poirot

I recently bought Season 2 of Boston Legal. The set contained 7 discs, one of which is apparently defective. This results in 2 episodes which feature segments (roughly 15 minutes each) that are unplayable.

It's been less than 30 days and I still have the receipt. However, I've never actually returned a boxset to BB, so I'm wondering what their policy is for exchanging an item with multiple discs.

Will I simply be able to swap out the problem disc, while keeping everything else? I really don't want to return the 6 discs that work perfectly, or trade for another set that may have packaging in worse condition.

Thanks for any insight here.

Trevor

Completely YMMV. We could take 1000 people and return a boxset to 1000 different BBs on the same day and each of us would have a completely different experience.

I do know that you have the right to a working product, so, at a minimum, you have the right to return it for a new copy. You then have 30 days to make sure that new one works.

speedy1961

In my experience I'd say bring the entire boxset in for an exchange.

Trevor's advice is solid in stating that different tricks will occur at different Best Buys.

shyguy1083

not sure how best buy will handle it, but i had the same issue with gilmore girls s6 from target. got it during black friday for 14.88 or whatever and had to exchange it about two months later when i finally got to watch it because disc 2 was messed up.

i really didn't want to exchange boxes though because i had gotten a pristine box, so i was hoping that i would be able to just siwtch out disc 2. it was the only defective disc, so why not just switch that out and not take a chance the other new discs might be defective, right?

so i get up to the cashier, let her know the situation and ask her if we can just open the new one up, exchange disc 2 and be done. she looks at me with this blank stare and calls over a manager/supervisor because she doesn't know what to do. and then the manager says that they can only exchange the whole item out. i was like, fine.

so they exchange the whole item out, but then they slice open the shrinkwrap, almost fucking up the box in the process! luckily there was only a little knick from where the letter-opener-thingy they used scratched the box. and they proceed to hand me the box saying they have to open it because open electronics have to be open to prevent ppl later returning those or whatever.

but if they were going to open the box set in the end, why didn't they just do what i asked and switch the discs out!? i dunno. it didn't make sense to me.

Rex Power Colt-Robot Man

Arent you asking a little much out of the store in that situation? I mean look at it this way. I go and buy a book at a chain store. Chapters 3-6 are blurred from faulty printing. Now, do I go back to the store and ask for someone to remove those messed up chapters from a brand new book, or just replace the whole thing? Why bust open a sealed product, that nothing is wrong in it, to get 1 disc? How would they return that for credit? They could return your defective set for credit, but most likely not one that they've opened and taken part of it out.

poirot

Thanks for all the replies.

shyguy, this is exactly the kind of logic you'd think would apply here. Unfortunately, I think I'd probably receive the same result you did.

Don't you think that's stretching for a comparison just a bit? Even if my keeping the original box would somehow cause a return/computer issue for them, I don't see how swapping out the inner discs would.

Is it so unreasonable that I be allowed to keep the discs that were playable? Why should I have to quickly watch all 20 hours again, just to make sure I didn't receive a second defective disc? If one does present another issue, that would just lead to the store having to open a 3rd boxset for the price of 1.

ozzfan84

You really think pages glued and bound in a book are the same thing as separate and individual DVDs in a box set? In that case, we could also compare it to how it would be insane to buy a live animal with a broken leg and then ask the store to take a good leg off of another animal and attach it to the one you own.

They're going to open it either way, and they're going to be sending back one opened box set containing one disc that doesn't work either way. Or are you suggesting that the manufacturer will be able to look at it and tell that disc 2 was not the original one from the box set and refuse to credit the store?

Rex Power Colt-Robot Man

Look, I was just trying to make the point that it seems overkill to have to bust open a new box set just to swap out a disc. I figured the more outlandish the better. Kind of the the "throw the baby out with the bathwater" kind of situation. But I guess it missed the mark. All I was saying was, isn't it easier to just get a new set than go thru the hassle of having to get a new disc? I could understand if say, it was a bad pressing and the DVD company knew about it and you could send in for a new disc (think the Superman tin). I get that. But to be a (sorry to offend) petulant customer about getting a disc out of a perfectly good set, thats just a little overkill. I also understand your trepidation about making sure that the new set wouldn't be messed up as well, but dont you think the argument that you would have to watch all fictional 20 hours of programming again would be a liiiiiitle OCD? Just a thought.

But OP ... do what ya want. My vote, just swap it out at the store. It shouldn't be a problem with the recipt.

tylergfoster

Usually the clerks WILL allow you to both select the replacement box (so you can pick one in the best shape) and open it. When they grab the knife, just ask to open it yourself, and make sure they know you know it has to be opened in the store right there, and I have not had problems with clerks allowing me to do that.

But I think explaining that you're a collector and you just want to switch the one disc because your set is in nice shape would work too. I do that as well and generally don't have any trouble.

crweb

I've had decent luck in simply getting the defective disc changed out. They still have an open box-set with a defective disc. And even though I may love a series I really don't want to sit thru "x" number of episodes/disc's I just watched to make sure the disc's in the new box-set aren't defective.

mr. b_dvd

My advice, call the store manager and explain your situation clearly. I think that would be your best bet at getting your disc swapped out. You might also ask the manager if you can ask for him/her or ask for someone specific so that they will know what you want to do when you go in.

And, Best Buy (along with almost every other retail store out there) will not let you walk out of the store with an exchanged sealed dvd boxed set/movie. They have always opened up the new one so that there is no possibility of exchanging it later for a refund. I also think that switching out one defective disc for a good one is no big deal to the store. They are going to be sending in an entire boxed set for credit whether the disc gets swapped out or not.

Personally, I can understand you wanting to keep the set you picked out. I know there are people out there that don't give a rat's a## about the packaging, but there are also collector's out there that will leave something on the shelf if the packaging is not mint, it's the last one, it's on sale, they have been eyeing it for months, and they might really want it. I'm just as guilty of the latter.

I would probably just go to the shelves, pick out a mint one if they have one, and let them do the whole swapping cases thing and not bother trying to switch out one disc out of the set. Then I'll just check the one disc first to make sure it's okay, and make it a point to watch the whole series again. That is why you bought it, right? You do like the show enough to watch them again, don't you? You didn't just buy it to watch just once and let it sit on the shelf forever did you? You're not just watching all your dvd's just once are you? My lord man, netflix is your answer then. (okay, okay, I'm just messing with you here).

Are you certain it is the disc though? I remember my dvd player wouldn't play some new movie I just bought, and I took it back to get another one. When it started happening more frequently, and I kept getting "defective" dvd's, I realized I have a pretty old dvd player and I have not cleaned it. I took like 6-8 movies back at different times and to different stores not realizing that the disc was fine and the player was the problem. I bought a dvd cleaner kit, ran it a few times, and puff, no more frozen discs (at least until I had to clean it again). Have you tried the disc on another dvd player or dvd drive on a computer? When is the last time you cleaned your dvd player? Good luck with whatever you do.

JckRbbitSlim

I've had numerous instances of purchasing a multi-disc set from my Best Buy in Jersey. Namely, I bought Tales From The Crypt Season Three (missing a disc) and the James Bond Collection Volume 3 (Goldeneye flopping about, terribly scratched up). I was nervous they wouldn't let me replace the dvds (esp. the Crypt one) but they just told me to grab a new one mint off the shelf. I wouldn't worry, they'll probably be ok about it.