Poor condition DVDs

badger · Guest

Hey all,

I signed up for a 30 day trial with this lot last week, and of 6 DVDs I got (all new), Man on Fire didn't even get to the menu due to scratches, Sky Captain was in a dreadful condition (it looked like a coaster from underneath!) and froze at many points requiring me to unplug the dvd player completely(!), and the Manchurian Candidate also had a few read issues.

3 out of 6 doesn't make for a good percentage!

Hope others have a better experience if they decide to take up the offer.

Bigman · Joined: 09 Jun 2005 Posts: 2

This service is terrible for DVDs!

Every DVD (bar one) that I've got in the free trial from them has been covered in so many scratches its untrue. I suspect its to do with the fact that they do not have the paper cloth thing in their DVD cases, so the plastic scratches them during transport.

Also on my first return, I returned all three DVDs at the same time. One was recognised as returned and the other two were not. One of them has now been resolved (over a week after I reported it) and the other has yet to be resolved (now almost three weeks after reporting).

At the end of the day, it IS a free trial, but don't expect uninterrupted seamless watching, or even for some of the DVDs to work at all.

All I'm hoping is that I won't get charged for the DVD they claim has never arrived at the end of my trial.

EDIT - Also the selection here is pretty poor in comparison to all the other companies I have trialed with. They tend to have the new releases, but fail miserably with everything else, and anything which is even vaguely non-mainstream.

Jiltz · Joined: 20 Apr 2005 Posts: 164 Location: UK

I've heard so much bad news about them (regarding the condition of their discs), that I've never been tempted to join their on-line service.

Last year, I joined up at one of their shops for their in-store offer of 3 discs for £5 and there was always at least 1 faulty disc.
After a few month of this, I stopped renting from them, but I always wondered what they did with the faulty discs........

Perhaps they use them for their online rentals......

So even with the offer of a free month, I don't think I could stand the grief.

Slider · Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 9

Im currently with them on the 30 day trial too, and of 6 rentals, 2 were scratched such that they wouldnt play properly. Very dissapointing.

I just dont understand why they ruin £10000s of stock, for the sake of a peice of cloth in the dvd case??? mental

Jiltz · Joined: 20 Apr 2005 Posts: 164 Location: UK

LaZ · Joined: 29 Apr 2005 Posts: 58

The rumour is that they buy in their DVD's from other companies discarding scrached/damaged discs.

Don't know if there is any truth in this but going by everyones comments on many forums it sounds about right.

Slider · Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 9

Well after recieving 2 scratched dvds today, which wouldnt play, and another which still hasnt arrived in about a week, i tried to cancel. Ive reported the LIP and theyve done nothing, wont let me cancel account till its sorted. Grr Never again

Slider · Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 9

Just cancelled my own way...

scuzbucket · Joined: 04 Aug 2004 Posts: 5

I had similar problems with this outfit a few months back. Although they sent out my requested DVD's with an exceptionally good turnaround speed, I also had too many faulty unplayable discs. I think their problem lies in the way that they attempt to clean their DVD's.
After a few months I decided that a 50% plus failure rate was nonsense and moved on to Lovefilm. I should have stayed with Global!!