The Criterion Collection

[hainesdogg]

So has there been any buzz about the early films of Pedro Almodovar are coming to the collection?

[Rayjg]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

I used to put toothpaste (the white one, not gel) on my DVD's to help with scratches. It did help get some discs to play, and also smell minty.

Originally Posted by Rayjg

With or without fluoride.

Well, we’re waiting.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by Sifox211

Polaroid, iirc. Not sure if he’s still around…

ah yes... I remember Polaroid. whatever happened to him w/ Amazon is documented in this thread if that is particular interest to anyone. it was discussed here a few years back.

If I remember correctly, he is a huge digipack proponent.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

And then there's me honestly trying to get a refund/replacement off amazon for damage goods and end up being banned. Takes the biscuit! Even though I sent photo proof!

yeah.. just do an advanced search for keyword 'ban,' for user Polaroid. 6 years ago.

[SpiritMeAway]

Originally Posted by Ender14

No, it was an actual product sold as DVD repair. I used it on my kid's DVD's and 99% of the time it made them viewable again.

You're not the only one! I recall PSOne discs used to scratch crazy easily, and my copy of Final Fantasy VIII needed extensive buffing with a product like this after the fifth or sixth time I played through it. Worked like a charm, at least until the seventh or eighth playthrough!

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by Sifox211

It definitely happens - we had a UK member on here who was banned for too many returns, even though almost all were due to poor packaging by Amazon. The ban is remarkably broad too - you can’t re-register using a different email or a relative’s details (not sure how they achieve that one though!).

I don't dispute that he was probably banned but I would have to imagine it would be for an egregious amount of returns for product that wasn't actually damaged or tons of stuff that was opened and returned leading them to suspect they were burn and returns.

Either that or it was a long time ago because nowadays it's a common thing for people to buy tons of stuff on Amazon and return it. A big one is clothing, people will buy items in a variety of sizes and return the ones that don't fit, and "Keep or Return" videos are commonplace nowadays.

[koberulz]

People are buying Kindle books, reading them, and then returning them, resulting in authors getting their money clawed back months or years after they've been paid.

Amazon isn't losing any money here.

[gbm82]

Originally Posted by koberulz

People are buying Kindle books, reading them, and then returning them, resulting in authors getting their money clawed back months or years after they've been paid.

Amazon isn't losing any money here.

the policy is awful but lets not Hudson this...https://www.npr.org/2022/06/27/11071...-return-policy

[mande2013]

Regarding the scratch issue and UHD upgrades of some favorites like 8 1/2, La Dolce Vita, Barry Lyndon, Eyes Wide Shut, and anything by Antonioni, one can always hope Criterion are beaten to it by Carlotta, a UK boutique, or the rights holders in the case of the two Kubrick films. I can't imagine Carlotta, BFI, Eureka, Arrow, WB, etc would be substantially bested by Criterion in terms of UHD video quality. I'm not sure what Cult Films' track record is in this department, since they tend to be the UK Fellini home. The only UHD they've done is Suspiria I think. I don't know how it turned out.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by koberulz

People are buying Kindle books, reading them, and then returning them, resulting in authors getting their money clawed back months or years after they've been paid.

Eh what, I doubt you can return a book you've read fully, or more than a certain % of.

I did hear that sometime ago Amazon would be adjusting author fees based on what % of a book people finished, which is quite awful because longer or more intricate / difficult books would obviously take more time to read, and to think that an author would be docked for that is absurd, especially if no specific complaint from the reader goes to the kindle store.

[strumdogg]

Originally Posted by DWeickerSr

In regards to my statement about requesting replacements. Since the scratches are occurring during the manufacturing/assembly, it is just as likely that any replacement disc will also have scratches (given how prevalent these scratches are among so many different companies, maybe all the workers at the assembly plant were issued bright shiny steel wool gloves).

When I recently contacted Criterion directly about a replacement for a scratched disc, I actually asked about this. Their response:

We carefully inspect all replacement discs that are shipped directly from our office, and try to make the process as smooth as possible for our customers.

So, it sounds like they (at least) have that covered.

[WillieMLF]

Originally Posted by Sifox211

Polaroid, iirc. Not sure if he’s still around…

Amazon probably put a hit on him, so I wouldn't expect to find him....

[WillieMLF]

Originally Posted by strumdogg

When I recently contacted Criterion directly about a replacement for a scratched disc, I actually asked about this. Their response:




So, it sounds like they (at least) have that covered.

I figured they were shipping from the scratch-free pile.

[jkoffman]

Originally Posted by Sifox211

It definitely happens - we had a UK member on here who was banned for too many returns, even though almost all were due to poor packaging by Amazon.

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

ah yes... I remember Polaroid. whatever happened to him w/ Amazon is documented in this thread if that is particular interest to anyone. it was discussed here a few years back.

Well, that was an interesting deep dive. There are certainly some outliers with Polaroid, not to mention that online business and policies have changed substantially in the 8 years since he was banned from Amazon.

• UK buyer. This would affect the costs for Amazon US to pay for return shipping and send a replacement to an international customer.
• Returns to Third Party Sellers. He said he bought hundreds from sellers and had issues returning with them. I rarely buy from Amazon sellers anymore.
• Banned after 10 returns. Since I've returned 3 times as many already, volume isn't the issue.
• Banned in 2014. A lot has changed since then. Online shopping was already rising exponentially, and then the pandemic saw a 43% increase in e-commerce from 2019 to 2020 alone. Other signs that policies have changed: Just keep your returns: Stores weigh paying you not to bring back unwanted items

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by strumdogg

When I recently contacted Criterion directly about a replacement for a scratched disc, I actually asked about this. Their response:

So, it sounds like they (at least) have that covered.

I wonder if the back of Criterion's offices are like the back of bakeries at the end of the day, and filled with scratched/discarded (but totally playable) Criterion discs. Also for the record I totally don't dumpster dive for bagels and donuts

[dvining]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

I wonder if the back of Criterion's offices are like the back of bakeries at the end of the day, and filled with scratched/discarded (but totally playable) Criterion discs. Also for the record I totally don't dumpster dive for bagels and donuts

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by jkoffman

Well, that was an interesting deep dive. There are certainly some outliers with Polaroid, not to mention that online business and policies have changed substantially in the 8 years since he was banned from Amazon.

• UK buyer. This would affect the costs for Amazon US to pay for return shipping and send a replacement to an international customer.
• Returns to Third Party Sellers. He said he bought hundreds from sellers and had issues returning with them. I rarely buy from Amazon sellers anymore.
• Banned after 10 returns. Since I've returned 3 times as many already, volume isn't the issue.
• Banned in 2014. A lot has changed since then. Online shopping was already rising exponentially, and then the pandemic saw a 43% increase in e-commerce from 2019 to 2020 alone. Other signs that policies have changed: Just keep your returns: Stores weigh paying you not to bring back unwanted items

Yeah, there's definitely a lot of factors here. I forgot where I read it, either SlickDeals, or CheapAssGamer, but someone there was banned from Amazon for returning too many expensive items, like cameras, and I think a television. That was well over 10 years ago. I imagine it's similar to a credit score in the sense that some returns are high impact and others are low impact/negligible. I don't imagine movies and other relatively inexpensive product returns from time to time make that much of a difference, but if you're frequently returning higher-end items then your account may get flagged. I believe someone on this site who notoriously returns stuff all the time got a warning from Amazon about that behavior, but I don't think they were outright banned.

I haven't heard of anyone being banned in quite some time too, so perhaps their policy has changed, and become more lax in that regard.

edit: Found it. It was member bentvalve in 2015. He returns a lot of stuff, and also contacts Amazon frequently for credits/refunds.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...&postcount=513

He got this email from them back then

Hello,

We're writing to apologize for the number of issues you've experienced with your shipments. Your correspondences with us indicate you've required refunds on a majority of orders for a number of reasons.

Through the normal course of business, the occasional problem is inevitable. However, you seem to have had an unusually high rate of problems in your account history.

When unusual account activity such as this comes to our attention, we'll evaluate each account on a case-by-case basis to determine if additional action is necessary, including closing the account. We’d prefer to work with you to avoid that inconvenience, as we do value your business.

If you have any questions in the future regarding your account, please write to us directly at cis@amazon.com.

We appreciate your cooperation and understanding.

Best regards,

Account Specialist.
Amazon.com

[Rayjg]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

I wonder if the back of Criterion's offices are like the back of bakeries at the end of the day, and filled with scratched/discarded (but totally playable) Criterion discs. Also for the record I totally don't dumpster dive for bagels and donuts

By the way, those aren’t poppy seeds on your dumpster bagels.

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

I wonder if the back of Criterion's offices are like the back of bakeries at the end of the day, and filled with scratched/discarded (but totally playable) Criterion discs. Also for the record I totally don't dumpster dive for bagels and donuts

It's Criterion, so we know what happens with scratched discs:

[Show spoiler]

[jkoffman]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

edit: Found it. It was member bentvalve in 2015. He returns a lot of stuff, and also contacts Amazon frequently for credits/refunds.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...&postcount=513

He got this email from them back then

Taking these on a case-by-case basis, your reply at the time probably indicates the reason here:

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

I remember bentvalve bragging on numerous occasions about Amazon giving him partial refunds, and also disregarding other members' concerns when they talked about how too many returns could lead to a ban.

Judging from those 2015 comments from others who had to contact CS for issues, I imagine this was also before Amazon decided to allow customer returns/refunds in just a few clicks. Even that process has changed in the customer's favor.

Another comment in that thread that sounds reasonable to me:

Amazon internally "grades" a customer each time you interact with a customer service rep. Each customer is assigned a profitability metric based on recent purchases and how much it cost to solve the customer's returns, among other factors. You've triggered some warning threshold based on their formula.

edit: Made my way to the end of that thread and there hasn't been a post since 2018, so that's also quite telling how things have changed.