Chad

Here's the scenario:

I received "Gone Baby Gone" on Blu-ray earlier in the week and it wouldn't play because it arrived with a fairly large crack in it. Naturally I requested a replacement disc and it too arrived with a somewhat smaller crack and was also unplayable. So I requested a second replacement disc and it arrived today with a slightly smaller crack in the side! What are the odds of this happening to 3 discs of the same title in a row?!

I've had a couple of instances of cracked Blu-rays on two separate titles in the past, but obviously nothing like this. Has this been happening to anyone else? I don't recall hearing about a defect with that particular title. Perhaps there's a nut at one of the warehouses unhappy with Ben Affleck's directorial debut? Are cracked Blu-rays the new DVD rot??

I'll give it yet another shot and hopefully the 4th time is a charm.

zombeaner

I had a similar issue about a year ago. I received two consecutive copies of "Undead" not BD, just DVD, both had cracks starting in the center ring and they accused me of lying when I asked for a refund.

*edit* These were previously viewed copies I was buying. I have received numerous cracked DVDs as rentals, but never three of the same one in a row.

rexinnih

I've been ordering from them for quite some time with most being BD but haven't had any problems yet. (knocks on wood)

Chad

EdTheRipper

Just be cautious reporting so many discs as damaged. I reported a few discs as lost, LEGITIMATELY and they placed my account on "hold". I'm sure they have a similar asinine policy regarding this as well.

mndtrp

I haven't had any blu-rays show up cracked, yet. Overall, I don't think I've had more than 10 discs cracked in the 4 years I've been with Netflix.

rw2516

I rented a movie called "Mindbenders" once. The artwork on the disc was coming off in tiny flecks. They were everywhere and stuck to anything. Didn't want to put it in player scared flecks would come off in player. I rubbed off as much as I could but it kept flaking. Reported it as damaged and they sent a different one. It was the same way. It was a different copy because it had more art than the first one. I just sent it back. Had Blockbuster send one, same thing. I gave up.

Chad

Just when I thought it was safe to assume this nightmare was over -- a copy of "Hitman" on Blu-ray arrives with a crack today! And it's that same half an inch or so crack on the outer edge of the disc like the others had. Why is this all of a sudden happening now and only with Blu-rays?

Seriously, what are the odds of having 4 damaged Blu-rays (3 of the same title) in less than a two-week time span? I don't think it's excessive handling by the postal service because all recent DVDs have arrived in the usual good to fair condition. In fact, I can't recall receiving that many cracked DVDs during my entire duration with Netflix ...and I've been a member since 1999! I'm really starting to think these tales of Blu-rays being more susceptible to cracking has a ring of truth to it.

Guess I should probably contact Netflix CS before they start getting suspicious and possibly put my account on hold like with Ed's fiasco. Please tell me I'm not the only one having these problems!

EdTheRipper

Netflix will blame it on the post office. I had a few cracked discs within a matter of a month or so and that's what they blamed it on. They said that the postal service probably had some new people working for them who didn't realize those have to be hand-sorted.

I don't know if you saw the "Anyone's Netflix service starting to suck" thread yet today but I've updated it again. My account was placed on hold for a second time even after the CSR I spoke to assured me it wouldn't happen.

Chad

That's right, another cracked one arrived today!

I finally called in and the CSR did place some of the blame on the post office. However, partial blame also went to the process they use to make them scratch resistant and she said it somehow made Blu-rays more susceptible to cracking. I even asked if there was a possibility that the wherehouse was sending back the very same discs reported as being damaged and she said that was highly unlikely, although possible ...they're only human after all! Don't really know what to believe, but apparently I'm doing the right thing by reporting them and (fingers crossed) there's no danger of my account being put on hold. From what I gathered its a pretty common occurrence for them. Anyway, she was extremely nice and I recieved a free bonus rental for my "trouble".

For those keeping track -- that's a total of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 cracked Blu-rays in approx a 3-week time span:

3 copies of "Gone Baby Gone"
2 copies (so far) of "Hitman"

Yeah, I just thought this was a very unusual circumstance (apparently not!) that deserved its own thread. All I can say is that I'm gonna be extremely pissed if my account is put on hold because my Roku player finally arrived today!

rexinnih

Ok, a week after posting in this thread, I got my first cracked BD (Across the Universe). Did a replacement disc request and they sent it out quickly. Teach me to post.

rich-y

I saw a news report a couple of months ago that said Netflix and the USPS are at odds over the envelope Netflix uses.

It said that the envelope was approved by the USPS but now they want Netflix to redesign the mail piece so the Post Office can avoid costly hand-sorting.

It appears that during testing officials at the Post Office didn't bother to remove the rip-off flap before running the envelope through their machinery.

The news story said that the envelopes don't need hand-sorting when first shipped to the consumer due to the extra rigidity of the complete mailer... but, once the rip-off sheet is removed, it leaves one edge of the envelope "too floppy" to travel through the machines (due to time-consuming jams).

The post office now wants Netflix to pay more for shipping to cover the hand-sorting but Netflix said that this is the fault of the USPS since they approved the mailer in the first place.

So, back to the original post:

Could there be a chance that some of these cracked discs are being damaged by USPS employees as an extra effort to get Netflix to redesign their envelope?

More damaged discs = Netflix monetary losses = Redesigned envelope

Now, I'm not going to blame all damaged discs on the Post Office. Hell, things are going to get damaged in transit no matter what they are or how much they cost. But, here's an example of the way my mailman treats Netflix deliveries:

I live in an apartment building with one of those "mailbox walls" that pivots open so the mailman can drop mail into each slot. Well, it never fails that he drops the Netflix DVDs in first and then dumps the other mail on top of it, Since I get a lot of magazines I often find my Netflix envelopes crushed in the bottom of my mailbox.

Tracer Bullet

Why would the USPS be responsible for ripping off the flap? I've never heard of that.

rich-y

The only time the USPS should have ripped off the flap was during the testing of the envelope.

They should have run the mail piece through the machinery multiple times with the flap (like when Netflix first mails DVDs to customers) and then again without the flap (like the customer does when returning a DVD).

g

I have a related question that Id be grateful if somebody is able to answer. I've been renting HD Dvd's for the past 8 months on netflix. If I turn on blu ray at netflix will it remove all the Hd dvds from my queue? Or can you continue to rent both. I just got a Lg bh200 to add to my toshiba players.

ResIpsa

Do they even still carry HD-DVD anymore? I had a few in my queue and they vanished a few weeks ago without explanation. I assumed it was Netflix pulling them out of my queue because they no longer carried HD-DVD.

As to the question, though, I had both HD-DVD and BRD selected in my preferences and used to get both without a problem. One did not cancel the other out.

g

Yes they still carry most of the HD dvds. They pulled some of the releases, but I still have fifty in my queue that I havent watched yet that I still want to see after I add blu.

bunkaroo

Probably rented 2-3 dozen Blu-Ray's from Netflix - never a cracked disc.

Lastyear

Been renting at least 3 a week from Netflix for several years. Never a cracked disc. Had a couple defective ones though. And one missing which showed up after about a month.

John*D

Maybe they should do what GAMEFLY now does and include a cardboard fanfold holder for the discs to sit in, within the envelope?

Chad

Fixed.




There's something you don't see everyday, eh?

BTW, Rambo was the first new Blu title I've received crackless since this whole mess started. Of course that was overshadowed by broken Blu #6 received today.

Chad

How appropriate - Lucky cracked Blu #7 arrives on Friday the 13th.

I contacted CS again and got the same old bullshit story as if it's no big deal whatsoever along with the obligatory free bonus rental. But, apparently I'm NOT batshitcrazy and this is happening to others:

http://marsbox.com/blog/news/cracked...y-disc-problem

"I recently started renting high definition movies on Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs from Netflix. So far I’ve received 7 Blu-Ray discs from which 5 have been defective. All five of them have the exact same small crack at the edge of the disc. The crack is usually a little more than a quarter of an inch long, somewhere along the edge of the disc."



As well as here and here.

Looks like I don't have the worst streak of bad luck in Netflix customer history! However, if these discs continue to arrive broken, I'm seriously contemplating removing Blu-rays from my queue altogether and just sticking to good ol' durable DVDs for awhile.


Just received "Hollywoodland" on HD DVD and it was completely intact.

clckworang

You just fill out which formats you want to rent. Like in my case, I have Blu-ray, DVD and HD-DVD all selected. And then you rank the order of preference. That way, if something you want is on both HD formats and one is out of stock they will send you the other format.

Anyway, I haven't been renting crazy like I used to, but I have received a few HD-DVDs (no Blus yet) and none of them has arrived damaged yet. I guess I might have something to look forward to when it comes to receiving my first Blu-ray discs from them.

Chad

Forgot to give this a proper ending!

The final outcome was 9 cracked Blu-rays from a measly two titles:

3 copies of "Gone Baby Gone"
6 copies of "Hitman" - It wasn't worth the wait, BTW.






I'm sure most reasonable people would have canceled their account by now. But, again, the Roku player arriving when it did ended being a very nice distraction. While I've decided to NOT remove Blu-rays from my queue altogether, I will be taking a brief hiatus from them and sticking with the DVD versions for awhile.

Now, if this starts happening again I'll ...be more assertive dealing with the CSRs? Form a support group for me and the handful of others this has been happening to? I honestly don't know.

Tracer Bullet

I got a cracked HD DVD from Netflix last week. Didn't realize it until Friday when I went to watch it. Hopefully they have another copy.