You got to hear what a Disney Store employee told me to do..

[Eeyore]

And, I cannot understand how some of you don't comprehend the concept of inventory. Forget that the store that was suggested was Wal-Mart. Just think of it as Store B. If you purchased an item from Store A, Store A's inventory decreases by one, which would mean a profit. However, by taking the product purchased from Store A and exchanging it at Store B, it could be considered a wash; but Store B's inventory never went down, you can say it increased, thus reducing profit.

Nobody ripped off anyone. "Store B's" inventory didn't change at all. 1 dvd came in, 1 went out. They had X to sell before the switch, they still have X. They had $0 from sales, they still have $0. Net effect: *ZERO*.

If Walmart cared about this, they'd have insisted on a receipt.

[Luke]

Well the reason they're getting complaints is 1) they're offering <i>The Incredibles</i>, what's bound to be the year's top-selling DVD exclusively in a compromised format and 2) they didn't make that crystal-clear to customers preordering (in fact, most indicated customers would get to choose). Those are two bad decisions that go way beyond the actions of one employee trying to help a customer.

[LindaMYoung]

I can see this is gonna make me really "popular," but I have to say it...I can't believe I'm reading people here who says it's "okay" to rip off Walmart (or any big company) because they are "not nice people."

If you rip off someone, whether it's the local storekeeper or Walmart, it's wrong. Doing so makes you "not nice people" and right up there in Walmart's league.

Linda

[Jayden]

I can see this is gonna make me really "popular," but I have to say it...I can't believe I'm reading people here who says it's "okay" to rip off Walmart (or any big company) because they are "not nice people."

If you rip off someone, whether it's the local storekeeper or Walmart, it's wrong. Doing so makes you "not nice people" and right up there in Walmart's league.

Linda

I hate to say it, but I must disagree. It's not a matter of Walmart not being "nice people". It's a matter of Walmart being a big soulless corporation which doesn't care a bit for customers or employees.

Also, if it is hurting Walmarts business (Which it wouldn't be), they would insist on having a reciept for all returns. So essentially, this is an example of a company shooting itself in the foot. Why do you think all other places require the reciept when returning?

Matthewgb, a practice like this is NOT going to raise the price of DVDs because nothing has changed in inventories and everything will be paid for at the end of the day. I don't see how you can see the price of DVDs would be raised by doing this.

In regards to the Janes Video Shop example, you definately ARE NOT in the same league! It's like comparing apples and oranges. First of all, most people aren't going to ask you to go to Janes and do this (Most people have more respect for small business that respect and take care of them) and no one here would suggest that someone do so. Secondly, All Janes Video Stores REQUIRE a receipt upon return and are very adament that you have this. This is so scamming doesn't happen! Again, this is a matter of Walmart shooting itself in the foot.

BESIDES, as has been stated here many times, this is a fair switch, 1 DVD goes out, 1 DVD comes back. NO loss, NO gain for either company. It's not like Walmart is not going to sell it. I'm a Law student, and as such I usually applaud anyone who does something like ValenciaJoe did. However, in this case I can't, because I can't see the point behind calling the corporate office (I'm willing to bet that she's going to be fired, Disney really has to look after themselves. They'll ascertain who it is and give her the proper disciplinary action (firing) for suggesting illegal activity). She SUGGESTED you do this, she didn't hold a gun to your head and say you HAD to do it. If you didn't like her advice, tell her so and leave it at that. MANY people in this world don't hold the same morals as you, and you have to leave it at that, and accept them for who they are.

That's the end of my two cents in this thread, I'm not getting involved any more, what's done is done

Jayden, signing off....

[RJKD23]

^^^^^ -- what Jayden said!

there is no "Store A" or "Store B". It's clearly stated WAL-MART.

and SORRY for wanting to better our Disney DVD collection.

like Jayden said, "Also, if it is hurting Walmarts business (Which it wouldn't be), they would insist on having a reciept for all returns."
(Just wanted to highlight that for you people who don't read the whole post. )

[Sunset Girl]

Let me relate with a different Disney DVD story. . .

Once upon a time a girl named Karen happily bought a copy of Lion King 1 1/2 on its release date. Only days later, her best friend told her that her sister Misty wanted to borrow it for her kids. Knowing that her DVD was in peril, but not wanting to say no out of fear she'd look selfish, she hesitantly allowed Misty to have it. In a worst case scenario, she figured that maybe the DVD would get scratched a bit but still be playable. But it was worse than she feared: not only did the youngest child scratch the DVD all to hell when it was accidentally left in her reach, she also ripped the case in half. Now, if you know Karen like I do, you know how immaculate her DVD collection is and how upset this made her. And if you know Misty like I do, you know that she never, ever replaced the DVD. So Misty no longer borrows DVD's from Karen.

Well, if you haven't figured it out by now, I'm Karen, LOL. But what does this have to do with anything? Wait, there's more. . .

Lat month, (which was about a year later), I lamented to a friend on how I only got to watch that movie a couple of times. When she asked why, I explained the whole story. She wanted to know why I didn't take the DVD back to the store.

ME: "Well, what good would that do?"

HER: "You could exchange it for a new one."

ME: "But that doesn't make sense."

HER: "Dude, haven't you ever exchanged anything before?"

ME: "Well yeah, and I used to work retail. How should I be able to exchange it when it's not the store's or the manufacturer's fault that it got ruined?"

See, she works at a bookstore, and went on to explain that people bring in damaged DVD's, CD's, and books in to echange for a new copy all the time. They'll make up the wildest stories about how the merchandise got damaged, but it doesn't really matter; according to the store's policy they have to let them exchange it for a new one as long as it's the same item, no receipt required. So the customer walks off with a brand new copy in hand, and the damaged copy is sent back to the manufacturer for them to deal with.

I wonder how many stores this happens at. Pretty scary, eh? So, theoretically speaking, you could bake your DVD in the oven, toss it off the Sears Tower, use it as target practice for your BB gun, or run it over with your car, and you could still exchange it for a new one, no questions asked? There's something wrong here. That hardly seems fair to the manufacturer. So if we wonder why they're so expensive, well, does this help explain why?

Needless to say, I did not follow my friend's advice; I'd just feel too guilty. I'll be the first to admit that I wasn't the most honest person in the past, but I've grown up a bit since then. Later that week, I finally decided to cave in and buy the movie again. I had been putting it off in hopes that Misty would replace it, but if that hadn't happened in year, it was never going to.

But to get back to the topic at hand, I'm sure that the lady at the Disney Store did not see any harm in her suggestion. On the surface, doing an even trade at another store seems quite innocent, but if you think about it, where's the honesty in exchanging an item at a store that you didn't even make the purchase at? I've worked at Wal-mart myself and I'm not exactly their biggest fan (same goes for Target, as they really cheated me), but I don't use the theory that it's okay to do unfair business with them, even though they're a big corporation and that they haven't always been fair to me. It's all matter of principle: treat others as you wish to be treated, right?

[Jayden]

Okay Sunset Girl,

I know I said I wouldn't post here again, BUT I'm not going to address the topic issue, I'm going to address the issue that you raised.

In regards to the exchange at stores, it all depends on the store you go to. Some will accept exchanges with no reciepts and wild stories, but many won't. It's not a matter of law, it's a matter of individual store policy. Just don't try this at all stores because you might find that you will be sorely disappointed when you come across the many stores that don't do this. (I'm not saying you should do this, but I'm just saying it in the off chance that you do decide to do this one time or something)

In regards to your damaged Lion King 1 1/2. Actually, the answer is quite simple if you still have it. You call up Disney Tech support, explain to them what happened with your disc, and for a charge of $6.95 they will gladly replace your discs. You just have to send in your old discs and box and they'll send you a new one. In regards to the slipcover as well, call up Disney, explain what happened and they'll be glad to send you a new one. I hope that this advice doesn't come too late, and that you still have the discs. And I hope it's helpful in the future as well!

[Sunset Girl]

Well, that may help me out in the future, LOL!

I think it's very cool of Disney to do that, I was not aware they would replace damage discs, I thought that was only for discs that had manufacturer's errors. In fact, one of my other friends was lamenting a while back that Disney would no longer would replace discs that were damaged after the purchase. Perhaps she got the wrong information?

I'm well aware that every store has a different policy. For example, Target requires receipts for any type of refund or exchange and has for at least three years (this wasn't always the case; their policy used to be as flexible as Wal-mart but they got fed up with the scamming). And I recall trying to scan a pair of jeans at Wal-mart once when I was working a register. The bar code wasn't agreeing with the scanner, and when I took a closer look, I saw that it was a K-mart tag! So somebody had exchanged this from across the street! The CSM had to have seen it, but they let it through, anyway, LOL!

[Jayden]

Well, that may help me out in the future, LOL!

I think it's very cool of Disney to do that, I was not aware they would replace damage discs, I thought that was only for discs that had manufacturer's errors. In fact, one of my other friends was lamenting a while back that Disney would no longer would replace discs that were damaged after the purchase. Perhaps she got the wrong information?

I'm well aware that every store has a different policy. For example, Target requires receipts for any type of refund or exchange and has for at least three years (this wasn't always the case; their policy used to be as flexible as Wal-mart but they got fed up with the scamming). And I recall trying to scan a pair of jeans at Wal-mart once when I was working a register. The bar code wasn't agreeing with the scanner, and when I took a closer look, I saw that it was a K-mart tag! So somebody had exchanged this from across the street! The CSM had to have seen it, but they let it through, anyway, LOL!

Well, in regards to the replacing of discs. I recently purchased Silly Symponies from Blockbuster Video previously viewed (no doubt you've seen me mention it before ) and disc 2 was horribly scratched, to the point where the shorts Peculiar Penguins and Musicland would not play properly in any of my DVD players. I called up Disney and explained the situation, and they told me that they would replace it if I sent all of the items that came with it (The keepcase, the 2 discs, and all of the inserts) with a cheque for $6.95 and a letter explaining what happened to the disc (she emphasized that this letter was just for their records and would not influence the replacement of my discs) and they would be glad to replace it.

Disney is such an amazing company when it comes to their support staff. They really seem to go the extra mile for their customers. I'm glad they do this, as replacing damaged OOP dvd's is extremely difficult, and this may be the reason why they offer the disc replacement program

[RJKD23]

I'm glad they do this, as replacing damaged OOP dvd's is extremely difficult, and this may be the reason why they offer the disc replacement program.

They should also offer a trade your Fullscreen for Widescreen replacement program.

[DaveWadding]

I'd just like to point out that I'm in the same sitch as VJ..Foolscreen DVD onpreorder that I don't want...

I mean I could take it back to Wally World and exchange it, but my gramma works at the CS Desk...that's a little bit too dishonest for my liking. Hence, I go buy the DVD and give the foolscreen to my niece.

[Mr. Toad]

And, I cannot understand how some of you don't comprehend the concept of inventory. Forget that the store that was suggested was Wal-Mart. Just think of it as Store B. If you purchased an item from Store A, Store A's inventory decreases by one, which would mean a profit. However, by taking the product purchased from Store A and exchanging it at Store B, it could be considered a wash; but Store B's inventory never went down, you can say it increased, thus reducing profit.

Nobody ripped off anyone. "Store B's" inventory didn't change at all. 1 dvd came in, 1 went out. They had X to sell before the switch, they still have X. They had $0 from sales, they still have $0. Net effect: *ZERO*.

If Walmart cared about this, they'd have insisted on a receipt.

While your right on the inventory count total you are wrong on a couple of counts because it does make a difference.

Firstly, Walmart is buying a certain amount of full screen and wide screen movies based on prior viewing habits. While, one person doing this will not make a difference, if a high volume retailer like Disney starts suggesting it and hundreds or thousands do it then it makes a big difference and Wal-Mart will be stuck with a large amount of obsolete inventory which it will have to either write off or return at a significant administrative and shipping cost. Then, Disney gets stuck with the obsolete inventory and both companies lose.

Also, the cost of a return is high in administrative costs. Way, more costly than an actual sale. The time and paperwork by the clerk and accounting staff is very high.

Hey, this is the first accounting discussion I can ever remember on the board. Aint it fun. (I am an accountant by the way).

And by the way, as a supervisor while I may not fire this person(It would depend very much on past performance and ethical problems) it would be a significant mark against them and certainly on their permanent file.

[ValenciaJoe]

When I sat down and wrote the initial post, it was out of frustration. What was recommended to me was wrong to me, but it sure seems that there are some of you out there willing to take advantage of someone else. Forget that the employee suggested Wal-Mart, but would have suggested Target or Best Buy, or some other big box store. Would you still be okay with deceiving this store in exchanging a DVD for you? Wouldn't you be involved in fraud (minor, I have to admit) by purchasing a DVD from Store A and defrauding/lying to Store B to acquire the correct format? People, don't shoot the messenger (me) on this, blame those involved at the Disney Store that led to their employee telling a customer over the phone to defraud a competitor. Blame them for having the short-sightedness for just supplying their stores with full-screen versions of this film. Blame them for allowing their employees to pre-sell a product, knowing that they would only supply stores with the full-screen format. Blame them for creating a situation that caused their employees to unknowingly mislead people into pre-purchasing a DVD, or tell a customer to defraud a competitor. But, DON'T BLAME ME for having morals and calling them out on it.

[Mr. Toad]

Valencia - I think you are getting a good deal of praise as well. I for one think you handled it correctly. There is not a whole lot of flaming going on here so I wouldnt be that sensitive about it. Its been a good discussion on the whole.

[Jayden]

When I sat down and wrote the initial post, it was out of frustration. What was recommended to me was wrong to me, but it sure seems that there are some of you out there willing to take advantage of someone else. Forget that the employee suggested Wal-Mart, but would have suggested Target or Best Buy, or some other big box store. Would you still be okay with deceiving this store in exchanging a DVD for you? Wouldn't you be involved in fraud (minor, I have to admit) by purchasing a DVD from Store A and defrauding/lying to Store B to acquire the correct format? People, don't shoot the messenger (me) on this, blame those involved at the Disney Store that led to their employee telling a customer over the phone to defraud a competitor. Blame them for having the short-sightedness for just supplying their stores with full-screen versions of this film. Blame them for allowing their employees to pre-sell a product, knowing that they would only supply stores with the full-screen format. Blame them for creating a situation that caused their employees to unknowingly mislead people into pre-purchasing a DVD, or tell a customer to defraud a competitor. But, DON'T BLAME ME for having morals and calling them out on it.

We're not blaming you for the Disney Store's fault. It's true, they should have preordered Widescreen as well, but that didn't happen. However, it is my feeling that you didn't handle the situation all that well yourself. There are other ways of dealing with this, and a call to the corporate office was not necessary. Telling the person that this was an illegal practice and she should stop suggesting it would have been sufficient. However, if you felt so strongly about it that you just couldn't be happy with that, telling her supervisor to talk to her about it would have more than sufficed. There are other options than going straight to the top, and my feeling is you just jumped the gun a little on this one. You did what you thought was right, but it may have been a little too extreme in this case.

However, what's done is done. No-one here can change it. What happens to her now (although, like I said, I'm willing to put money on the fact that she'll get fired) is out of your hands.

Just know that we aren't blaming you for anything that was out of your control. And in reality, I'm (as I'm the only one I can speak for) not blaming you for anything. I'm just saying your actions may have been a little extreme.

[quiden]

I'm not even sure what the girl told you to do would have worked. Whe Harry Potter 3 came out on DVD I bought two copies. One for my parents and one for me. I opened one and watched it and wasn't as happy with it as I though I would be (I really loved the book). So I decided to take my copy back and give my parents the opened one. The first time I tried to take it back I didn't have the receipt (oh yeah, this was a Walmart) and the lady there said that I couldn't return it without the receipt because it was a high theft item (it wasn't opened or anything). Later I did bring it back and get the refund, but I was really surprised that they woudln't take back a perfectly fine, unopened copy.

So the advice that this Disney Store Cast member might not have worked anyway.

[disneywb]

Valencia, I totally support your stance for what was right. Although it may have been handled personally, I think by telling corporate headquarters you let them know not only about the problems with the employee, but what lengths customers are willing to go to to get the products they want. I see no moral difference between cheating a small business and a large one (although the large ones certainly have the power to make less popular decisions).

[Lars Vermundsberget]

In the Karen vs Misty case, it should have been a matter between Karen and Misty.

[SofaKing381222]

Okay, I had pre-ordered the Incredibles DVD at the Disney Store weeks ago with assurances from their staff that I would be able to purchase a widescreen version. Well, we all know the story that they are only carrying the fullscreen (yuck) version. I called my local store last night and they told me that a refund would be no problem. Well, I decided to reconfirm this today and they told me that a refund is only done with an itemized receipt... not the receipt they told me to keep. I told the cast member that I was mislead at the time of purchase and that I should not have to provide proof, and that the receipt they gave me should be sufficient. She wouldn't be able to give me a refund without it. However, what she told me to do really blew me away. She told me that I should go ahead and pick up the fullscreen version, then go to the local WalMart and return and exchange it for a widescreen version. I told her that what she told me was totally illegal and that what she did was basically stealing from WalMart and hurting their (WM) profits. Man, was I incensed. I immediately called the corporate offices of the Disney Store and told them what their employee told me to do... which was illegal. Boy, was he infuriated. He got my name and number and authorized a refund when I go back there tomorrow. I feel sorry for the employee who suggested this.

Wow! Ure evil!!! Just Joking. But really that was mean. U know, you didnt have to get her fired.

[Fullhousegurl]

ehjehbeh

if DISNEY allowed WIDESCREEN, then they're be no fussing.

you're right toonstuff

Nobody's wining on this deal.

ValenciaJoe, you should just buy TI in Widescreen elsewhere and find lithographs somewhere like EBay, if you decide not to continue your order with DisneyDirect...

How do you quote only part of somebody's message?