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Does anyone else get a lot of box-sets that have scratched discs?

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Does anyone else get a lot of box-sets that have scratched discs?

Old 12-30-08, 11:46 PM
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Does anyone else get a lot of box-sets that have scratched discs?

I don't know if I have bad luck or what, but i've been buying a lot of TV box sets lately and am having a hard time getting sets on the first try that don't have bad circular scratches on at least one of the discs. I just bought Simpsons season 10 on sale today at Target and had to return it because two of the discs had scratches. I opened up 2 other sets at the service counter and had to mix and match discs between the sets to finally get one without a messed up DVD.

Then the Eureka S1 set I bought the other day had the same circular scratches on one of the discs. Same with one of the Rescue Me seasons I bought before Christmas and same with Simpsons S4 and S5 that I bought on sale at Target a month ago. I'm getting sick of having to return this stuff, but I don't want to spend my hard-earned cash on something that is damaged from the factory, and I don't want to risk keeping them and then having them skip and freeze if I don't get around to watching them until after the return period.

Do I have really bad luck with buying these things or do these box sets have absolutely horrendous QC? I never, ever get bad discs on regular movies that ship in keepcases.
Old 12-31-08, 06:13 AM
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i get them all the time. i'm cursed.
Old 12-31-08, 07:04 AM
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Just that dang Mash Martinis and Medicine Complete Collection. Many of the disks looked they were dropped on the floor and stomped on. Almost all had a horrible curved scuff mark from being piled on top of each other in a cool looking but tight package. I had gotten a great price on it but I still returned it. It wasn't worth the frustration.
Old 12-31-08, 08:33 AM
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That's why I don't usually buy big box sets; something often gets dislodged, scratched, or dented. And a lot of the time, it simply isn't worth it.
Old 12-31-08, 11:06 AM
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Yep. To get a perfect set these days is a rarity.
Old 12-31-08, 11:12 AM
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I don't buy TONS of boxsets but I have my fair share. I guess I've been lucky in that it really hasn't been a problem for me. If I'm buying in-store, I still do the shake test to avoid floaters. I've put away many a set due to failing the shake test.
Old 12-31-08, 02:48 PM
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Thanks for the input so far. I do the floater test as well and still get bad discs. In fact the Simpsons S10 discs sit pretty firm on the spindle and do not rotate around at all and I still had to mix and match between 3 sets to get a non-damaged one, so it's obvious that this stuff is occurring at production/packaging.
Old 12-31-08, 02:52 PM
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I don't think I have ever got a scratched disc in a boxed set. Weird.
Old 12-31-08, 02:54 PM
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I get scratched discs all the time. I just actually recieved in the mail today, discs that I sent to the company to have replaced. I hate buying big complete sets because of this nonsense.
Old 12-31-08, 02:56 PM
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This drives me crazy. I cannot understand how it is that difficult for someone to take a disc and place it into the holder without scratching it. I have found that "disc made in mexico" imprinted on the package seems to increase your chances of this happening. I have found that Target is the most understandable about this, along with Amazon, who will send replacements usually prior to receiving the damaged copy. Then you can do the switcheroo and mix and match as needed. DDD are the worst when it comes to this. They refuse to ship until the entire set is returned. So you have to hope that the next set will be perfect, which it usually isn't. That is why DDD has lost my business on multi disc sets and Amazon gets 90% of it.

If a disc becomes dislodged during shipping, it is understandable that scratches might happen. However, carelessness by the production employee is inexcusable in my eyes. Although I am guessing the people inserting the discs aren't exactly living the high life and probably could care less if someone who is spending a sizable amount of $ gets a scratched disc or not. I'd love to hear from someone who has first hand knowledge as to how the scratching happens during packaging.
Old 12-31-08, 03:43 PM
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I agree that Target and Amazon are the best about returning these. Target is about the only B&M store that doesn't treat you like an anal-retentive psycho when you return multiple box sets at a time because they all have scratched discs.

As far as how they become scratched, i'm betting that the discs are kept on big spindles in the factories and if a piece of foreign matter gets between two of the discs and they are rotated that the one on top pics up the scratches, as most of the damaged sets I get have those awful circular scuff marks that would indicate a disc had to be rotating when it got damaged.
Old 12-31-08, 03:44 PM
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I've gotten loose disks a few times, but only scratched ones once or twice.
Old 01-01-09, 01:40 AM
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I've had an occasional floater but nothing too bad.
The only time I had to return a set was with a Buffy season that had a couple floaters. One disc had a large scratch that made it unplayable.
Old 01-01-09, 07:34 AM
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Originally Posted by afultz075

As far as how they become scratched, i'm betting that the discs are kept on big spindles in the factories and if a piece of foreign matter gets between two of the discs and they are rotated that the one on top pics up the scratches, as most of the damaged sets I get have those awful circular scuff marks that would indicate a disc had to be rotating when it got damaged.
Interesting theory on the circular scratches. That sounds logical. A lot of times I seem to get random line scratches or smudges/fingerprints. (Take a bite of hoagie, put in a disc, lick your fingers clean, put in a disc) This is what I am imagining.
Old 01-01-09, 12:40 PM
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My only nightmare was the Battlestar Galactica HD DVD set. Even the replacement sent by Universal was scratched to hell. Other than that just a disc here or there, but I did have terrible luck with HD DVD TV sets. Outside of the disaster than was Battlestar I had at least one disc in every set I bought that had a scratch. Thankfully they all played, but BD ended the worry over scratched discs and that is one reason I welcome the Blu-ray overlords.
Old 01-01-09, 01:34 PM
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Originally Posted by afultz075
As far as how they become scratched, i'm betting that the discs are kept on big spindles in the factories and if a piece of foreign matter gets between two of the discs and they are rotated that the one on top pics up the scratches, as most of the damaged sets I get have those awful circular scuff marks that would indicate a disc had to be rotating when it got damaged.
That makes so much sense!
Old 01-01-09, 02:52 PM
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I have been pretty lucky myself. I just bought the sopranos set and didn't have any scratched discs as had been reported by some
Old 01-01-09, 03:07 PM
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I guess I've been lucky too. Even the floaters are usually unharmed.
Old 01-01-09, 03:17 PM
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Originally Posted by darkside
My only nightmare was the Battlestar Galactica HD DVD set. Even the replacement sent by Universal was scratched to hell. Other than that just a disc here or there, but I did have terrible luck with HD DVD TV sets. Outside of the disaster than was Battlestar I had at least one disc in every set I bought that had a scratch. Thankfully they all played, but BD ended the worry over scratched discs and that is one reason I welcome the Blu-ray overlords.
I'm guessing the Battlestar was due to the ridiculously horrible packaging. That's the reason I imported the Australian HD-DVD that came in the regular cases.

Oh, and on topic, I get scratched discs once in a while, but not enough for me to complain about it.
Old 01-01-09, 04:49 PM
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I recently bought a double feature DVD that included Big Trouble in Little China and Planet of the Apes. The Planet of the Apes disc was scratched and scrambled on a few scenes.
Old 01-01-09, 05:45 PM
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Ive only gotten 1 box set with a scratched disc Alias the Complete Series. It was on disc 14. And all the other box sets ive gotten (over 350) haven't had any scratches that are bigger then a tiny thing and none that would ever affect play.
Old 01-01-09, 08:10 PM
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I haven't had anything worth returning in a while. Whenever I buy a box set in store, and I buy a good amount, I always shake it to check for loosies. If I don't hear anything, it is good to go. I don't check each disc. As I watch the set, if it plays fine, I don't think twice about it. If there is a problem, then I address it. The last time I had a problem was about three years ago, and I returned the set to tower for a replacement. Problem solved.

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