Have You Received A Cracked DVD or Blu-ray Disc from Netflix?

I recently received a couple of complaints about cracked discs from Netflix:

Joan writes, "I received almost every Blu-ray disc cracked for the past month. I have reordered the same disc up to 3 times. I always mark the crack and write  cracked disc on the outside of the mail in envelope. I check the disc when I first get them but sometimes the cracks are so fine they are hard to see."

Downloaddefault reports a similar problem, "My problem is that Netflix has repeatedly replaced my Body Of Lies 4 times in a row.  Each time the discs are new and unique (or at least they take the time to clean them, repair the prior crack and make a new one in a different location) with a single tiny half inch crack extending inward from the perimeter."

Have you received a cracked DVD or Blu-ray disc from Netflix recently?

Comments

[BuffyFan]

I always get cracked dvds. Most recently I had a disc from season 3 of buffy that was cracked. The majority of blu rays I get are cracked as well.

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1615516630]

Been with NF for years and have received on two broke DVD that I can recall.

[CoverdaleJAG]

I have been with NF for a couple of years and have received 1 damaged Blu-ray disc. I wonder if certain distribution centers have a higher percentage of cracked discs?

[Jesse]

I tried it out earlier this year when I got my PS3. About 1 in 2 blu-rays were cracked and unplayable. So I cancelled.

[method]

I'd say every 3rd Blu-ray I receive is damaged. I've never had a problem with standard definition DVDs, however.

Perhaps a more sturdy sleeve for Blu-rays would help address the issue?

[andyg8180]

i got them verrrry rarely with DVDs... With Blu, man, it was a crapshoot with quality blus... So i cancelled the blu subscription... i dont blame netflix, i blame the BDA since they boasted such quality discs and "oh you can scratch it and it'll still play" yet the lightest smudge makes the disc unplayable...

[bill]

I've received 1 cracked Blu-ray (Superman), out of many. And I think 2 other DVDs that were unplayable, in about 6-7 years of service.

[Sivan]

We just received a DVD that very visibly cracked all the way through the disc. We hold on to the DVD until we get a good replacement.

[byteme]

I've had no more than a handfull of cracked or broken DVDs over the several years I have been using Netflix. I don't do Bluray, so no experience with that.

Lately, though, I've had more of a problem with heavily scratched discs. It seems like almost every movie I rent that is more than a year old is so heavily scratched it is unplayable. Trying them in several players, including my PC renders the same results. Some discs are so scratched (especially family movies) that they look like someone attacked it with sandpaper.

Many of these older films can be had in stores for around $5, so you would think Netflix would replace some of their more badly worn titles. Since they are older and demand is lower, they would only need a couple instead of the hundreds they buy when the titles are new.

[Jeff]

Not recently and only once in the few years I've been a member.

[Dana Renfrow]

I've been a NF member for over 3 years. During that time I've received 3 unplayable DVDs and 2 DVDs that were damaged badly enough that the movie would not play all the way through.

[Kodai]

I get about 1 cracked DVD per month. Never had a problem returning them and getting a replacement.

I don't get BR DVDs, so I can't comment on them.

[Keith]

I've been a member for a few years and have never received a cracked disc.

[Bill McClain]

As of the end of last month, I have rented 1403 discs from Netflix. 15 (1.07%) have been damaged, all DVDs except for 1 Blu-ray, which was not cracked, but had a visible bend or warp.

I've rented 82 Blu-rays from Netflix.

We discuss this at avsforum.com and the general consensus is that it is a post office problem. Hard to track down because it depends on location, machines, and post office employees. Some people report good results by getting Netflix customer service people to yell at customer's local post office.

My summary rental charts are here: http://watershade.net/wmcclain/netflix.html

-Bill

[Jacob]

When I signed up with Netflix about 6 months ago, I received several cracked Blu-Rays in the first month, but I haven't had a problem since.

[PC]

In Brooklyn NY 3 years, had 1 damaged DVD (which may have been my dog's fault) and most have maybe some microscopic marks and signs of use but nothing bad at all.

Have had Blu-Ray for 6 months (about 75 BD so far), none have even had a fingerprint, let alone a scratch or worse - they all looked practically brand-spanking-new. I agree that the issue is likely the post office for those of you with worse luck.

[Paul Roberts]

I get disks with cracks in the center spindle all the time. i can't watch them on the laptop while on the road. I have to wait to play at home. I called them Netflix doesn't consider a spindle crack a problem. They say they can't guarantee that disks will play in other than DVD player.

[Mike F]

Been with Netflix since 2003 and I have probably had 5 cracked disks and 3 of those were Blu Ray. It is more of a problem of my mailbox being to small and the mailman trying to fit everything in.

[tsrblke]

Lately (thanks to my desire to watch movies from years ago) I've gotten more scratched DVD's When I started looking at more recent releases that seemed to stop. (I'm sure there's a reason for that.)
I did get a movie the other day in one of those "We're sorry" USPS envelopses that had ovbiously been maimed by the sorter. Magically the DVD was fine.

[Andrew]

My friend at work has received a bunch of broken Blu-rays since signing up last year. Think he's still trying to get an uncracked Blu-ray after 2 or 3 cracked shipments.

[Gran]

Activated the BD option as soon as available. Have never received a cracked disc. If you do receive one. Please let NF know so they can track. They are broken by the post office sorting equipment (which they're not supposed to use), so Netflix needs to know to tell them how to process the discs properly.

[aaron]

About 1 in 10 disks I receive is cracked or scratched too badly to play. It's been pretty consistent at that rate for the four years I've subscribed.

[John]

Member since 2001 and I can't remember ever receiving a cracked disc. And as far as skipping and unplayables, probably less than a hand full of times. Sorry guys. Oh, and I don't rent Blu-rays, so maybe that's where the problem lies.

[Parm]

I switched over to blu ray a few months back and ever since I've received about 80% with a small crack at the outside edge of all the blu rays I get. Out of those about half won't play. I wonder if Netflix gets complaints on blu ray discs and writes them off as a firmware or player issue?

[Dan]

Never had a cracked Blu-ray in over 100 discs.

[Bags]

I've been with netflix on and off since 2003 and have gotten on average of about 5 a year. That were cracked mostly and some unplayable. Only DVD's. I have not gotten any BD yet because of all the issues with renting them. So far only buy the movies I want on BD.

[JayOh]

Their handling of blu-ray discs is sub-par. When they increased the subscription rates to include blu-ray, I opted out for a while. I decided to go back and add blu-ray last week, and the first disc I got was severely scratched. The movie got stuck in various locations, and I had to send it back. I hope this improves, because it's pretty frustrating.

[kryptin]

I'm in Seattle and I've been with Netflix for about 2 years and have only rented Blu-rays. I've yet to receive a single one with a crack or scratch. I hear about this issue on the net a lot so I'm always checking over the discs, but the track record so far for me is excellent.

[Adam Fields]

I don't get quite as many cracked Blu-rays as there are posts asking whether people have gotten cracked Blu-rays.

[Isaac Church]

Never gotten any Blu-ray discs cracked. Have received a few cracked DVDs over the years.

[Grant]

I have been a Netflix Customer for over 5 years and have been getting blu-ray's from them for over a year now. In the last 2 months, I have received over 30 broken Blu-ray discs. The cracks are exactly as described - a 1/2 inch crack extending inward from the perimeter.

As of today I have been attempting to watch "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" for 30 days. I say attempting because today I received my 8th cracked Sarah Marshall disc in a row. This is bordering on ridiculous!

Maybe Netflix needs to switch to a more sturdy mailer for their blu-rays (a la Gamefly, with a cardboard insert to keep the mailer rigid).

[Mike]

I used a Netflix account about 2 years ago for a very steady amount of time and never received a cracked DVD. Just recently I started up my account again (maybe 2 months ago) and have been a very heavy user (had to cut down on DVD/BRD purchases) and to be honest, I have never received a cracked disk. I've had maybe one disk be very, very dirty, but even as far as scratches, the disks I get are usually in very good shape.

[downloaddefault]

Today my FIFTH replacement for the original broken title arrived BROKEN as well.

[Phillip Duggan]

I don't get Blu-ray discs but with DVD I think I've only had one cracked in years...

[Michael]

I have been with Netflix since 2002 continuously. And before that I was with them in the early years 1999-2000 when they only had one distributor in Cal. During the early years I had problems with about 1 of 3 DVDs but I soon realized that it was my DVD player. Since then I can literally count the number of bad DVDs on one hand.

[Christopher]

I've been with Netflix since 2001 and only gotten about 5-6 dvd's cracked and a few dvd's that would not play. So on average about 2 a year that or either cracked or will not play in about 100 discs per year I get from netflix so all in all not to bad. I don't do Blu-Ray so no idea on that

[banter]

Maybe 1 cracked disc over my 6 year span with NF and I live in Dallas.

[John Tierney]

I have had a Toshiba HD-30 for 13 months. So no BD. Talking in the area of some 300 discs for the time period. No cracked DVDs or HD-DVDs(while they were available). There has been only one DVD that this machine has not been able to play at all. Scratches for the most part are not a problem. I have had about 6 movies where the player would stop but I was able to skip past the bad spot and continue on. Note: I clean every disc I get before playing.

My old DVD player was not so forgiving of scratches on a disc and I was probably averaging about 1 return for every 30 discs.

When it comes to scratches I think the quality of the player has a lot to do with how much of a problem you will experience.

[A Movie A Day (AMAD)]

I had a few that were cracked, but got one once that was completely shattered, the malority of these discs I recieved after I moved to my current address, mostly because the postal workers in town are careless (just my opinion, although I was tempted to use much more stronger descriptive terms).

[Discostu]

Not recently, but a couple years ago the postal gods didn't seem to want me to watch Deliverance, 2 cracked and 1 outright broken. Other movies arriving the same time were fine.