***Official The Incredibles DVD Discussion (merged) Thread*** (1 Viewer)

[Eric Peterson]

I reserved my copy of "The Incredibles" at my local Disney store about a month ago, as I usually do with major Disney or Disney/Pixar films. I arrived at the store this morning and gave my receipt to the lady who grabbed a copy from behind her. From a quick glance, it appeared that all of the copies were Fullscreen, so I stopped her and said "I want a Widescreen copy". She replied "This is Widescreen", and dropped it in a bag. I grabbed my bag and left the store, but wisely stopped and inspected my purchase. After a quick review, I realized that there was no Widescreen version anywhere on the specs. I walked back into the store and told them, that this is not what I wanted. Another employee butted in and said "That's the only way that it is available.". I was so completely stunned that I was nearly speechless. After a few moments to think, I stuttered, "I'm pretty sure that you're wrong -- this is completely worthless to me, and I want a refund". The second empoloyee butted in again, and told me that I would have to return the lithographs that I received first. I was starting to boil over with anger at the fact that they were trying to pull a "bait & switch" on me, but I refused to leave. I got back in line, and told the first employee (who was much nicer) that I wanted a refund, and she relented and credited my Visa.

I then drove across the parking lot to Best Buy and it appeared that they had only Widescreen copies, which made me quite happy. I received a free Lithograph from them also, so in the end everything worked out, but I'm still angry that the employees could be so INCREDIBLY ignorant about one of the biggest DVD releases of the year.

Does anyone know why Disney/Pixar decided to do a dual release for this movie, when all of their previoius releases featured both transfers on the same set?

 

[Brendon]

Can't answer why Pixar and/or Disney decided to do dual inventory on this one (possibly down to the very wide aspect ratio ?). Given that either or both of the companies concerned wanted make OAR and MAR versions available, I'm glad they didn't steal space from either the OAR version of extras to accomodate the MAR version.

Were you not tempted to take your OAR version back into the Disney store to disprove the "That's the only way that it is available" bullpuckies ?

Brendon

 

[ElAhrai]

I'm guessing due to the length of the movie.

And the video quality has room to soar thanks to the decision (if only the special features were as strong).

 

[Eric Peterson]

Actually, I just called them up and explained who I was and why I was calling. I then stated "It most certainly is available in widescreen", and before i got "..eeen" out of my mouth I heard a quick "Thank you for the information - CLICK"

I find it amazing how much customer service has degenerated over the past 20 years. I worked retail during high school & college in the early 90s and if I treated a customer like that , I would've been canned so fast that my head would still be spinning.

 

[Jon Martin]

Eric, one big question, how did you treat them?

If you indeed said, by your own admission:

"I'm pretty sure that you're wrong -- this is completely worthless to me, and I want a refund"

they could have seen you as a troublemaker, didn't want to deal with you, and that is why they hung up on you when you called back.

The bottom line, most of us here know more about DVDs than anyone who works in retail. So, you shouldn't go yelling at people if they don't understand it. It doesn't teach them anything and just makes them hostile toward you.

 

[Robert Floto]

Whether or not any Pixar film is re-composited into a square, I'm not using my money to send a message to studios that I will any way purchase a film that is not in its correct theatrical aspect ratio. Curious or not...

I also refuse to use the term "Full Screen"...it is NOT full screen on my 16x9 monitor. Damn liers.

 

[TravisR]

I used to work in retail and I gave what I got. If a person was cool to me, then I was cool to them. If a person was a creep, then I was a creep. Now that's DEFINITELY NOT to say that Eric behaved in any 'creepy' way. Some people (customer and clerks) are just jerks and it sounds like Eric might have been dealing with some real jerks.

But like Jon said, most of these people don't care about what they are selling. Yes, you can say "Well, then they should get another job if they don't like it, blah blah blah" but people need to realize that most of the clerks are high school or college kids that don't give a damn because they make $6.00 or $7.00 an hour. And all the arguing in the world isn't going to make them care.

 

[MikeEckman]

Write the general manager of the store a letter. Inform them of what happened. Include a copy of your return reciept of theirs, the purchase receipt from Best Buy and a link to this thread. Inform them they not only did they lose the $15.99 (or whatever) for the price of the DVD, but they lost your lifetime business, and spread the word of their horrible treatment of you across the world via the Internet.

 

[Eric Peterson]

Sorry if I misled you in my post, but I never raised my voice nor attacked them in anyway. I said was I said in a calm, easy tone, no matter how badly I wanted to scream.

As for the argument that they don't care what they're selling, I don't buy that at all. This is a DVD that will several million copies before the week is up, and the clerks (who work for the same company that produced the film) had no idea as to which formats the DVD was being sold. Even if that were all, I could accept that, but they deliberately trying to sell me something else, and when I complained tried to tell me that I had to return some worthless gift that they gave me a month ago. ...and no they wereen't a couple of college kids, they were both middle-aged women whom I assumed have been working in retail for a long-time. They obviously had opened the store since I was there at 10:15 and they don't let part-time college clerks do that.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I'm so very happy that the set is dual-inventory, and that only the film appears on Disc 1. Disney has really botched a lot of their two disc sets (including Monster's Inc and Finding Nemo), creating excessive visual artifacts by shoving another version of the film or a bunch of extras on Disc 1.

 

[Adam_WM]

What is the moral of the story?

Don't pre-order from the Disney Store.

 

[TravisR]

Why would a clerk care if they sell a million copies or one copy? They don't get that money. I follow your point that they SHOULD care and know about the product but they don't. And middle aged women aren't usually a great source of DVD info either.

Mike had a good idea to write a letter to the regional manager though. Hopefully that will get him to let that store know they need to 'teach' their employees about the product a little better. And you'll probably get some coupons or something too

 

[Everett S.]

They still do not know what the benefits of WideScreen are.
I talk to people all the time in Wal-mart at the two for $11.00 Dvd bins trying to help people with the meanings of
the different aspect ratios etc. And sometimes I get the ones who only want to fill their tv screens. I am afraid that one day WideScreen will go away if things like what happened at the Disney store.

I noticed this at Target The WideScreen version of a film was on the very bottom shelf and the full screen version on a middle shelf. Most of the full screen Dvd's were gone and none of WideScreen were missing, this was on a new release on the first day around 4pm. Hopefully we will have one of the Hi-def formats that will keep on making WideScreen DVD's. I could be wrong but, I don't think the general public will care about Hi-Def DVD much and will look at the price.

 

[Matt Czyz]

I'm just curious why you pre-ordered at The Disney Store. Are their prices for Disney/Pixar films better than the $14-15 at Best Buy, CC, etc.?

(on a related note, why did you even bother pre-ordering The Incredibles, a movie that is guarenteed to have a million copies in stock no matter where it's bought? I'm not attacking here, I'm just wondering.)

 

[Scott Shanks]

I thought the Best Buy lithograph was for Rewards Zone members only. It costs $10 a year to be a Rewards Zone member, so I passed.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I'd guess that preordering got him the lithograph premium that he mentioned.

 

[Ben_@]

What is up with the Disney Store recently? There's another person who had a similar customer service issue with them who posted. I would expect that the Disney store would have better customer service (and a far more knowledgable staff) than Wal-mart or Best Buy.

 

[TravisR]

Everett, I don't think anyone has to worry about getting fullscreen only releases (at least of new titles). Widescreen far outsells fullscreen when there's a choice. The fullscreen copies probably looked like they were selling better just because Target ordered more widescreen copies and they were able to restock them.

 

[Matt Czyz]

Ah. After seeing the ENORMOUS (I'm not kidding, this mother was huge) bucket of lithographs at Best Buy this morning, I was under the impression that it was not that limited an item.

 

[Garysb]

I believe the Disney Stores are no longer owned by Disney. I think they were sold last year. I think the only store outside the Theme Parks that is owned by Disney is the store on 5th Avenue in New York City. This store is not called the Disney Store, it has another name which I can't remember.