DARK SHADOWS Discs DAMAGED AGAIN & AGAIN!!

Anybody else having this problem? I am CONTINUALLY receiving Dark Shadows series discs damaged and Unplayable!!! Talk about frustrating!! :( Even the Replacement discs they send have been damaged! That happened 5 times in a row!!!!! At this rate, I wont be able to finish watching the series. If I would have known this, I would have just bought the series. Netflix, get it together!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Every disc I have received in the past month has been damaged!!!!!! I`m getting ready to cancel my membership.

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by ColdOne on November 5, 2009 at 8:08am: And who, pray tell, figures out that disc X requires a special barcode while disc Y doesn't?

Let me know if you decide you ever want to have a serious discussion on the topic.

Permalink Reply by Pihk on November 5, 2009 at 8:29am: This is as serious as I can get about this topic.

If you wanna talk Kubrick or Italian exploitation cinema of the 1960/70s then that's different.

Permalink Reply by Spindaddydad on November 5, 2009 at 8:57am: Dismissing it out of hand is about as stupid as saying that you can't ship DVDs through the mail
Not dismissing it. Just assuming that NF is smarter about DVD-by-mail processes than you or I and that they have already explored ways of saving money.

Permalink Reply by ColdOne on November 5, 2009 at 10:24am: Not dismissing it. Just assuming that NF is smarter about DVD-by-mail processes than you or I and that they have already explored ways of saving money.

Once again you're treating me as if I were an idiot who knows nothing about Netflix or how such a business works in general. You're parroting back to me what I've said in this forum a hundred times (not that you didn't have the thought independently). But you're misapplying that rule here and it's a cop-out, IMO.

I stipulate that Netflix as a whole knows more about the business than we do and that they certainly have more data with which to make their conclusions. But that does not mean that they have thought of and implemented every possible good idea. And it certainly doesn't mean that we can't discuss such an idea here (perhaps mimicking their own internal debates, albeit with less data).

You can certainly throw that response in the face of someone who presents an obvious idea, insists it's trivial to implement and claims the benefits to Netflix are abundantly clear. "Netflix would already be doing that" is a fine response to such an inane poster.

But that's pretty freakin' far from what I've said here. Something is broken here (not just discs) and I've suggested various possible ways to improve things as an alternative to just eliminating certain titles from their catalog. Perhaps the problem is so low on their radar it's not worth the time and money to solve it, but it certainly is a problem.

I have no doubt that Netflix has considered alternative packaging and they probably reassess their decisions on a regular basis. I'm sure they gave it serious thought when they started their blu-ray service. It would have been quite reasonable for them to ship BDs with a different envelope, but they've decided (for now) that the breakage rates on those more expensive discs were acceptable if they just charged more for BD service (and it turns out most customers are okay with that).

My suggestions are not that Netflix should do something (and that they're idiots for not doing it right now!), but that they could do something.

Suzanne is not going to get that kind of honesty from Netflix support ("Yes, we could solve your problem but it's just not that big of a deal for us and we'd rather just keep sending you broken discs than solve it.") But I offer that service for free.

Permalink Reply by Sock Puppet on November 4, 2009 at 2:26pm: You think repeatedly sending out broken discs to Suzanne is cheaper than spending an extra 20 or even 50 cents to protect those discs?

It has not been determined that NF is in fact sending out broken disks. For all we know the local PO may have an old sorter that is breaking all the disks as they are processed through. So they are starting out fine from Netflix, but getting broken during sorting.

Not to mention something I read earlier in the thread about the news report.. As secretive as Netflix is about the locations of their DC's... I find it hard to believe they would allow a reporter into one, (that was performing poorly) and to allow said reporter to portray their operation in a negative light.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Suzanne Thacker on November 5, 2009 at 3:06am: That section of the news footage inside the DC was from a different time. btw, it looks odd the fact that they are so secretive about the locations of the C`s.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sock Puppet on November 5, 2009 at 10:25am: So the reporter was basically making up a story based on old outdated footage? Must have been a Fox Affiliate.

And no, it doesn't look odd at all. Imagine if thousands of subscribers knew where the DC was, and "thought" "Oooo I can take my movie right to the DC, save a day in the mail, and get my movies faster!"

And Yes... Yes people are really that stupid....; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Pihk on November 5, 2009 at 11:20am: So the reporter was basically making up a story based on old outdated footage? Must have been a Fox Affiliate.

Did they also imply that Obama was ultimately to blame?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Suzanne Thacker on November 6, 2009 at 10:22pm: um.. when they were speaking about the local DC, they showed Netflix promos, commercials, etc. and happened to show the inside of the inspection department, which huge heaps of discs in the red envelops flooding over desks with workers very quickly removing them from the return envelops. Not inspecting. Just removing. Seeing this is what they call `inspection`, no wonder unplayable discs get put right back into circulation to the next customer.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sock Puppet on November 6, 2009 at 10:45pm: Still find it hard to believe that if it were that bad at your particular DC, that Netflix wouldn't do something about it.

Here watch this... It shows what every video I've ever seen from inside a Netflix DC shows when the disc is removed.

The news station could easily have edited any video to look like what they wanted to portray. For all you know the footage was a pile of broken discs being checked a second time to make sure they are broken. ;-)

Or this one if you dont want a NF bigwig giving the tour...

Permalink Reply by Suzanne Thacker on November 6, 2009 at 11:19pm: :) Thanks for the interesting footage. The problem of cracked & unplayble discs is coming from somewhere tho... I just recieved two more today.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sock Puppet on November 6, 2009 at 11:57pm: It has to be your PO.

Here's an idea how the PO works, if you watch, around the 1:30 mark, you can see the sorters. Imagine NF movies flinging through those and landing into a slot (based on the +4 zip), then being manhandled and stacked in crates?

My mail person told me that "most" po's know that the Netflix envelopes do not play nice with the automatic high speed sorters, and because of this, when they get them at my PO (and any in my state) they are hand processed, simply because they know where they are going, and will simply put them into the bin for Netflix.

But he also said that is not a PO rule requiring local processing mail processing centers "to" hand sort the movies. Sometimes its logistics, other times its amount of mail that processes, sometimes its older machinery (or lack of), he even said sometimes its just a stubborn postmaster who refuses to "give special treatment" to the postal services largest customer.

I think if you'd really like to get proactive you need to file a written complaint with your local (your zip code) post master. They are required to investigate and reply. If the reply you get is unsatisfactory, then you CC your original complaint and the reply you got to your states post master general. Just make sure to give as much information as possible (dates are very helpful). Trust me, if your local postmaster doesnt care to investigate properly, your state postmaster general will.

Of course this doesn't mean it will change anything overnight. but if they just stopped using the high speed sorters at the processing center... I suspect that would solve 99% of your issues.