Criterion Flash Sale

[paulgeneacepeter]

Criterion has a 24 hour flash sale 50% off going on right now.

$9.95 to ship first item and $2.95 for each additional item.

My question is what is everyone's experience with duty? They are shipping through DHL which I know will charge customs. Can anyone tell me how much they have spent and what was the customs charge?

[Big_White]

Originally Posted by paulgeneacepeter

My question is what is everyone's experience with duty? They are shipping through DHL which I know will charge customs. Can anyone tell me how much they have spent and what was the customs charge?

My last order from Criterion was for 5 titles and the grand total, with shipping, was $126.60 USD. The order was shipped via DHL and I didn't have any additional charges at my door.

[brandon_260]

All through the last 4 flash sales, I've never been hit with duty. Two of those orders totaled over $100.

[BLUCanadian]

When I put the Zatoichi box set it my cart, it said they would ship with UPS... I immediately removed it from my cart!! lol
I think you are fine as long as UPS does not handle your package

[paulgeneacepeter]

Did some calculations and because the exchange rate is so bad it doesn't seem worth it to order right now. Hopefully it will get better for the next Barnes and noble sale.

[Habsfan77]

Originally Posted by paulgeneacepeter

Did some calculations and because the exchange rate is so bad it doesn't seem worth it to order right now. Hopefully it will get better for the next Barnes and noble sale.

Same for me. I would really like to order some Criterions, but I calculated that for 4 criterions it would come up to around $28 CDN per title. However I don't think that the Canadian dollar is expected to rise anytime soon...

[alull]

same for me.
i was excited when i got the email about the sale but it's not worth it for me right now. i'll be looking out for the B&N July Sale instead.

[Hayabusa85]

Between the dollar stinking it up right now and the shipping I went back to just buying some Criterion at HMV instead of waiting for 50% off sales in the US. But did take advantage of this for the World Cinema Collection since that was still well worth it. The second I added more than that to the cart it switched from DHL to UPS too which really would have been a deal killer with their ridiculous brokerage fees and stuff.

[will oneill]

Thread Bump: Criterion.com has another Flash 50% off sale until about noon tomorrow.

[murphywmm]

I bought the "America Lost and Found" set as it usually goes for $120 in HMV here and I got it for $62.97 USD. I also got "Frances Ha" which is actually unavailable in Canada due to a different company owning the rights who chose inexplicably to only release it on DVD (Mongrel Media).

[Hayabusa85]

I will care again when they offer a proper replacement program for their incompetence

[will oneill]

Originally Posted by Hayabusa85

I will care again when they offer a proper replacement program for their incompetence

What would constitute a "proper replacement program" to you?

[Hayabusa85]

First of all they need to acknowledge that there are lot more titles with problems than their list.

Second instead of worrying about what works at the moment they need to acknowledge that eventually any disc showing the slightest sign of the bronzing will likely not work.

And most of all even in the US people shouldn't be forced to pay to ship them the defective discs. We didn't mess up. They did (I still find them responsible even if the pressing plant technically made the errors). But it is even more ridiculous expecting Canadians to pay international shipping. If they want to sell their products here then they need to treat their releases like they are not imported.

There are multiple things they could do.

• Send pre-paid envelopes since it is their mistake and they should take the hit instead of the consumer. Any proper replacement program or recall would never have cost fall on the consumer. Can you imagine a car recall from Toyota (And boy do they like their recalls) where people had to ship their recalled car to Japan out of their pocket? Would never happen.
  
• Set up an exchange program with a retailer like HMV that carry their products. Much like how Sodastream have exchange programs for the canisters with select retailers that sell their products.
  
• Set up a way for Canadians to send the discs to eOne who as far as I know are still the distributor here. Not ideal either but at least domestic shipping won't be as ridiculous as international shipping.
  
• Accept photo proof of the bronzing. Wouldn't be hard to have people put in a claim, send them a unique code they print out tied to that e-mail address and then place that printed out code beside the bronzed discs.

The current replacement offer is nothing but a slap in the face IMO.

[will oneill]

For the record, I wasn't challenging you, I actually agree with a lot of what you just posted. That said, Criterion may have a specific reason why they need those discs back. I say this because I wrote to Criterion about both the Eraserhead issue and my faulty Walkabout disc, and in the same response Criterion told me that a proof of purchase was adequate for Eraserhead, but Walkabout absolutely had to go back to them in order to be exchanged. So they must need those discs in order to take action against the pressing company.

[wormraper]

Originally Posted by Hayabusa85

First of all they need to acknowledge that there are lot more titles with problems than their list.

Second instead of worrying about what works at the moment they need to acknowledge that eventually any disc showing the slightest sign of the bronzing will likely not work.

And most of all even in the US people shouldn't be forced to pay to ship them the defective discs. We didn't mess up. They did (I still find them responsible even if the pressing plant technically made the errors). But it is even more ridiculous expecting Canadians to pay international shipping. If they want to sell their products here then they need to treat their releases like they are not imported.

There are multiple things they could do.

• Send pre-paid envelopes since it is their mistake and they should take the hit instead of the consumer. Any proper replacement program or recall would never have cost fall on the consumer. Can you imagine a car recall from Toyota (And boy do they like their recalls) where people had to ship their recalled car to Japan out of their pocket? Would never happen.
  
• Set up an exchange program with a retailer like HMV that carry their products. Much like how Sodastream have exchange programs for the canisters with select retailers that sell their products.
  
• Set up a way for Canadians to send the discs to eOne who as far as I know are still the distributor here. Not ideal either but at least domestic shipping won't be as ridiculous as international shipping.
  
• Accept photo proof of the bronzing. Wouldn't be hard to have people put in a claim, send them a unique code they print out tied to that e-mail address and then place that printed out code beside the bronzed discs.

The current replacement offer is nothing but a slap in the face IMO.

Sorry but plenty of replacement programs require u to send in the disc on your dime. Brave heart gladiator etc...

[alull]

Uhh... UPS. Sorry. I had everything in my cart but I'm gonna have to wait for the B&N sale. (Btw, anyone have any dates for that sale? Should be pretty soon.)

[will oneill]

Originally Posted by wormraper

Sorry but plenty of replacement programs require u to send in the disc on your dime. Brave heart gladiator etc...

Plenty don't, specifically those from Warner Bros. WB doesn't even ask you for proof of purchase, so I'm sure some scoundrels scored some free discs.

[bdpf]

Originally Posted by wormraper

Sorry but plenty of replacement programs require u to send in the disc on your dime. Brave heart gladiator etc...

I've used a few replacement program but even the ones where I had to send the disc back, I was never asked to pay for shipping (Gladiator included)

[Hayabusa85]

Originally Posted by will oneill

For the record, I wasn't challenging you, I actually agree with a lot of what you just posted. That said, Criterion may have a specific reason why they need those discs back. I say this because I wrote to Criterion about both the Eraserhead issue and my faulty Walkabout disc, and in the same response Criterion told me that a proof of purchase was adequate for Eraserhead, but Walkabout absolutely had to go back to them in order to be exchanged. So they must need those discs in order to take action against the pressing company.

Yeah didn't think you were challenging me so sorry if any of that post made it seem like your reply annoyed me. Any frustration in my post is simply about the problem itself and nothing related to your reply. With Well Go USA I seem to have got lucky and only have one showing the bronzing that I have come across. With Criterion I have more than ten with the bronzing including some of the ones that don't seem to be as common. So didn't get as lucky with those. Back then I was still buying them from HMV which were at least $40 a title at the time so the thought of having to pay international shipping for a problem that has nothing to do with me for stuff I already invested more than $400 in is not sitting well at all.

Part of the frustration is also coming from how this site is handling things. I know nobody here is to blame for the problems but I still think the staff could be handling it better. Honestly some of the stuff is making it feel like they are more concerned about not angering a company that sends them discs to review and stuff than caring about their user base the site wouldn't exist without.

First in the main thread about this problem it didn't take pro-bassoonist long to get on the OP's case about the thread title and then claimed there was no disc rot problem while blaming Blu-ray players. Not a great way to handle things.

Then when Criterion partially confirmed the problem with some of the titles the news article wasn't sticky on the main page. Maybe it is just me but something like that should be sticky instead of being bumped off the page in no time. Yet inevitable Blu-ray announcements like Guardians of the Galaxy get stuck for more than a week.

Then uther made a thread in the Canadian sub-forum related to the problems and discussing how the return program isn't very practical for Canadians. Got deleted. I know I don't always see eye to eye with uther but even I know there was no reason to delete that thread

Finally the whole merging of the problem threads shouldn't have happened. The Lionsgate stuff isn't even disc rot and they merged it into that thread Then the Well Go USA stuff has just ended up completely lost in that thread with people more focused on Criterion.

Originally Posted by wormraper

Sorry but plenty of replacement programs require u to send in the disc on your dime. Brave heart gladiator etc...

A lot of them don't even make you send the discs back at all. With stuff like Star Trek TNG Season 1 I remember that all they required was for people to tell them the code on the inner ring. As Will said I am sure stuff like that was abused since anybody could know the inner ring numbers much like we do with the Criterion discs that are defective and make a claim. Which is why something like the unique code scenario I posted could prevent that.

Also using one of your examples even if somebody had to pay with something like Gladiator I wouldn't say it is totally comparable. In one case we are talking disc rot that will eventually render a disc completely unplayable if it isn't already. In another case we are talking a movie that had a terrible Blu-ray release which reviews made clear before people purchased them being exchanged for a better release. That was a good gesture regardless. But even then as the last few posts have said even with Gladiator I don't remember people having to pay. But I have also only had minor problems that I could live with such as audio bugs and because of the transfer had avoided stuff like Gladiator. So can't speak from my own experiences. Usually if I have a problem I just return or exchange it like I did with Walkabout until I got a working copy but obviously that doesn't work with disc rot 5 years later including that same damn movie

Plus as the old saying goes, "Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right"!

Also as Will said they are allowing proof or purchase for Eraserhead so why the different rules for this? Yes he may be correct that they need them for legal reasons but that still doesn't mean the cost should fall on us. Plus if they need evidence for a lawsuit photographic evidence should hold up. People not sending their discs for replacement because of the cost involved? Not so much

[roar]

Glad to hear people aren't getting dinged with duty or additional charges with DHL. $9.95 + $2.95 per afterwards is kind of making this deal less appealing, if they included Pre-Order items I might be talked into it though, there are a couple I'm interested in.