The scratches on the discs I'm referring to were so deep you could FEEL THEM. That's just not right. They MIGHT play on SOME players, but who knows about others. In any case, I don't mind light surface scratches but that's not what I got.

Exactly, I was just going to say the same thing....
Adonus.

Frankly, I don't think I'm being picky in the slightest. If I'm buying a DVD at a pawn shop or something and there's a slight scratch or something, I may still buy it, but it's my choice. I know up front that it's been viewed before and sometimes you get imperfections because things happen or people don't take care of their discs. That's the way it is when you buy used. Maybe I'm just being silly, but I think it's perfectly reasonable to expect a brand new, sealed DVD set that cost $75+ to look like it's new. If I paid $30, I would have no room to complain, but I didn't.

Maybe this is just a variation on the old 'handful of nuts and bolts behind the body panel of the Cadillac' gag? Some disgruntled Mexican assembly line worker with a piece of sandpaper.

This is as good a place to ask as any: Were there only 3 seasons of TOS? Meaning the megaset coming out in December will contain the full run?

If I'm paying $100 - or any amount, really - for a DVD or DVD set, I absolutely, positively do NOT want a disc that is visibly damaged. Even if it plays. Who's to say it might play now, but won't play properly in the near future? Why accept damaged merchandise?

We're not talking about a spec of dust or errant hair. We're talking scratches and gouges. That is unacceptable.

P.S. And yes, there were only three seasons of the original Trek.

My company has thousands of employees that do data entry work for us in Mexico. They are by far the most unhappy bunch of people I have ever spoken with (and thats the better paid supervisors).

Their quality is by far the lowest of any workers we have, but you can't beat the labor cost so we just have a small team here in the US that is in charge of researching and correcting their errors. They will do stuff like type curse words and complaints into the note section on documents so you have to check over their work carefully.

The discs coming out scratched doesn't surprise me at all as there are a lot of unhappy (rightfully so if you ask me) employees in Mexico. All the loose discs in the Universal Monster sets were from Mexico too.

Unbelievable. I'm now 0 for 3. The third set came in and of course the first disc is scratched...AGAIN. I don't bother looking at the other ones because the rest on my set are fine. Anyway, called Amazon and they won't send anymore sets, which I can kinda understand, but it's just really frustrating. Essentially, my options are either to send back all three sets I have now, or I can keep one if it plays and they'll give me a discount on the set I keep. Not sure what I'll do. It is all that I could reasonably expect from Amazon, as they've bent over backwards, but it still gets me pissed off at Paramount.

I feel everyone's sentiments here...I went to a Best Buy today, since the first 2 discs had scratches on them, expecting to be able to swap the discs. Had to open 2 sets and asked to swap the good ones with the bad ones in the set I brought in. He said no...his reason? He was afraid the "serial numbers wouldn't match" (??????)...Had to settle for the 2nd opened set. This is very frustrating, as consumers, we shouldn't have to deal with this crap.

By the way, anyone interested in the bonus disc? Sell or trade...let me know.

I guess the only thing you guys can do is just watch the discs and hope they all play with no problems. The quality control of DVDs in general has gone downhill now that it has become extremely mainstream and the best advice I can offer is just to accept the scuffed or scratched disc if it plays properly. Trust me, you will all be a LOT less stressed out.

I started a thread a few months ago about finding more discs scratched that were made in Mexico, and the dvd talk snobs almost had a heart attack when they read it. It's good to see my theory is starting to come true with this thread about the Star Trek dvds. I've bought other dvds that were made in Mexico, such as Mystic River, that have been in bad condition.

Plain and simple, if you buy a dvd at the store as "NEW", it sure better be in "NEW" condition.

Has anyone who bought their set at Costco seen any of this scratching and scuffing?

I remember when the Universal Legacy sets came out, the ones from Amazon were "rattlers" and all scratched, but the ones I bought from Costco were pristine. I'm wondering if Costco gets theirs from a difference source.

Update. I just picked up the Star Trek:TOS first season boxset from Costco ($81.99). I examined all of the discs. All are perfect and pristine.... no scratches or scuffs.

I bought mine at Costco and it looked perfect to me as well. Interesting, and only $81 to boot! (I distinctly remember the "Made in Mexico" label on the back, too).

hehe, I had a "Oh man I'm f.... umm, screwed" look on my face when I turned the package over and saw that "Made in Mexico" sticker.

Makes perfect sense to me. I've actually tried this at BB on three different occasions over the past several years when I received badly scratched discs in box sets (to the point that they had problems playing correctly).

The first two times they refused to let me do this (even when I suggested it). The second time actually got pretty heated, as the manager asked me what I was trying to pull?! Yes, this is a scam I pull - I go from state to state and swap out DVDs from box sets hoping to bring the movie industry down one box set at a time!!!

Fortunately, the third time, the CSR helping me at BB even suggested that I grab a new box and swap out the bad disc for a good one before I even said anything! Needless to say, I commended her (and told her manager) for her smarts and initiative.

While this sounds like a good solution, I guess my experience has been that it's much harder to convince others of this without looking suspicious.