rose_cat | Torchwood Season One, Defective Disk(s) (Reply)

Well, %#$%*&#! (No, this is not part of the Happiness Meme.)

So I purchased the Torchwood Season One DVD box set in January of 2008. You'd think that after all the trouble Hubby and I had had with the Dead Zone DVDs, we'd have known better, but no -- we assumed everything was fine and, for various reasons, didn't start to watch it until recently. We popped in disk one and cued up "Everything Changes." Mmm, beautiful picture, awesome sound quality, and no cuts (eeeeww, more blood!). I was bouncing on the couch with happiness, annoying Hubby a little. Jack and Gwen headed down to the cells to see Janet, and, well, everything changed. Gwen pixilated, the sound went funky and the player stopped dead.

So we reloaded, went through the chapters -- do de do de dum -- and watched the scene again. Gwen pixilated. Again.

After a few tries, something different happened. Instead of just stopping, the DVD player went back and reloaded on its own. Evidently it was as irritated as we were. Still couldn't get past that spot. Grrrrrr.

We removed the disk and studied it under strong light. There were odd markings on it, not really scratches, more like rub marks. They didn't clean off. Just for the heck of it, I examined the rest of the disks. Two, six and seven had similar markings.

Barnes&Noble.com has a two-week return-or-exchange policy. I tried anyway. They said sorry, no can do.

karaokegal has suggested that since the merchandise is defective, they should be required to help me out. That would be nice. Does anyone know any legalese I can quote at them?

Alternatively, maybe the manufacturer (2 Entertain Video Limited) or the distributor (Warner Home Video) would be willing to exchange disks. Has anyone dealt with these companies? (Their websites are uninformative, to say the least. I may try emailing them anyway, when I feel more coherent.)

I've been trying to decide which season of New Who to buy with my Barnes&Noble gift card. Maybe I should buy books or CDs instead, and go to Best Buy -- I hear they're pretty good about exchanging defective merchandise -- or Amazon.

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