Lionsgate: Basic Instinct - Customer Service Stinks

[Blu-ray Neo]

Well guys, here is the lowdown on my battle with Lionsgate over their defective Blu-ray Discs.

On 12/05/2010, I purchased Basic Instinct: Unrated Director's Cut from Best Buy. Given that I don't always have time to watch them right when I buy them, I placed it on my bookshelf and hoped to watch it soon.

On 01/15/2011, I pulled it off of the shelf, opened the plastic wrapping and placed it into my Sony BDPS360 (Ver. 008). After waiting and looking at a "black" screen for roughly 10 mins, I then placed the disc into my PS3. To my surprise, the PS3 wouldn't even recognize that a disc was in the drive. I even tried it on my old Sony BDPS300. Still a no-go.

I contacted a Sony Technical Support Rep via chat and we went through several things to determine if I had a defective disc or the player. Now, given that I literally tried ALL 338 discs in my collection on each and every player, not one failed except for Basic Instinct. In the honest opinion of the Sony Tech, it must have been a disc failure or defect.

Now, considering that I didn't have a receipt anymore, on 01/16/2011 I messaged Lionsgate on their website and described my problem to them in detail. After not receiving a response, on 01/18/2011 I called the Customer Service number and spoke with a representative.

Talk about a joke, in all but certain terms, I was treated like a complete idiot and I was told in so many words, it's "either you or the player" for the disc not playing. To his credit, he did send me an e-mail with possible options to possibly fix the problem. He stated that if that didn't work, just respond to the e-mail and ask for a "Return Authorization" so I can get a new copy.

After attempting their possible solutions, On 01/18 I e-mailed back asking for a return authorization for the disc.

After a few days of not receiving a response, on 01/21 and 01/23 I sent e-mails requesting a return authorization for the disc.

Now, here we are on 01/24 and still no response. I then called the Lionsgate Customer Relations Line (800-650-7099).

I explained my situation to exhaustion to another Customer Service Rep and she stated that there have not been any reported issues with Basic Instinct and that I needed to make sure it wasn't me or the player before assuming the disc was defective. I told the rep that I had already contacted Sony Tech Support and it wasn't the player. I also told them about people on here having the same problems with movies such as American Psycho etc, etc.

I also reminded the CSR that Lionsgate initially denied a problem with the movie "Crank 2" on Blu-ray.

To make matters worse, she stated that in order to "exchange" the disc for a working copy, I would need the original sales receipt and ship the disc to them. I explained that I didn't have an original sales receipt given that it was purchased in December and considering that this is my first problem EVER playing a disc, I wasn't aware that I needed to keep it.


Now, I'm getting the silent treatment again and they're refusing to accept a return unless I have a receipt. I'm tempted on writing a letter to Lionsgate, but I don't know if I wanna waste the time in doing so.