DVDizzy Forum

Hi everyone,

I'm a newbie. I think this is the best site for learning about Disney that I have seen. I discovered the "Treasures" series thanks to this website and ordered 2 "On the Front" tins from Buy.com (which I have since discovered is a notorius reseller - expecting the worst!). I just ordered "Behind the Scenes" in a "perfect" tin from an Amazon seller and awaiting arrival.

Perhaps I am being ridiculous, but I just received my first tin (MM Color V2) from Amazon.com and it is dented. My first instinct is to return it for a replacement. Appears that it could have been caused by the shrinkwrap they used to anchor it to the cardboard. Should I try to exchange the tin? Do all tins arrive dented from Amazon? Has anyone talked to Amazon about special handling of the tins or Disney about making thicker tins? I am considering trying to talk to them about this so people don't get damaged tins. I pre-ordered 2 more tins from Amazon of Wave 5. My fear is that all tins sent by Amazon (or any dealer that uses shrinkwrap technique) will be ruined.

How bad is the dent?

Seeing as tins are like slipcovers (nice and fancy but useless in the long run), I'd keep it anyway. It's the discs that count.

Escapay

First off, welcome to the UD forum.

Tins usually get dented during shipping, they are quite fragile.
It doesn't always happen, just occasionally. If I was you I would return it for a nicer tin, but that's just me.

Amazon.com usually are nice about it, just send them an email and they will happily exchange the item for you.

Well I am new to this whole collecting tins thing and I guess the tin arriving dented sort of bugs me - after all, it is supposed to be a collectible (I thoroughly enjoyed the year-old thread started by someone last Dec. about letting Disney know how upset you guys were with the changes to the series - cheaper package, leaving off the LE #s and putting the DVDs in white instead of black plastic, etc).

But if dented tins is par for the course, and the only way to get one undented would be to pay through the nose via a 2ndary Amazon seller, and if most tins came dented, then I wouldn't feel cheated since everyone has dented tins. But it sounds like you are saying Amazon will probably take care of it. I have the most faith that they would exchange it no problem, the question is, would they just order from the warehouse, apply the shrinkwrap and thus just dent the replacement tin? To me, the denting seems to have everything to do with the handling at the warehouse (their packaging) and since I am asking for an undented tin to replace the damaged one, will they tell the warehouse "hey, this girl wants an undented tin." or am I just wasting my time with this?

Well, this was for my sister's birthday and I paid for 2-day rush delivery (yeah, I am a procrastinator!) so I think i am going to go ahead and return it and see if I can get them to rush me an undamaged copy. If the replacement arrives dented and I can't live with the dents, I will just cancel the upcoming order for Wave 5. As for the earlier Wave 4 I ordered from them, I don't know, I might just cross my fingers and hold my breath that they send an undamaged copy. For Wave 5, Best Buy will sell this series. Amazon will be selling them for only $2 less. It is worth the extra $2 at Best Buy to get undented tins that I can pick out myself. But unfortunately the only source for previous waves seems to be either Amazon or their 2ndary sellers who charge a King's ransom

Escapay wrote:How bad is the dent?

Seeing as tins are like slipcovers (nice and fancy but useless in the long run), I'd keep it anyway. It's the discs that count.

Escapay

I don't see the tins merely like a slipcover but much more since they are moe of a collectible but that's just me I guess. (well an I'm sure a few others)

I have a few tins that are dented, and I really don't care. Unless the shape is severely deformed, I would return it. I got Chronological Donald Volume 1 and it was dented, but it was still six bucks, and a good deal. If its only a minor bend, I wouldn't go through all the hassle and tins usually get bent while shipping.

If you are bothered by the dented tin, then return the item and Amazon will get you a new one. You may want to purchase the next wave at the store. Be sure to review the Sunday ads on December 2, 2005 for Best Buy, Circuit City & Target, because one of those stores may have some great new release price that is less than the $23.09 on Amazon.

If you are like me and simply tosses the tin out, then don't return the item. (Does my attitude towards tins & slipcovers get me banned from UD?)

CR

Escapay is correct. It is the content that is important. Keep the discs and enjoy. I could not even tell you where my tins are. Take up too much space on the dvd shelf to keep around.

creid wrote:If you are bothered by the dented tin, then return the item and Amazon will get you a new one. You may want to purchase the next wave at the store. Be sure to review the Sunday ads on December 2, 2005 for Best Buy, Circuit City & Target, because one of those stores may have some great new release price that is less than the $23.09 on Amazon.

If you are like me and simply tosses the tin out, then don't return the item. (Does my attitude towards tins & slipcovers get me banned from UD?)

CR

You toss your tin out?! (pass me the smelling salts!)

Damage is confined to 3 creases on the top front and bottom of front of panel and a ding on back panel.

Thanks for list of brick and mortar stores; I really didn't know stores would be selling the tins until reading this forum last night. I was trying to buy the earlier series tins (OOP), so I was focused on Amazon and intenet sources. Maybe I should my cancel order for Wave 5 from Amazon and buy at brick/mortar store. I have also ordered Pluto from Amazon - hard to find this one so I hope to get a good undamaged copy from Amazon. I will look at some local Target, Best Buy and Costco here to see if perhaps they have Wave 4 tins still around.

I filled out the form last night and will mail it today. Could be a 2 week wait. I gave packing instructions. This will be an experiment to see if they can respond to custom handling needs for products. If replacement arrives damaged, then we'll know. I will report back on results. Considering how many of you were upset by the changes in the packaging with Wave 4, I am surprised my concerns about dents seems to be in the minority.

Also, where do most of you get your tins? Do you special order via Amazon or other internet sources or are you going to the stores like Target, etc to avoid dents? I am wondering if the tins ARRIVE to the retail sellers already damaged from Disney. Do they sell out fast at the brick and mortar stores?

It seems that I've made some bad buying decisions with this from the get-go. I apprciate all the help!

The 2 "On the Front" and "MM, B&W Vol.2" from Buy.com have supposedly shipped. They sent me an email yesterday. After all the nightmare customer service stories I read about them, I don't even believe their email. If anything wrong with these tins, I'll just have to live with it.

I live in the UK and have had all waves of the Treasures shipped from either Amazon.com or Amazon.ca (last year's) and none of my tins have been dented.

Amazon has exceptional packaging making it very hard to dent their goods in transit (although hard knocks can jar discs loose - especially on certain types of hubs). Lots of people here noticed dented tins on store shelves, so any dents are just as likely to be made before Amazon takes delivery as after.

Out of all the online shipping places, Amazon is one of the best for packaging. If they are not the best, then their customer services make up any minor lapses. I wouldn't worry about Amazon any more than other mail-order company. Of course, when you buy them in the shops, you can see if the tin is pre-dented. This is the only area Amazon (and other mail-order companies) fall down on. Sadly, for non-US residents, there is no other option.

To be honest, I have never had problems with my stuff being damaged on Amazon and I usually get a shipment at once a month. This is probably an isolated event. The one thing I try to do is order all Disney products through the links on the web-site as it does support the site. Therefore, I have my Wave 4 Rareties and DD 2 pre-ordered with other products to help Luke out.

One note, the brick & mortar stores will usually only carry the Treasure DVDs for a limited time. I think the stores have one big pre-order of inventory which is put on the shelves. Once this inventory is gone, the stores do not order any more.

CR

Well I had packed the Tin up, slapped the return label on the box and was all ready to try and exchange it via Amazon when I got an email this AM from Amazon saying they are very sorry but they've checked their stock and they are out! Since they can't replace it and it was a gift, I am returning it. However, I appreciate all the great responses here on your experiences with ordering tins from Amazon. The Pluto tin is on the way to me and at least if everyone else has had good luck, I won't sweat it so much. However if that tin arrives dented, I'll probably return it and cancel the advanced order for Wave 5 and try 2ndary sellers on Amazon and the brick and mortar stores for Wave 5.

Yeah, I have complete confidence in Amazon's customer service (only bad thing is refunds can take up to 3 weeks with shipping and processing time). So you're saying that non-US residents cannot go to brick and mortar stores to buy Disney product? I would think that Disney at this point was marketing worldwide and there would be some brick/mortar stores that would carry their stuff - at least in big cities like London, Paris, etc?

I suspect since the Tins are only released in quantities of like 110,000 to 150,000, that Disney is rationing them out - they've got to release these things nationwide and when you think about multiple stores per state, that 125,000 etc would go fast between the brick and mortar locations, the online stores, Disneyland, etc. They probably can't reorder.

I just did a local survey yesterday at Best Buy, Costco, and Target. Creid is right. None of these stores has any tins from previous waves. I would suspect that secondary sellers might swoop into these stores and buy up limited issues like the Disney tins, for resale at higher prices. It was interesting to take notes of what each store had and what price. Costco was selling Alice in Wonderland for $12.99. They had Cinderella for $18.99 and Tarzan Special Edition for $18.99. Target had: 1 Dumbo left, 1 Bambi left, several Aladin Platinums, Mary Poppins, Pocahantas, and an Aristocats Gold collection, each for $19.99. Best Buy had a few Gold editions of stuff but I forgot to take notes.

Pluto Region1 wrote:(only bad thing is refunds can take up to 3 weeks with shipping and processing time)

Trust me, it never takes that long. I ordered something from Amazon.COM and I had to exchange the item. They sent it to Canada from the states and the item only took six days.

Pluto Region1 wrote:So you're saying that non-US residents cannot go to brick and mortar stores to buy Disney product? I would think that Disney at this point was marketing worldwide and there would be some brick/mortar stores that would carry their stuff - at least in big cities like London, Paris, etc?

Disney is definitely "marketing worldwide" and a lot of (or most) stores carry their stuff. But not all of the Treasures (with tins) are marketed worldwide. That's why I and other European fans of classic Disney material order the Treasures from North America.

I've got a complete set of Treasures and the tins look nice. There might be a very few dents, but nothing I lose sleep over.

I have the Complete Pluto - Vol. 1 on DVD as part of the Disney Treasures series. I'm not even sure if there is going to be a volume 2 of the Complete Pluto? Will see.

My experience with the tins is only at Costco, Best Buy, Good Guys, Sam's Club, Circuit City and Border's Books. The wholesale stores (Sam's, Costco) generally get one large shipment and that is it, first come-first served. Best Buy, Circuit City, Good Guys and Border's Books get initial shipments and then restock as available. The first week that they are available is the sale week, usually (at Best Buy and Circuit City)) selling for $29.99. Then they go to $34.99 and as they become more scarce the price tends to go up a little more. Border's Books doesn't sell the Treasure Tins for any special price. They are usually $36.99 and go up from there as quantities dwindle.

I don't order anything on-line so I don't have to worry about damage to the tins. Besides like others, I usually take the product out of the tins and sooner or later the tins disappear. They don't add to the value when it comes to resale, but then again, who resells their treasures - I don't.

Well just when I thought it could not get any worse.... after dropping off the return to Amazon at the post office, I came home to find the next Amazon Tin order sitting on my doorstep. Are you all sitting down?

This time they shipped the tin in a cardboard envlope! Yeah, the first tin AT LEAST came in a box and it was shrinkwrapped to a cardboard and the box had a bit of paper for stuffing (not much, it was bouncing around in the box). Well this was in a cardboard envelop that they should ONLY use for paperback books! This is literally the next day after I processed that return and emailed them in the return form what the problem was so it is not that I expected that they would have gotten my message in customer service and been able to do anything about how Pluto got shipped to me, but what kind of morons do they have working in the Amazon warehouse?! This is outrageous mishandling of product, IMO.

Now AMAZINGLY the Pluto tin only has 2 minor dents. Not enough that I felt it was worth returning it, so I'll be keeping this, but IF this is an indication of what to expect with the upcoming release of WAVE 5, they are in for A LOT of returns at Amazon. So I poked around and had to really hunt and hunt until I finally found a way to send them an actual email (outside of a 200 character or less shot at sending them a message during the return process). So if you are curious how to do this, go to Help, then click "using your account" then click "reviewing and changing orders" then select "problem with an order" - at the bottom of the blurb they have there, there's a link to send them an email and you can write as long an email as you want, so this is what I wrote:

I recently ordered several DVDs of the Disney Treasures series from Amazon. There is a problem with how the warehouse is shipping these items as they are arriving damaged. Let me explain. The Disney Treasures series DVDs are collectors items; only a limited number are produced by Disney. Each year Disney releases a new set of the series. On December 5th you will be shipping this year's set of releases. These DVDs are packaged in collectible tins that are VERY FRAGILE and easily get dented. The tin may look sturdy to your warehouse personnel, but it is not. I ordered some tins from you from the previous year's series. The first tin was received a few days ago and it is now on its way back to Amazon as it arrived damaged. In the return process, I wrote a short email explaining how to avoid damaging these tins in shipment. I received the next tin today and it was more poorly packed than the last one. This time instead of it arriving in a box, shrinkwrapped to a piece of cardboard, it was sent in a cardboard envelope. These tins should be packed in a box and with padding. It is a miracle it did not arrive more dented than it is! As it is, I can live with the 2 minor dents, but I am worried about the next shipment, and the next and all the thousands of people that are depending on you to ship them these tins come December 5th. Can you please talk to the warehouse about better packing these tins so they do not bounce around in the package? Do not tightly shrinkwrap the tins because I think the stress of the shrinkwrap caused creases in the tin. I am confident that these tins can be successfully shipped from Amazon if some minor and consistent packing guidelines are put in place at the warehouse. Thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely,

dvdjunkie wrote:My experience with the tins is only at Costco, Best Buy, Good Guys, Sam's Club, Circuit City and Border's Books. The wholesale stores (Sam's, Costco) generally get one large shipment and that is it, first come-first served. Best Buy, Circuit City, Good Guys and Border's Books get initial shipments and then restock as available. The first week that they are available is the sale week, usually (at Best Buy and Circuit City)) selling for $29.99. Then they go to $34.99 and as they become more scarce the price tends to go up a little more. Border's Books doesn't sell the Treasure Tins for any special price. They are usually $36.99 and go up from there as quantities dwindle.

Well that is a lot of very valuable info here! thanks for posting this. I did note that Barnes and Noble had some tins on line when I looked so perhaps their brick and mortar stores are carrying the tins as well. Now my delimma is what to do about the upcoming tins I'm still expecting from Amazon. As mentioned previously I had ordered TWO copies of "MM in Color Vol 2" - one for me and one was the gift for my sister. My sister's is on its way back to the return center as of this AM. Anyway, I think they are shipping my copy of MM in Color with my order of "Rarities" in December (that is what I get for choosing super saver shipping). At this point I think I am going to "roll the dice" with Amazon and see if they arrive in better shape than the last. Worse comes to worse, I can return them and run out to one of the brick and mortars and at least get the "Rarities" for a fair price undented. As for the "MM In Color Vol 2," if it is too dented up, I'll have to return it - I guess this is going to be my BIG pet peeve is dented tins.

I also find that Cost-CO will get more when they have a big sale going on