Am I Being Too Anal?
 

So I got a bunch of dvd's for xmas but the problem is that the people that get them for me are clueless as to how anal I am about my dvds. For example, I got Mr. & Mrs. Smith Unrated except it didn't have the slipcover. And then I also got the King Kong 3 disc but the slip case was all jacked up. And those are just 2 of them, there are another 3 that have "problems".

So of course when I go to Bestbuy to spend some giftcards, I see both of these with either slip covers or ones that aren't all smashed up. So my question is how do you guys handle this type of situation. I'm sure I could just go in and say "uhh I forgot to get a slip cover or this slip cover is damaged can I just exchange it?" would work, though I'm sure I'd get a weird stare or two. Do you guys just suck it up or do you go and exchange it or just ask the person who gave the dvd's to you for the receipt so you can exchange it legitmately.

I don't want to look ungrateful but I'm sure others on here have gone through this type of situation before. I'm just gonna start asking for gift cards from here on out.

Why not go to Best Buy, purchase the DVD's you are having problems with, then return the problem DVD's. You get your DVD's fixed, you save yourself any embarassment, and you don't have to ask anyone for their reciepts. Problem solved.

I was going to suggest sucking it up, but king slug has a great idea. If it bothers you that much (which i completely understand) then you should take his advice.

Not getting a slipcover wouldn't bother me, but when I get things as gifts, I generally like them to be as 'nearmint' as possible.
You could do the return-on-new-receipt thing, but depending on the damage they may say you damaged it and not take it back.

This is what I would do.

Yeah. That whole scenario seems just as awkward. I guess you could say that someone bought it for you although you aren't asking for an exchange but your money back. :shrug:

It's harder to exchange things now, especially at Best buy. Basically your disc itself must be defective in some way for a return or exchange to be granted. However, if the slipcover is part of an exclusive promotion like target does alot with 3-D, lenticular slipcovers, then maybe they would let you if the customer service rep. you're with is nice.

I feel the same way, why can't people just take a quick look at the case?

my feeling is if you're that picky (which in some cases i am), it's worth the investment timewise to purchase the replacements, and return the ones that you don't want on that receipt. buyer's are none the wiser and the lackeys at BBuy don't care as long as you have a receipt. if the dvds are sealed they really don't give it a second glance.

I'm wondering the same thing. I received a box set for Christmas. It was pretty beat up, but I went ahead and opened it. Now I'm wishing that I didn't. I really want a replacement, but since its opened I don't know what the store will say. Plus I really don't want to upset the people that gave me this set by asking for the receipt. I know they tried, and it might have been the last one so they went ahead and bought it anyway. No clue, but the beat up set bothers me more than I thought it would when I opened it.

Slip covers? As in one of those cardboard slip covers over an amaray case? Hmmm... I wouldn't worry about it.

Can you get the original reciept? Just tell the family member and the store where they got it from that one of the discs freeze up and you should be able to exchange it. This is the easiest time of year to exchange merchandise, especially without a reciept. 9 times out of 10 the store will gladly exchange it without a reciept, aslong as you get the same item.

Well, I think you are being picky, which isnt a problem. However, if you are picky (like myself) just dont ask for dvds, because you will always end up getting something you dont want, or educate people in what you want. My wife and mother in law are the only people who would buy dvds for me and they know what to get (its been a long road to get there). Of course now, with HD-DVD its pretty much easy :D..

best advice. I gave up asking for DVD's long ago because i'd end up w/ full screen or just not what I wanted. It's easier to ask for gift cards

I wouldn't worry about it.

I'd simply suffer for the 15-45 seconds I'd be looking at the slipcover/bruised package, and move on to enjoy the several hours of content on the DVD itself.

As a general rule, whenever someone has asked that question in this forum... the answer is usually yes.

Maybe the gift-giver did the damage themselves just to check later to see if you returned 'em. Love and trust is at stake here!


;)

That's one thing I hate about getting DVDs as gifts, or even ordering DVDs myself; you can't ensure that you get mint packaging. Usually doesn't matter with regular cases, but slipcovers or snappers or box sets can get pretty beat up.

I'm pretty anal, but I've never gone to the extreme of returning a DVD due to imperfect packaging. I just suck it up. But the idea above about buying another and pulling a switcheroo is pretty damn good. But most of the DVDs I've been getting lately aren't carried in most stores.

Got gift receipts? If so, and you haven't opened them, you should be able to take them back for an exchange. Slipcovers are routinely damaged in-store and on-shelf.

Do these slip covers really add anything to the whole package? Most I've seen are identical to the keepcases underneath.

If we're just talking cardboard slipcovers, and everything else is OK, I'd just pitch 'em if you don't like 'em. You got 'em for free/as gifts anyway. Throw it away and, voila!, it's not an issue anymore.

Another option would be to contact the studio. Sometimes they'll exchange damaged packaging. I was given an opportunity to do that once for something I got from Deep Discount that was dinged up, but ultimately decided just to keep it.

Not being too anal...I would probably go the route that King Slug suggested if this was a problem that I had!

I know that when I purchase a dvd that has a slipcover, I select one that has a slipcover in mint condition. Sometimes you have to go through a stack to find one in great shape. It's part of the package after all, regardless of the purpose of the slipcover, and it's your collection, so I don't see it as being too anal.

wow...I figured it'd be more 50/50...but it looks like it's leaning more toward the "yes" option...now i'm starting to feel ungrateful....:(.....j/k....;)

I hate those things and always toss them out.... So I wouldn't worry about them either. But I can understand wanting to have something that is not messed up... I guess you should go with King Slug's suggestion.

You know I wouldn't say your an ingrate. I used to worry about stuff like that too. After I hit 500 DVDs I came to the realization that at best, AT BEST, I'd be able to rewatch each one once. But the reality was that I wouldn't rewatch most of them ever again. At that point, things like the case became irrelevant for me. Go figure.

Slip covers?! Are they a big deal? I just throw them out!

Maybe by damaging them, they were hoping to make the slipcovers look different than the artwork underneath.

Here is a good fix:

If you have the receipt, go ahead and open the DVD. Put a small scratch on it, and then bring it back to Best Buy and tell them that your new DVD is scratched and won't play. They'll tell you to go and get a replacement, and you pick out one that has a slipcover on it. The UPCs are the same, and the person at the returns counter will never know anything different.

If you walk in there and tell them that you'd like to exchange your DVD because you didn't get a fancy cardboard cover....they're liable to punch you in the mouth. If you're going to live the life of an overly-anal DVD collector (that didn't sound good!), you've got to make some crazy shit up.

Ditto. I got tired of getting Foolscreen DVD's...everyone gives me GC's now. :)

As to the OP...buy new copies and return the ones you already have on that receipt. Piece of cake.

That's just wrong. So wrong.

Both sides are right in this case (how's that for politically-correct internet bullshit? ;) ).

I don't think you're being too picky at all. Lord knows I'd want the slipcover and any other packaging, and I'd want it to be in good condition. After all, this isn't used product we're buying here. However, your mistake was expecting your family to examine DVDs as closely as you do before buying them. They're just not gonna think to do this, even if they know how picky you are about DVDs. You can educate them about things like buying widescreen, and getting a Special Edition instead of a barebones release, but things like exclusives, slipcovers, and condition in general is going a bit too far. Obviously people shouldn't be buying you DVDs that are truly beat all to hell, but what you consider "beat up" may be just fine to others, and regardless of whether they know you're picky about DVDs, they're not even gonna notice things like crushed corners on slipcovers, and certainly not whether the slipcover is missing (of course it's possible that the person who shorted you a slipcover might have needed a replacement themselves ;) ).

I got tons of gift cards this year because people know I buy the DVDs I want as soon as I can, and they don't want to get me something I already have. My wish list on Amazon helps solve that problem (and in case I decide I want a DVD near Christmas I can check to make sure nobody's already bought it for me. Ruins a couple surprises, but I still won't know <i>who</i> bought <i>what</i>), but I'd really hate to have people giving me gift cards out of fear that I'd just return everything because I'm too damn picky. In other words, you can be as picky as you want when buying stuff for yourself, but with gifts you have to appreciate the thought and move on.

If you're asking if it's worth going in and exchanging the items, it depends where you go. Place like WAL-MART ask the fewest questions, but the employees will be the least likely to understand why you want to exchange an item, probably because most of them just take the disc out and let the dog play with the case. Depending on how minor the damage is, there may not be anywhere where an explanation of "I just don't like that scar on the slipcover" won't get you a funny look, but as long as you're bringing back sealed goods, they shouldn't balk, especially if they're easily identifiable as being from that store (or at the very least aren't obviously from elsewhere).

Some things that might help with difficult returns are bringing the item to the store in a bag from that store, perhaps even with a receipt that you suddenly realize is "the wrong one", which might buy you some sympathy from the CSR or CSM. Another option would be to tape a small piece of giftwrap to the item -- if done correctly, it sells the "it was a gift" excuse, and might grease the wheels a bit. It's particularly useful outside the major holiday season, although you're gonna want to use birthday-themed giftwrap instead.

The reason I keep suggesting WAL-MART is that they have set up a "sticker" system where they slap a sticker on any returns as soon as you walk in the door. Actually, I think BEST BUY does that, too. I'm not sure how well it works at keeping people from trying to sneak past the registers and "return" goods right off the shelves, but it seems to eliminate the dreaded "was this purchased here?" question when you bring the item up to the counter.

An interesting (or not-so-interesting) side note: Just before Christmas, I had to return a copy of <i>Home Alone: Family Fun Edition</i> just seconds after buying it, because while I went through just about every copy checking the condition of the slipcover, I neglected to look at the Amaray case inside. As I was leaving, I noticed that it had a pretty severe case of "cover creep", where the cover insert was shoved pretty far up under the security sticker at the top, which would have left a nice snowy-white strip of torn paper upon opening it. I got the customary "you are <b>such</b> a geek" look, but I was able to find one with both a decent slipcover and well-centered cover, so it was worth it.

Good luck in the future! :)

its really not all that hard to just be specific when asking for DVDs for Christmas...

-NiCK

Well I got the receipt and all, but the store (Target) no longer has the box set. I guess the set that was bought was the last one. They also no longer have a spot for the set, so they want be getting anymore in. The only thing they could do was tell me to try the store across town. If they had it they would exchange it, if not I'm out of luck.

I think a lot of "normal" people (ie those who don't post on DVDtalking websites) probably aren't that concerned about the packaging, as long as it's not decimated. I know lots of people care a whole lot about and spend lots of money on some things I totally don't care about (you should see the crowds and excitement each winter at watching a bunch of big guys run around a field) Or maybe they bought the last copy.

no you're not being anal at all. You wouldn't buy a shirt with a rip in it or a car with dents in it. When i buy my dvds i look for the one in best shape.

Hey, I thought <b>I</b> held the patent on car metaphors! ;)

You're right, except that the defects that bother most of us when it comes to the condition of a DVD aren't anywhere near as obvious as a ripped shirt or a dented car. A ripple in the paint would bother the crap out of most really picky collectors, but the average customer wouldn't even notice, even if they were buying it for someone they knew was very picky.

EDIT: That said, anybody who wants to buy me a new car is welcome to. ;)

You're not being too anal, and I would do what king slug said.

spoken like a true 15-year old!

^ Nah, I'm only 12. I just act older. ;-)

And come on...I was only kidding! :)

It's not like Mr. & Mrs. Smith or King Kong Extended Edition are going to be worth anything in the near future. If you're wanting them for your own collection & need them that mint you obviously are overly anal. I'm a DVD collector, 850+ currently, but a slip case is nowhere near as important to me as say a bonus disc with extra content. A scuffed case, a bad sticker tearing the slip sleeve or case, those are issues to piss & moan about, but when it all comes down to it unless you're going to try to resell them off on eBay no one is going to condem your collection for it.

You can always take them to GameStop or a Pawn shop where they don't give a crap as long as the discs are good & get your $3 each.

If you opened them, then take them to Walmart & see if you can get an exchange because they all 'Skip' or were 'Loose in the cases'. Walmart doesn't jump your bones if you're doing an exact exchange. Hell if they're not open Walmart will even give you a giftcard & let you buy something else without a receipt.