Sorry but IMHO, boycotts aren't constructive, quitting after sending a couple of messages is lazy, and generalizing incompetence isn't a valid position.
The history of consumer boycotts has a number of successes that, together with consumer lobbying and advocacy groups, made America what it is today - a bastion for consumer rights. Capitalist Ameria will never again put out shoddy products that way many did in the 1800s and early 1900s. Thanks to the power of the consumer. Consumer boycott is just another weapon and a potent recourse of consumers who feel aggrieved by some callous commercial entities when all else fails. I agree this may be too draconian a measure at this time. But unanswered consumer complaint emails and letters are symptomatic of such market insensitivity. How many emails does it take before you quit? 50? 200? 1000? Regardless, a consumer boycott should never be ruled out. It's the commercial equivalent of People Power in politics. A consumer boycott is not meant to put a company to its knees. It is not meant to destroy. As a last resport, it is meant to stir and wake insensitive one to respect and uphold consumer rights. It is meant for them to improve to satisfy customers and thus redound to a better business for them.
A consumer knows only the products he buys. And when he gets a product that is less than what is claimed for, that is enough information to generalize incompetence, if not seller negligence. What information do you need for a generalization like this to be valid? It is not as if Narnia and KK were the first of ther kind to rattle the nerves of DVD enthusiasts. You only need to go through the threads about C-Interactive and those 299 Magna titles to make a valid generalization. OFcourse there have been great Magna and Viva releases in the past. But let's not confuse generalizations with exceptions. Now which has greater percentage, I leave to you. But while I can agree that Magna and Viva gave us decent products in the past, they seem to be regressing, not improving. For the sake of the market, they better shape up or ship out.
You're free to do what you want, but knowing full well that Narnia was already defective, and that you were going to return it, you shouldn't have watched it. You may be trying to prove a point, but by popping those discs into your player, you lost the moral high ground, even if you just watched the "battle scenes".
If you're really serious about this, buy the set, have them test the discs in-store, point out the discrepancies, ask for a refund. Repeat this across as many retail outlets as you can. If you want to be an activist, make sure your position is unimpeachable and that they know exactly who you are and what you stand for.
What makes you think I am not serious about this? I actually wanted to have this NARNIA tested in the store BEFORE I made the purchase. But it's a real indictment on local consumer rights that stores don't allow some of their merchandise to be tested before purchase.
And no I didn't know that it was defective apart from the flak it was getting here. The only way to know on my own was to borrow or buy and test one with the precognition that I will return if confirmed that it is indeed defective. So if I bought and tested it at home, that would be no different than testing at the store AFTER I bought it. I tested it to check the DTS content. There was nothing in the menu. I jumped to the chapter that interested me most, the battle scenes, to check if the menu was just missing it and that my player might be able to identify and swtich from DD to DTS on the remote if indeed there was a DTS track. There was none. And just because I found myself was glued to the battle scenes until its completion deprives me of a morale high ground? That's an intriguing marketing concept. Must the consumer have some moral high ground to let his displeasure at his purchase come accross. Whether contrived or not?
No. The consumer has no need for it. His pesoses are enough high ground for the commercial establisments to run after and which he can withhold if not satisfied with the products of such estblishments.
And yes, I probably can do what you suggested. Go the rounds of Astro stores buying and pointing out a misprinted Narnia package and having it refunded. (But the rate most are not accepting outright refunds, I could be getting unnecessary titles in exchange instead.) And if I had all the money, I could just buy all their Narnia releases and dump them in exchange for other non-viva titles. But no. That's precisely why I am participating in forums like this, voicing with fellow members their impressions and findings about some locally released DVD titles. In the hope that some concerned felllow member, associated even the remotest way with these offending distributors, can help us out collectively when issues like this arise. Simple. No need for formal complaints. No need for boycotts really. If only these distributors can read these posts and members like you with the clout in the industry can bring this to their attention, that would be a of great vaue to the local DVD industry and the market.
Look, all of the distributors have been guilty of shoddy releases in the past -- including Warner. And I do know for a fact that they've all tried to improve because of constructive criticism from this forum.
- Warner's become more conscious of their cover labels. Features are validated now before printing. As many old-timers here know, they had pretty big problems before.
- Viva was stung many times by criticism re their cheap keepcases. Today, they're actually the largest importer of original Amaray cases in the country. I know, because my company uses the same supplier. They may not use Amarays for every title, but the improvement is pretty significant in my book.
- Magna had problems with numerous discrepancies between R1 and R3 releases, and they campaigned actively for parity between regions. Plus, when a title is proven to be defective, they bring in the corrected versions and replace them no questions asked.
If you feel that your complaints aren't getting the attention they deserve, forward your letters to me and I'll endorse it to them.
Sure thing. But do we need to write formal letters? Isn't this forum enough? Can't u bring these discussions to their attention the way you did in the past, according to your story? I am happy to hear this forum hasn't missed out in the past to bring to these distributors the plaint of its members. I hope it continues to do so.
Fyi, I didn't buy Narnia either, but I bought Titanic which I felt was a pretty good deal even at Php999.
Personally, as long as it's decently packaged, I can patronize locally released R3s of titles that I WANT.
As other members pointed out before, you always have a choice.
Ofcourse, that is the essence of free enterprise economy.
But if you look at it closer, when there's only one and only one company authorized to exclusively release a product for the local market, that is tantamount to a market monopoly. It's effectively curtailing your freedom of choice. Because unless you import and get to the more expensive purchase route, which defeats the purpose of having a local distributor, you really have no choice. It's no different when San Miguel used to lord it over the local beer market - a monopoly broken only with the emergence of Lucio Tan's Beer na Beer. It's good that San Mig has been and is a great product loved by the local market. But what if it sucked. Will you then say, ofcourse the people have the choice to get imported Heineken, Budweiser, etc?? Just like what happens now when one and only one company has the exclusive right to release/package and distribute a certain DVD title here. And it sucks. Invoking that freedom of choice is rather hollow. True. we have a choice to get R1s from Amazon or R3 from Hongkong. Para mo ng sinampal yung mga DVD enthsiasts who can't afford R1s or import Hongkong or Korean DVDs That's not what i have in mind for a local free market economy. We're talking, rather complaining, about the LOCAL R3 industry lorded over by insensitive distributors who take advantage of their unigue and exclusive marketing positions to foist shabby products the local DVD enthusiasts find distressing. And for which there is no other choice but to look for imports majority of DVD enthusiasts can't afford or willing to afford and defeats the very purpose for local distributorship. When you are prompted to go R1 or imported R3 because the exclusive local release is lousy when it should not, that's not free market for me. That's blackmail.
Have a blessed holy weekend.
