Best Buy the worst for purchasing STEELBOOKS.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by Brian81

When they're not offering items IN STORE and they're EXCLUSIVES, yes a person has a right to complain.

Originally Posted by A Tortured Duckling

Sorry, but that's silly talk. It isn't always black and white, and many steelbooks can't even be purchased in-store, no matter how much a person wants to. As consumers we're all at the mercy of all these other companies and how they treat the product we buy. They're well aware that there is a collectors market for these steelbooks but they simply don't give a shit about those who collect them. All of this bullshit could be avoided if said companies would pack things up properly for shipping, and store them in a way that would at least lower the chances of them getting damaged, if not eliminate it entirely. Let's also not forget about spine slashes, which are 100% caused by sheer negligence and, again, shitty packaging. The consumer is not at fault for buying something online and expecting it to arrive free of any damage.

There are many companies and even more individuals who sell steelbooks online without any issues whatsoever. All it takes is a bit of consideration for the product and the people buying it.

If you don’t like their online service, then don’t order from them.

But if you know going into the purchase that they have a bad record with shipping steenboks and you order from them anyway, then it’s on you.

Yes...it is that simple.

[amarster]

All of my steelbook were purchased from the store when I was able to pick up all the copies and compare them like a detective, lol. I've never ordered a steelbook online because I heard about this being a huge issue from friends. I guess the days of going in store and doing this are over now with best buy basically shutting down in store shopping for media going forward. Such a shame.

[moviefan84]

Eh, I've had about a 90-95% success rate with steelbooks with little to no damage. Spine slashes don't really phase me. The worst I had was an in-store pick up that looked like it had been thru a war...literally.

[qwertyuio]

Even going to the store and picking a nice looking copy is still not enough. I've had countless items damaged under the paper wrapper that only hides defects around the top and bottom edges, and entire back side of the steelbook. Often deep scratches or dents have become more and more common. This is not entirely on best buy either, quality control at the steelbook manufacturer is on a steep decline. I've seen several machine defects that were 100% caused during manufacturing not during transportation. 2020-21 has been roughly at 40% failure rate for damage.

[C.C. 95]

I own over 1500 steelbooks. All purchesed through various vendors around the world - all delivered. I have had maybe 5 damaged through the mail.
If you are constantly getting damaged steelbooks It is your local (or regional) post responsible... Look into it.

[Lsalas76]

I have been buying steelbooks from Best Buy for many years now mostly choosing store pickup but some were mailed. I can only recall receiving a about 5 damaged steelbooks(including ones with spine slashes). The ones I recall are Halloween(1978), Guardians of the Galaxy 2, the Rambo Collection(the steelbooks are fine but the case has some dents), lord of the two towers 4k(has a spine slash), and Captain Marvel(had a spine slash). Those were all mailed. Anything I chose for store pickup have been mint.

And luckily I never received any damaged steelbooks from Zavvi either.

[Blu Steel]

Even though I am very picky and look very closely for any kind of damages I should say that I've had about a over 95% success rate with steelbooks in mint condition. BestBuy preorders usually come packed separately so I rarely had issues with it. Only when there is sale and I order a bunch of steelbooks and all of them are shipped together there’s a bigger chance of getting damaged ones as they damaged during shipment.

[traths]

I've ordered a few Steelbooks from Best Buy and have had no issues......So far.

[aj101097]

Originally Posted by C.C. 95

I own over 1500 steelbooks. All purchesed through various vendors around the world - all delivered. I have had maybe 5 damaged through the mail.
If you are constantly getting damaged steelbooks It is your local (or regional) post responsible... Look into it.

You sure are lucky! I’m also well over 1500 steelbooks and I’d guess I have 10%..15% that have arrived damaged. By far the worst offender is Amazon
and fortunately they have an easy return and replace policy. Will not order from Amazon Italy anymore after 18 steelbooks received with various forms of damage...from dents to bent and mangled. They actually sent me 6 steelbooks all shoved in a large envelope...twice! In my experience it’s almost never the PO at fault just very poor packaging. Long ago just accepted this is just the way it is and will never change and improve. I pity those who must have perfect copies...this is a high stress hobby for them!

[AeroK]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

But if you know going into the purchase that they have a bad record with shipping steenboks and you order from them anyway, then it’s on you.

Sorry Ray, I just had to...

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by traths

I've ordered a few Steelbooks from Best Buy and have had no issues......So far.

you just jinxed yourself

[d3nt0n]

None of the steelbooks I've gotten from Best Buy online have had any damage to them.
Though I live pretty close to one of their warehouses, maybe that helps.

[wjasoncul]

Originally Posted by Tristen

I’ve never had any damaged steelbooks in
all the times I’ve had it shipped to my home.
There was one problem when I went in on
release day to pickup the steelbook of Frozen
2. I go to the counter desk and she looks
up my name and she says unfortunately we
had a limited supply shipped in and whatever
amount it was, it had already sold out.

They didn’t have enough copies to reserve
mine in store. So I’m like then what’s the
point of pickup option then, I could’ve had
it shipped instead. So she looked up other
locations in my area and sure enough, there
was one store who had enough copies to buy.
After that I just stuck with online only when it
comes to buying popular steelbooks, when
Frozen 2 was red hot and nearly impossible to
find in best buy stores

Are these song lyrics? What tune should we be singing it to?

[CrowKiller]

Originally Posted by carnival

How many times do you go to a Best Buy store on steelbook release day only to find most of their inventory on the shelves are damaged? How many times do you have Best Buy ship STEELBOOKS to your homes only to get 80% of the time damaged steelbooks. It’s awful. The prices they are asking are getting higher and the corporation’s don’t care if they are damaged.! Well if your tired of it then fight back! STOP buying from Best Buy, target, Walmart . If you do receive a damaged one then send it back via their pre paid envelope or return labels. Don’t go to the store . Because the employees DO NOT CARE! I’ve written to corporate at least 3-4 times . I still till this day have not received a response ! Something has to be done about it. I know for me I stopped buying the 34.99 and above steelbooks. Unless I go to a store and you physically inspect them myself. Best Buy pushes on their website now education on collecting STEELBOOKS. Blah blah blah. Don’t mean anything if your manufacturers are sending them to you damaged and your employees toss them around like trash. If you want an undamaged steelbook most of the time there are reputable sellers on ebay. Just ask around and you will find some. You may pay a little extra but they protect them the way you want to receive them. Ok I’m done ! Thanks

Most people don't care about cases for things. It's a case. It's meant to hold the disc safely. If the disc is alright, then why care about the case? Most people have that mentality. You'd be surprised how many used steelbooks I find in the wild that got lots of scratches on them and even dents. Do you think some Best Buy employee with crap pay will care?

Thankfully for me I think 95% of the steel art I see is awful and it's usually the same disc inside I already have. I'd go as far as calling steelbooks a scam, unless it was a part of an all new release, not the same disc in a different package. Typically I don't buy steelbooks unless it's for something I don't have and it's cheaper than the regular version. There have been a tiny few exceptions.

[avexhype]

Best Buy Corporate is actually trying to phase out 4k discs at my location. No doubt very dumb founded of them.

[50strat54]

I'm trying to move on from steelbooks especially now that the MCU arc is over I did buy WW84 because I'm weak and there were a lot in the store.

I do have to say I've gotten very few bad ones from BB through the mail or in store pickup. In the good ol' days obviously I got to look at stock in the store for the best one like I just did for WW84.

The one really bad time was that Deadpool 2 steelbook and for some reason I opened it in the store and it just literally fell apart in my hands, the spine came off, it was bad. They saw it and gave me a new one especially since I was still in the store. I opened that one too and it was fine.

Maybe the difference is that I can live with some small imperfections. I looked at a bunch of Fury steelbooks but obviously I didn't look close enough there was a spine slash and that was on me as I should have looked harder [did teach me a lesson to look harder!].

When it comes to those $4.99-$9.99 Disney/Pixar steelbook blowouts I was going to be much more forgiving given the price and that many weren't in store for exchange.

The five I bought all came stacked in one bubble wrap [yikes I know] but none were damaged. There were some nicks here and there but most were 4K and I also wanted the codes so a little bumps and bruises I was going to live with it.

I laughed when many were upset that they got a $4.99 4K steelbook and there was some slight damaged to it cursing out Best Buy.

I did see one Frozen 4K that was really mangled, not sure if I would have kept that one or returned it but the 4K code alone was worth keeping it and I'm sure the discs would have been ok. I might have even bought a second one, tried to sell the code and give the discs to a relative or friend because that's essentially two Frozen 4K steelbooks for $10.

So I'd say I'm happy with the steelbooks I've received from Best Buy.

When Gruv had that blowout/mistake for 4K steelbooks, again all came in a bubble mailer stacked and they were in great condition...lucked out! and again the 4K codes negated any concerns about damage especially for that universal classic monster steel [not 4K but still really happy to get that many codes and discs for under $10]

[Brian81]

I've gone back and forth between slips and steels. For a while, I went for slips and as I got more into steels, I wondered what was such the deal about slips as they're just cardboard and the usually have ugly banners and text on them. But as time goes by and the number of damaged steels I receive go up, it's such an expensive thing that I'm starting to want to go for slipped copies more often again. It does seem with 4K that the slips aren't as ugly, many times they look quite nice, and they tend to have less marketing printed directly on the fronts compared to standard BDs. Well, except for the top banner of course, listing the formats. Perhaps I just don't like seeing "DVD" mentioned on them.

[slimdude]

Originally Posted by avexhype

Best Buy Corporate is actually trying to phase out 4k discs at my location. No doubt very dumb founded of them.

No they're not fazing out 4K UHD discs altogether, they are significantly downsizing their movie selection period because most people are buying their movies online. The majority of the titles and limited editions, Best Buy and other retailers didn't have in stock at their B&M stores anyway, so the consumers had no other choice but to purchase them online.

[carnival]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Dude if you buy a steenbok online and it arrives damaged, you really have no right to complain. The word has been out for a long time now. You buy a steenbok online and there’s about a 50-60% chance that it gets damaged.

If you choose to order one anyway and it comes all busted up, you can be frustrated, but you knew full well what the risk was and you did it anyway.

Sorry...but that’s real talk.

Thanks for your opinion. Maybe I wasn’t as clear in my post. I do appreciate all the feedback. I spend 34.99 plus tax for a 4K steel that has damage. Comes to like 38 bucks depending on your states tax. Well tell me the lasts time you purchased a collectible Pokémon card, sports card with damage? Usually the cards are in screw downs or plastic holders. And what about coins and stamps ? They too also come shipped in plastic holders to protect the collectible item. To just throw a steel in a bubble mailer is just ignorance from a steelbook collector.

Also, if you want to label the steels as collectible then the corporate companies should start treating them as such.

Bottom line is I’m not willing to spend 34 plus tax for something the companies are claiming are collectible but don’t take the time to treat them as such. So it’s a matter of time that I find another hobby ! Take care

[Nice Guy Eddie]

Originally Posted by avexhype

Best Buy Corporate is actually trying to phase out 4k discs at my location.

Originally Posted by slimdude

No they're not fazing out 4K UHD discs altogether, they are significantly downsizing their movie selection period because most people are buying their movies online. The majority of the titles and limited editions, Best Buy and other retailers didn't have in stock at their B&M stores anyway, so the consumers had no other choice but to purchase them online.

Which is a genius marketing plan on their part. Every Tuesday there are new releases........AKA a reason to actually walk through the doors. How often do you need a new refrigerator or washer & dryer? That's stuff that I'd never buy at BB anyway, that's what Lowe's or Home Depot are for.