Scream Factory Blu-ray Discussion Thread

[NoirFan]

Originally Posted by redrunner97

There was a small almost un-noticeable crease in the slipcase...

Careful, it bites!

[RiFiFi1955]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

Careful, it bites!

Wasn't that the tagline for the movie Teeth.

[Jhicks11]

Here's a custom I made to go along with the Scream Factory titles for JC's The Thing, can't take full credit though, I used a custom from R1DB for the top... I like it a lot though!

[joe_b]

Originally Posted by redrunner97

You should be a motivational speaker... I was planning on returning Videodrome to Best Buy, but now I won't.
There was a small almost un-noticeable crease in the slipcase... I could care less about most, but omfg its a Criterion movie that costed me 40 bucks.

(okay 35, and really just 20 cuz of the sale)

Eh, I'd consider doing a return if there was cosmetic damage noticeable enough that I could explain it to the clerk without looking like a neurotic.

I understand your situation, as that Videodrome slip is sort of essential to the look if item (assuming it's the same as the DVD version and is designed to resemble a Betamax tape without it). Unlike Shout Factory, Criterion is totally aces in situations like that. They replaced a damaged digipak case for me a couple years back. They also exchanged a defective blu-ray and gave me a $10 gift certificate for my troubles. Their customer service was amazing.

[redrunner97]

Originally Posted by joe_b

Eh, I'd consider doing a return if there was cosmetic damage noticeable enough that I could explain it to the clerk without looking like a neurotic.

I understand your situation, as that Videodrome slip is sort of essential to the look if item (assuming it's the same as the DVD version and is designed to resemble a Betamax tape without it). Unlike Shout Factory, Criterion is totally aces in situations like that. They replaced a damaged digipak case for me a couple years back. They also exchanged a defective blu-ray and gave me a $10 gift certificate for my troubles. Their customer service was amazing.

Yeah, its the beta packaging... I might do it now. I'm a sucker for criterion perfection. My SF slips are dented but I havent returned any so far, I think its just because its Criterion.

[jrsl76]

Scream Factory and Shout Factory just took a huge drop in my eyes.

They produce good product, but I have consistently received F***d up, dinged and dented O cards. I contacted them asking if I can get replacements and offering to pay for them and the CS rep I got would not help me.

I'm really questioning giving them my money now. It f***ing bullsh*t.

[NoirFan]

Is an 'O card' the same as a slipcover? The only damaged item I ever received from them was a rumpled Terror Train poster, which they promptly replaced.

[redrunner97]

Originally Posted by zbinks

Yes.

"O-Cards" sounds like a Japanese horror movie...

My question is, is there a service that manufactures slipcovers for companies or do they do it on their own?
I have wondered that, but google hasn't been any help. It just keeps telling me about dirty couch slip covers.

Does anyone know?

[joe_b]

Originally Posted by redrunner97

Does anyone know?

Not sure, but companies like Universal and Disney have sent out replacement slips to customers before, so I just assumed an outfit like Shout Factory would have access to their own product components and would be able to help a brother out. Instead, the guy told me I was only guaranteed to get the "o-card" when buying from them directly (not that they'd receive a bigger profit that way, of course).

Originally Posted by jrsl76

I'm really questioning giving them my money now. It f***ing bullsh*t.

I'm still pleased as punch with their output lately (as a horror junkie, how could you not be?), but I'll probably wait for a good sale before throwing any more money in their direction.

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by jrsl76

Scream Factory and Shout Factory just took a huge drop in my eyes.

They produce good product, but I have consistently received F***d up, dinged and dented O cards. I contacted them asking if I can get replacements and offering to pay for them and the CS rep I got would not help me.

I'm really questioning giving them my money now. It f***ing bullsh*t.

SF and Olive slips seem to get more damaged than those from the major studios. Based on my observation, it would appear the SF slips are 1-2 mm thicker than the actual case itself which allows the slip to partially slide off the case during transit. Without the case acting as a supporting structure the edges of the slips get dinged up or crushed pretty easily; especially if they're shipped in bubble envelopes. It also provides enough room for the corners of the mid section of the slip to get damaged/squashed/dented/creased. It would seem if SF could reduce the thickness of the slip so that it fits the case better the slips would incur less damage.

[jrsl76]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

Is an 'O card' the same as a slipcover? The only damaged item I ever received from them was a rumpled Terror Train poster, which they promptly replaced.

Yeah, it's the slips. I've ordered them from Amazon, Deep Discount, Import Cds, etc. No one has been able to send them to me without damage.

It's very frustrating. If Scream/Shout is positioning themselves as the Criterion of Horror/schlock/etc. which may not be their intention, but is how I viewed them (That's for me is a compliment), then it would be nice if they had similar high quality customer service.

[jrsl76]

Originally Posted by rdodolak

SF and Olive slips seem to get more damaged than those from the major studios. Based on my observation, it would appear the SF slips are 1-2 mm thicker than the actual case itself which allows the slip to partially slide off the case during transit. Without the case acting as a supporting structure the edges of the slips get dinged up or crushed pretty easily; especially if they're shipped in bubble envelopes. It also provides enough room for the corners of the mid section of the slip to get damaged/squashed/dented/creased. It would seem if SF could reduce the thickness of the slip so that it fits the case better the slips would incur less damage.

I agree. Between the few Shout Factory titles I have and the Screams, I have 16 or 17 titles and the intention was to purchase many more. This really pisses me off. It's just piss poor Customer Service and really puts a stain on them as far as I'm concerned. If I could actually buy these in store (with the exception of Barnes & Nobles who throw their damn slips away), then I could avoid this, but their distribution is 99% online.

[RandyK]

It's funny you mention their customer service. I had a problem that I contacted them about today (see top of the last page) and they got back with me a few hours ago telling me that it would work out okay. So I haven't had any trouble with their customer service so far.

[joe_b]

Originally Posted by rdodolak

SF and Olive slips seem to get more damaged than those from the major studios. Based on my observation, it would appear the SF slips are 1-2 mm thicker than the actual case itself which allows the slip to partially slide off the case during transit.

I noticed that my Halloween III slipcover is not as thick as the others and fits more snugly on the case. I don't know why they changed it... and if these companies continue to issue collector enticing slipcovers, would it kill them to wrap the whole thing in shrink-wrap to prevent them from "being removed" in various warehouses? The Shout Factory rep even mentioned they had asked Barnes & Noble on numerous occasions to stop removing the o-cards from their titles.

I believe my copy of "The Boogens" from Olive arrived with shrink-wrap over the slip and it arrived in great shape, despite the poor packing materials (I'd ordered it from Deep Discount).

[05vette]

With all the negative feedback about Scream's customer service coming to light, I'll post a positive experience. I bought The Funhouse and Terror Train from Hastings. The slips I received were oxidized as if they were sitting in water. I contacted Scream from their website and asked if there was anything they could do to replace them. They responded promptly stating 2 replacement slips were on the way. I didn't even have to pay for shipping and they came in premium packaging in mint condition. I guess you just gotta get lucky and hope for a decent rep.

[joe_b]

^ Well, that makes me all the more pissed about the response I received.

[MTRodaba2468]

Just received my copy of Lifeforce in the mail today. Still waiting on The Howling...

[HDMe]

Originally Posted by joe_b

^ Well, that makes me all the more pissed about the response I received.

I grant you that a better response could have been provided... but you didn't buy direct from them, so your actual complaint (missing a sleeve or damaged sleeve) really should be directed to where you bought them.

I'll give you an example.

Disney.

I had some Disney movies bought elsewhere that did not come with slips (and I had a damaged one as well)... I called Disney and they will sell them to you if they have them in stock... once they don't, you're out of luck.

I ordered some movies from Disney (movie club) and they had damaged slipcovers... I called Disney, and since I had bought from Disney they replaced those for me for free.

So... thus far in this thread it seems like Shout is doing more for people who are buying direct, and only guaranteeing the slips if you buy direct. That actually makes sense.

Now... where I agree with you, though, is you should have gotten a better answer... either they could have sold you some (since you said you were willing to pay) OR they could have said that they didn't have any extras.

[joe_b]

Originally Posted by HDMe

I grant you that a better response could have been provided... but you didn't buy direct from them, so your actual complaint (missing a sleeve or damaged sleeve) really should be directed to where you bought them.

Like I said, I'm not going to be so anal as to return an item over a missing slipcover. We all know Barnes & Noble won't do squat about it anyway. Since others have had luck contacting the manufacturer, I thought it might be worth a shot. Sometimes that method works, sometimes not.

Originally Posted by HDMe

So... thus far in this thread it seems like Shout is doing more for people who are buying direct, and only guaranteeing the slips if you buy direct. That actually makes sense.

Except they apparently agreed to replaced the slips for the person who said they bought them from Hastings.

[LordCrumb]

Hey so a fellow New Zealander mentioned in the AUS/Kiwi area, that Amazon now won't ship Shock/Scream titles. They keep coming up "cannot ship to your location".

Any idea why that's started to happen? I've got several pre-orders placed before that message started appearing, hope they still get here.

Hope it's not a permanent thing, because I have almost all of their titles now and don't want to stop lol