That rattling sound...

[Duddyroar]

As someone who orders quite a few games over the internet, I just wanted to find out if anyone else gets the same feeling of dread when a package arrives and you hear that 'rattle' as you pick it up - the rattle that means the feckin' CD/DVD has fallen of the spindle and is moving around inside the case.

I know this is a really pathetic thing to post about but it really browns me off, esp when it's a game you've ordered from new and is sealed. This has happened quite a few times to me recently, thankfully the discs suffered no damage but I've had a few DVDs from the US that have been scratched to fook by the time they reach me. The discs play fine, but that's not the point - it's really annoying when you've paid for a new product and when it reaches you it isn't in 'new' condition.

It isn't a problem with older games (Saturn and Dreamcast, for example) and music CDs as a CD jewel case doesn't offer the disc alot of space to move around in. DVD-style cases however have plenty of room for the disc to bounce around, getting itself marked and scuffed in the process.

Who's to blame? The company that make the cases? The company who pack the disc? The postie? Who knows. I only know that it pisses me off, big time.

Rant over.

[Mad Gear]

The postie? Who knows. I only know that it pisses me off, big time.

Rant over.

Don't be looking at me mate.

[mid]

The cheap-ass company using Scanavo boxes rather than the superior Alpha ones. I've never had a loose disc in an Alpha case, in all my years of DVD buying.

[Duddyroar]

The two recent ones I've had were PS2 games. The spindle in those is pretty decent. I suppose if it's designed to allow the disc to come off at some point then you're bound to have some working loose, no matter how secure it is.

[PH]

I haven't had any problem with games. Had a few DVDs though that have come loose in the post and looked like a skating rink on opening. My biggest moan though goes to DVD boxset packaging. Some of it is downright awful and its almost impossible to order a boxset and not get at least one disc loose and badly scratched. Boxset packaging should be like the Alias or Indiana Jones sets, standard Amaray cases that fit into a slip case.

[Duddyroar]

Agreed, some of the boxsets are terrible. Thankfully most of them are so tightly packed that even when the disc works loose it doesn't have anywhere to go.

[chopemon]

its a right pain that

you just know that there may be the most horrendous scratch across your beautiful shiny disk

however, its not as bad as ordering dreamcast games. there is always a crack in the case.

i ordered zombie revenge the other week and when it got here the seller had wrapped it really well in bubble wrap, there was layers of the stuff. i was overjoyed that it hadn't got a crack in it.

then i dropped it

[Geoff D]

The cheap-ass company using Scanavo boxes rather than the superior Alpha ones. I've never had a loose disc in an Alpha case, in all my years of DVD buying.

I have - the 2nd disc of my Criterion Spartacus was fuxx0red due to it coming loose.

[Zapp$ter]

As has been said earlier, I haven't really had any problems when it comes to games. DVD boxsets are another story. I ordered, the babylon 5 season 3 boxed set from amazon. This particular boxed set was IMO quite crappy when compared to the rest of them(which all had a separate dvd case for each dvd and so there was no chance of them falling all over the place). Anyway when it finally arrived and I opened it up I noticed that about 4 of the 6 dvds were loose. On closer inspection most of them had a couple of scratches, but one was properly fooked up. So I had to watch all the dvds just to check that all the episodes and everything were working fine(I'd never seen babylon 5 up until this point so I wasn't about to spoil it for myself by jumping ahead by a couple of episodes). The disc that was fooked up badly would constantly freeze at a certain point in a particular episode with a few other glitches here and there. I was not a happy bunny.

[Duddyroar]

Were you able to return the disc?

This is what worries me most about this problem - if you get a disc that is badly damaged in transit because it has come loose, will the company you bought it from replace or refund it? I suppose they don't have to, as it's not their fault that the disc has worked loose in the post. But then it leaves you with a faulty product.

As you can tell, this keeps me awake at night.

[Zapp$ter]

Were you able to return the disc?

This is what worries me most about this problem - if you get a disc that is badly damaged in transit because it has come loose, will the company you bought it from replace or refund it? I suppose they don't have to, as it's not their fault that the disc has worked loose in the post. But then it leaves you with a faulty product.

As you can tell, this keeps me awake at night.

Well, amazon were pretty cool about it. I sent them an email to tell them the situation and they put in a replacement order with no extra charge, they then told me to send back the damaged set and even paid back the p&p I paid in sending it to them. The replacement order came in the same packaging as the season 1 and 2 boxed sets, so all the discs were in mint condition. So in the end everything turned out alright, but I wouldn't want to go through it again.

[MD]

I like the squeaky sound that occurs when you shake the end of some cases and the disc inside rolls around spindle... means that the fooker has little chance of coming off.

[importaku]

so far i have never had it happen to me with dvd'd thank god.

Luckily japanese gamecube game cases are fantastically designed, no amount of shaking will get those disks off the spindle when its closed, even the 2 disk boxes have a little bit of plastic that goes over disk 2 to stop it even thinking about falling off.

[gossi the dog]

It's happened to me with a few DVD's and games. However the disks tend to move very little despite having come off the spindle and are usually in spotless condition. What's annoying is not being aware of the disk having come off the spindle, opening the case and the disk falling on the floor.

[Kotatsu Neko]

I blame it on the stupid oversized boxes games and DVDs come in. It's a CD FFS, why not put it in a jewel case? Would take up less shelf space that way too.

At least the days of massive PC card boxes seem to be mostly gone.