I just got season 1 and 2 of MASH from DDD. The first disc of season 2 is a floater. I'm getting really sick of this. The last four or five orders from ddd have all contained a floater. Returning these discs costs me time and money and has become a real pain in the ass. This is not an ocassional thing, it happens often and has almost become expected. I always liked their prices and once enjoy their service. What a shame it has come to a point where it no longer pays to patronize them. It is simply easier and cheaper to shop at a B&M...(especially considering the cost of numerous returns). I don't know what they're doing... playing football with them in the warehouse I guess. Can I be the only one having terrible luck with these guys lately?

I too have had many loose DVDs from DDD. I have never had to return one, however. Some had scratches, but they played fine.

I hate floaters too, but every place that sells DVD's has them. I can understand the frustration and saying it costs you time but don't see where it's costing you any money. Save the box the DVD was shipped in and DDD sends you a pre-paid mailing label. Where's your cost?

That's one of the very few advantages to buying at a B&M store. You can shake the case and detect floaters before you buy. However most B&M's don't have the selection and prices you can get at DDD.

Just a thought. :-)

You can get floaters regardless of which online vendor you are dealing with.

Have you stopped to think that it might be postal workers who are playing football with your DVDs rather than DDD staff?

regards, Tim...

I've received many floaters or rattlers or whatever you want to call them over the years. Take some CD cleaner and clean them. As long as there are no deep scratches you should be fine. I've never had to return one and after cleaning it its always worked fine.

If I order a DVD, I have a lesser chance of getting a floater from Amazon than from other retailers. Probably because Amazon uses a special carton box to mail the DVD which offers a little better protection than the regular bubble mailer that other retailers use. That's probably different if I place a big order, then most retailers would use a box to mail the DVDs.

I've ordered probably 200 DVDs online over the past four years (yikes!) from almost every retailer imaginable and I've recieved exactly three "floaters." One in an Alpha case (the only that wouldn't play properly), Taxi Driver in a snapper (had one scuff that I was able to wipe off), and one in an Amary that wasn't scratched at all.

Never had a problem with DDD. The one I had to return was from DVDExpress, and the other two were from Reel.

Oh, man do I miss Reel and their coupons!

But to keep the post on point, I recently got a couple of floaters from DDD. I have always blamed the post office for floaters but I have also received a couple of items from DVD which have me slightly concerned about DDD's warehouse/pre-shipping handling. One of the items was the 5 disc Sonny Chiba set which comes in those hugely thick amray type cases. I ordered it along with two other DVDs and received a box that was in pristine condition as were the other two dvds. The Chiba set was however crushed so extensively at the top of the spine that pieces of the amray case were falling about and rattling inside, as were all of the discs. There was no way that the damage could have ocurred after it was placed in the box. Another time I ordered a single dvd and the box appeared to be in fine shape but, when opened, it looked as if the dvd had been stepped on. I can't be sure about that one but it too may have been damaged prior to shipping.

I expressed my concer to DDD customer service and they credited my account after I sent the items back but they never said anything about my concerns about their handling. I've used them since and received 1 amray floater (Joan of Arc) and a couple of other discs with no problems.

I don't automatically send floaters back. I open them, inspect them, then play them. If they play fine I smile and put them on the shelf.

I found the floater problem at DDD to be no worse than other online stores. The most problems I experienced with floaters were with DVDs shipped in envelopes. Seems like about half of them shipped by this method are floaters or have a broken cases. Fortunately when this happens most of them have little or no scratches and play without any problems.

In my experience, ddd has way more than their fair share of floaters, at least lately. Far more now than in the past. As to cost, this is the return policy ddd provides on their site: "If you receive a defective DVD, please enclose a brief note stating the nature of the defect and whether you would like a replacement of that title or a credit. Please use the label on the reverse side of the packing slip and send it back to us via USPS Parcel Post." The label they refer to is NOT pre-paid. Where did you get this pre-paid label?
I have over 300 dvds and most were purchased online. The number of floaters I have received from ddd exceeds the number from all other vendors combined. That makes me suspect the problem lies with them.
I once did this but then I realized thet someday I will sell some of these (think hd dvd) and discs that are scratched to hell do not sell as quickly or bring as much money as a pristine disc. I paid for a new undamaged item and that is what I expect.

Here's a test. Take a useless cd and put it in a keep case. Take it outside and play football with it. If you locked it in place in the case to start with, it will still be locked in place when you're done; at least, that has been my experience.

If you're getting 'floaters' it's because the manufacturer didn't lock the dvd in place to start with or because they used a case with a defective lock. Blaming DDD is just a little ridiculous if you think about it; they didn't make the dvd, they're only selling it.

Easy solution to the online returns problem. Go to your nearest B&M store and buy the same title that you received with a floater. Take the new DVD to your car swap it with the floater DVD. Take the floater DVD into the store with your receipt and get a refund. It's that simple...

The Amaray keepcase is prone to releasing the disc if it is squeezed on the sides even while closed. This can happen if your media mail package is sitting at the bottom of a sack of mail and the other packages are resting on top of it. *squish*

I received 3 DVDs from DDD yesterday. Two of them (the $4.99 titles) were floaters. Gee.....Were they ever scratched good.

The CSR told me to throw them out and he'll send two replacements.

BTW: The prongs in the middle of these two cases were very strange. I could see how the disc would pop out in the mail. Of course the kind of cases used are not the fault of DDD. I just hope the replacements are ok. If the prongs in those cases are the same (which is likely) there is a good chance they'll be loose too.

In my experience, about 80% of the discs I get from dvdempire are "floaters". Everyone else is pretty good.

Shaking the discs at a B&M isn't always the answer though, as sometimes, they have inserts or ads or registration cards or sometihng else that makes the same noise. The best DVD case I have ever seen is the one for Shaolin Soccer.