ,didnot no what to say,

i just said if ppl cannot look after the the films,make them pay,i just the disc is S**t,it is not worth anying becasue it want play,
put it in the shop player and it would not play at all,so really their a films that is worth a lot of monry,just because somebody was thinking it not mine ,so what do i care

Tafsir

 

[stealther]

I agree totaly with all the above it all boils down to peoples lack of respect for other peoples property. I hate lending my disks out to people for this very reason some of my mates think iam stingy but i dont lend disks to any one with preteens in the house.

Iam on my second bottle of wine this evening theres few better things than having a good whinge while getting wasted.
By the looks of the last post iam not the only one drinking this evening no offence Tafsir good on you for having ago at them!

 

I used to share a house with three friends and it was sort of accepted that we could just borrow each others stuff without asking first. As I had the 300+ VHS collection those got borrowed a lot which I didn't really mind, although I reckon I lost about 10 tapes through it.
Playstation games were the worst though whenever they got borrowed the backs were scratched to buggery although I never had a problem getting any to play.
Only one of my friends seems to have the same sort of feeling towards borrowed posessions as me , that being I treat other people's property with as much (if not more) care as my own and return it in the condition it was borrowed, so I don't have a problem so I don't have a problem lending stuff to him.
So I have learnt my lesson now that I have a growing DVD collection and don't lend them, none of my friends have a multi-region player and probably wouldn't understand the principle of regions anyway, so now I just say they'll are all US discs and won't play on your machine, stingy but hey **** 'em.

 

[gringottsdirect]

Originally posted by James45
stingy but hey **** 'em

.......with you completely.

 

[Ignatious]

Video stores won't make people pay for the damage they cause as the ones who cause the most damage are their best customers, see my earler post.

I remember discs coming back snapped and scrtched and the stores owners still made us re-rent them to other poor suckers. I remember a member of a pikey family scratched his name in a disc and was still allowed to rent other stuff as they spent an absolute fortune between them. If a family spend around 50-60 quid a week on renting stuff, no shop owner is going to risk losing them by asking them to pay for stuff they damage. Cost of disc does not come into it, as they were put back onto shelf for others to rent. If they kept coming back as faulty, they were simply returned to wholesalers for credit.

A shop would rather lose the person who rents the odd film to try before buying, as I imagine applies to most collectors, than a whole demographic of family renters. Simple economics.

Vote with your wallets.

 

[PoochJD]

Ignatious,

As much as I agree with you, the problem is that I don't have a problem or complaint against the store. My problem is with the stupid ignoramuses who scratch and mistreat the DVD's in the first place.

Why should I have to put-up with damaged DVD's, just because some A-hole decides he/she wishes to mistreat it?!

Why should I have to go elsewhere to rent DVD's?

Why should I be put-out because of their idiocy?

My store is a little local store, and it's nice. It's just been renovated, it has nice staff who are really kind and helpful, and their stock is good for the size of the store. So why on earth should I be forced to change, due to another person's incapability of handling DVD discs carefully?

Pooch