Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (4K+2D Blu-ray SteelBook) (Zavvi Exclusive) [UK]

Noodles

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Premium Supporter
Feb 28, 2011
43,070
UK
Release date: August 3, 2020
Purchase link: Zavvi (Pre-order on May 21, around 9 AM for Red Carpet , at 12 PM general sale - UK time)
Price: £29.99
Note: 3 discs

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Anyone ever tried any of them products for removing scratches on cars on a steelbook before? Has to be something on the market that could help sort these out and shouldn't be too difficult with it being black.
 
That is true, BUT - if you bought say, an Adidas tee-shirt from, say JD Sports, and when you got it home found that all the stitching was falling apart, of course you would complain to JD Sports for selling you a faulty product. But would you then also BLAME JD Sports for Adidas' shoddy production and QC process? Would you really expect them to be checking every single item for defects that are not readily apparent?
No, it’s Zavvi’s fault. Had Zavvi spot checked these, they would have found that there was an issue. TBH, if this is what I get, I want a refund. I have no desire for a copy that’s damaged and I don’t want a replacement steelbook that’s not sealed with enclosed disks.

This is why you have to do spot checking...especially if you’re sending product around the world.
 
No, it’s Zavvi’s fault. Had Zavvi spot checked these, they would have found that there was an issue. TBH, if this is what I get, I want a refund. I have no desire for a copy that’s damaged and I don’t want a replacement steelbook that’s not sealed with enclosed disks.

This is why you have to do spot checking...especially if you’re sending product around the world.

Spot checking by Zavvi would not have found the problem through the sealed shrink wrap.
Zavvi doesn't do spot checking. So perhaps keep that in mind if you decide you ever want to order something from them again.

Same with Best Buy, Amazon and every other retailer. No retailer spot checks.
Manufacturers spot check but obviously not in this case.

Retailers ship the items and it's up to the consumer to decide if the item is not to their satisfaction.
That's why retailers offer discounts or refunds. If a consumer decides they want to accept the discount then Zavvi is still making a profit off of the item. If the consumer decides to return an item it's not a problem for Zavvi.

But look at how many people in the SteelBook threads say they received spine slashes, small dents or scratched SteelBooks and say they will keep them anyway even without receiving a discount.

I'm guessing a very low percentage of people actually return these items.
 
No, it’s Zavvi’s fault. Had Zavvi spot checked these, they would have found that there was an issue. TBH, if this is what I get, I want a refund. I have no desire for a copy that’s damaged and I don’t want a replacement steelbook that’s not sealed with enclosed disks.

This is why you have to do spot checking...especially if you’re sending product around the world.
Disney would have got delivery of the steelbooks from Scanavo then put the discs inside added the Jcard and shrink wrapped and then shipped to Zavvi.

It would have been Scanavo and Disney doing spot checks of the steelbook if been done at all.

Retailers often don't know about issues until customers tell them or the distributor has told the retailer before been shipped to them.

Its likely scanavo did not notice the scratches or did not inform Disney
 
No, it’s Zavvi’s fault. Had Zavvi spot checked these, they would have found that there was an issue. TBH, if this is what I get, I want a refund. I have no desire for a copy that’s damaged and I don’t want a replacement steelbook that’s not sealed with enclosed disks.

This is why you have to do spot checking...especially if you’re sending product around the world.
As a manufacturer, yes. But as a distributor/retailer? Highly unlikely, except perhaps for very expensive niche products (and, yes, you might wish to classify steelbooks as an expensive niche product, but I was thinking more of very expensive jewellery, cars etc. in the 7 figure sum bracket, not something sold at £15-£35!).

Would you expect your local supermarket to spot check all 10,000 or so lines they sell every day? What you are suggesting would be totally impractical for a retailer that makes its money through shifting as much as it can (likely at very narrow margins, too, despite what we might think about Zavvi's pricing of steelbooks at times). To do that would add significant costs to their operation and therefore the end price charged to the consumer - but perhaps you would accept that knowing you would get a perfect product every time rather than the occasional defective one?

Believe me, I am one of the first to complain when I receive a defective product or bad service, and on more than one occasion (at least 3 come to mind straight away) I have had callbacks from a CEO or someone else very senior in an organisation to resolve a complaint I have raised. And one of those was when they were blaming their supplier which I said I didn't care about as I had bought the product from them.

And, no, I am not happy about receiving a scratched steelbook on this occasion either. But I have raised my complaint, they have clearly received many and so are looking in to it. So I wouldn't be surprised if their is a major reprint and replacement programme (and why would they be sent unsealed, btw? Has that happened before? I honestly don't know as it's never happened to me before).
 
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As a manufacturer, yes. But as a distributor/retailer? Highly unlikely, except perhaps for very expensive niche products (and, yes, you might wish to classify steelbooks as an expensive niche product, but I was thinking more of very expensive jewellery, cars etc. in the 7 figure sum bracket, not something sold at £15-£35!).

Would you expect your local supermarket to spot check all 10,000 or so lines they sell every day? What you are suggesting would be totally impractical for a retailer that makes its money through shifting as much as it can (likely at very narrow margins, too, despite what we might think about Zavvi's pricing of steelbooks at times). To do that would add significant costs to their operation and therefore the end price charged to the consumer - but perhaps you would accept that knowing you would get a perfect product every time rather than the occasional defective one?

Believe me, I am one of the first to complain when I receive a defective product or bad service, and on more than one occasion (at least 3 come to mind straight away) I have had callbacks from a CEO or someone else very senior in an organisation to resolve a complaint I have raised. And one of those was when they were blaming their supplier which I said I didn't care about as I had bought the product from them.

And, no, I am not happy about receiving a scratched steelbook on this occasion either. But I have raised my complaint, they have clearly received many and so are looking in to it. So I wouldn't be surprised if their is a major reprint and replacement programme (and why would they be sent unsealed, btw? Has that happened before? I honestly don't know as it's never happened to me before).
I don't know. How often have you walked into Macy's looked at a shirt and everyone of them had the same flaw? I've never seen that and if they did get shirts with the same flaw, I suspect the shirts would never make it onto the floor. In Zavvi's case, they don't have any stores and it's not like they need to check every item, but you can spot check a few items for obvious issues. In this case, they'd have found scratches on all 5 and gone from there.

IMO, this is a bit different than BBY, because Best Buy is more B&M than online, while Zavvi, AFAIK, has no stores at all. Now if this was the occasional spine slash, then i'd be more forgiving on the mistake, because that does seem to be an intermittent problem and I wouldn't expect them to inspect every steel book.
Oh well I guess I can always sell it and hope that BBY gets these later this year...or wait for a premium version next year.
 
Hi there! Someone made me a custom front part for the steelbook.

So if anyone from Europe (to save on shipping) wants to sell their copy (even damaged on the front) please tell me! (I didn't preorder it)

I'll replace the front part with the custom one.
 

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Disney would have got delivery of the steelbooks from Scanavo then put the discs inside added the Jcard and shrink wrapped and then shipped to Zavvi.

It would have been Scanavo and Disney doing spot checks of the steelbook if been done at all.

Retailers often don't know about issues until customers tell them or the distributor has told the retailer before been shipped to them.

Its likely scanavo did not notice the scratches or did not inform Disney

Actually Disney wouldn’t have done anything, as they don’t do their own media distribution, it used to be Technicolor that did it in the UK but that may have changed.
So they would have been responsible for final Q&A checks but they would have so much stock coming through that they wouldn’t have spotted this, I didn’t think anyone, anywhere would have given enough F’s to spot this. Bent, broken or dented cases, likely but faint scratches no chance.
 
I don't know. How often have you walked into Macy's looked at a shirt and everyone of them had the same flaw? I've never seen that and if they did get shirts with the same flaw, I suspect the shirts would never make it onto the floor. In Zavvi's case, they don't have any stores and it's not like they need to check every item, but you can spot check a few items for obvious issues. In this case, they'd have found scratches on all 5 and gone from there.

IMO, this is a bit different than BBY, because Best Buy is more B&M than online, while Zavvi, AFAIK, has no stores at all. Now if this was the occasional spine slash, then i'd be more forgiving on the mistake, because that does seem to be an intermittent problem and I wouldn't expect them to inspect every steel book.
Oh well I guess I can always sell it and hope that BBY gets these later this year...or wait for a premium version next year.
Not that often as I live in the UK - lol! :) So probably about once every 2-3 years, I think (although my last visit was back in 2016 now).

But I get your point if I replace Macy's with a.n.other retailer. However, again, you are referring to an obvious, visible flaw, whereas the tee-shirt example I used before was for a less obvious flaw that you would only see on closer inspection.

These are fine margins, and I absolutely agree that if the Zavvi warehouse received a whole bunch of clearly badly dented steelbooks, I wouldn't expect them to be sending those out to their customers (although I wouldn't put it past some dimwitted employees, as I have seen pretty clueless shop staff putting damaged items back on shelves for sale rather than taking them off-sale for someone to return to the supplier, dispose of or reduce in price!).
 
Disney would have got delivery of the steelbooks from Scanavo then put the discs inside added the Jcard and shrink wrapped and then shipped to Zavvi.

It would have been Scanavo and Disney doing spot checks of the steelbook if been done at all.

Retailers often don't know about issues until customers tell them or the distributor has told the retailer before been shipped to them.

Its likely scanavo did not notice the scratches or did not inform Disney
Firstly - it’s not Zavvi, it’s The Hut Group who are an e-commerce company who deal with distributing several companies stock - not just Zavvi‘s. Rather than rent out warehouses for their stock, they contract with The Hut Group who will charge them storage costs and the distribution costs. There’s also every chance that the customer service side is handled by the internal team at The Hut Group as well.

Chances are, the steelbooks were packed up and shipped out by foreign agency workers. If you think they’re going to be spot checking every steelbook before sending them out then you’re mistaken...