DVD Disappointments -- Wish I had Stayed with VHS

if you have a paper spring guide...on the back page..."all of our dvd's come with a liftime guarantee.if you ever have a problem,just send the damaged disc back to us and we will replace it at no cost to you."... this does not apply to vhs, only 90 days on them. i'd hold snm responsible...or they could post a reply here for you!! i've been thrilled with my dvd's.
 
Amy - I have had problems w/several of my Cathe DVDs, but I kept my VHS versions of everything.
If you want to mail me a box or envelope with sufficient postage to ship them to you, I will gladly let you have my VHS versions of Cathe's step tapes, including IMAX, for no cost but the postage it takes to mail them from my house in Arlington, VA to your place. I've given up high impact workouts for good, and the VHS tapes are just collecting dust. Please send me an email ([email protected]) if you are interested. Suzanne
 
Suzanne

that is such an amazingly generous gesture! What a lovely woman you are. I appreciate your gesture and I am not even the recipient!!!!

have a nice day

Clare
 
I have all of Cathe's DVDs except Ab Hits and about 50 other DVDs. The C&W/IMAX2 is the only DVD I have had problems with. After about the 4th time using it, it fragments or gets stuck or both. I cleaned it with a lint free cloth and that didn't help at all. It simply will not play on my Toshiba DVD player in the workout room. I have no problem playing it on the JVC DVD player in the bedroom.
RobinJ
 
Amy, here is my experience. I have had no problem with any of my Cathe DVDs. I have a Sony 5 disk exchanger. I am super careful about the way I handle my DVDs. I have the Donna Read DVD with 3 workouts on it which I preordered. It worked fine. Then, one time I tried it, certain sections of it would not play. My player indicated I had a dirty disk. I followed all the correct procedures on cleaning it to no avail. I noticed a very tiny scratch on it. I have no clue where it came from or if it had been there all along. I finally decided to buy a repair kit which is rather pricey, about $8 in Walmart. I have not used it but will try it and will let you know how it works. While I love the versatility of creating the workouts I want to fit my schedule etc., I am beginning to be a little skeptical that DVDs are as permanent as the hype you read about them. I have received used vhs videos from ebay broken at the hinge part a few times, and once, from a store I purchased a new one from. None of the new vhs videos I purchased in the eighties such as Kathy Smith's or Firms ever lost their clarity. The only vhs videos which has done so are ones I recorded from tv shows in that time period.

If your DVDs never worked from the first time you tried them, you should try to play them on another player if possible. If other DVDs play fine, it is probably the DVD. Explain your problem to SNM.

I will keep you aprised of my situation. Good luck.

Bea
 
That is the kindest, nicest offer I've had in a long, long time.

I really appreciate it and will Email -- I have some bids on a few at Ebay, but just got outbid on "Rhythmic Step"

And Claire, are the THE CLAIRE who organized a Roadtrip a few years ago?

And thanks for explaining why Customer Service has not responded.

You guys are so nice to me!
 
I do not understand why DVD players are so cranky. My Imax one will not play in my Panasonic or my Sony.

I have not tried it in any other DVD player -- I may take over to my best girlfriend's house and try to play it on her player.

What frustrates me so much is to be working out, happy and excited, and motivated because Cathe is so wonderful and her workouts so challenging, and all of the sudden --- fragmentation! I do not curse in my normal life, but I always say an explicative or two when this happens to me.

There is nothing worse to people like us than to lose our heartrates during our workouts! You guys know what I am talking about!

And when Cathe announced the music selections for the series she is filming now and I saw "1999" as one of the selections -- I about DIED! That is one of my favorite songs ever -- I remember being pregnant with my daughter when that was popular -- brings back great memories!
 
I do not understand why DVD players are so cranky. My Imax one will not play in my Panasonic or my Sony.

I have not tried it in any other DVD player -- I may take over to my best girlfriend's house and try to play it on her player.

What frustrates me so much is to be working out, happy and excited, and motivated because Cathe is so wonderful and her workouts so challenging, and all of the sudden --- fragmentation! I do not curse in my normal life, but I always say an explicative or two when this happens to me.

There is nothing worse to people like us than to lose our heartrates during our workouts! You guys know what I am talking about!

And when Cathe announced the music selections for the series she is filming now and I saw "1999" as one of the selections -- I about DIED! That is one of my favorite songs ever -- I remember being pregnant with my daughter when that was popular -- brings back great memories!
 
Hi Bea,

I bought one of those kits (I think my husband got it at Wal-Mart for me). It did not help either.

I love the versatility and quality of DVDs.

I don't know what to do. On one hand, I prefer DVDs. I love the ability to create my own workouts and that bonus workout with "Boot Camp" and "Muscle Endurance" is awesome. I don't even think that is on VHS (but I don't know).

On the other hand I just want to CRY when I am in the middle of a wonderful workout and all of the sudden the disk fragments.

Now I've written S&M to change my order to VHS -- but DVD is so much more flexible.

This is driving me nuts! And I am ashamed to tell S&M to keep my order at DVD.

And then I had the crack in my "Circuit Max" DVD that just got bigger and bigger, so I reordered it.

But now that I am no longer working (I quit my job to finish my doctoral dissertation), I don't have a lot of money (well, I never had a lot of money, but now I have less).

I don't know what to do short of ordering both DVD and VHS.
 
Unfortunately I KNOW your frustration. I had the same problem last year and while I had a hard time with customer service they did replace my DVD....BUT I still have problems with MIS and it drove me crazy the other day. There are two spots that I have to do on my own and then skip over which stinks, but if it was cardio I would probably go even crazier... I am not sure what to do....
 
I think VHS is still the way to go because DVDs are just to cranky.

It drives me CRAZY to be in the middle of a cardio workout and all of the sudden it gegins to skip and fragment.

My advice to anybody debating VHS and DVD is to go VHS -- I have had too many bad experiences with Cathe DVDs.
 
>I do not understand why DVD players are so cranky. My Imax
>one will not play in my Panasonic or my Sony.
>
DVDs still aren't standard and for as long as the manufacturer's keep playing "mine's the best format!" games with us consumers, this sort of problem will not go away :( We have 5 DVD players in our home including the computers (sounds better than it really is as 2 are really old (for DVDs that is!) now) and although most of my DVDs will play on all of the players, there are a few which have either sound problems (going from quiet to loud), won't play at all, or I have to press the Menu button to get anything: sound or picture. Cleaning the discs, really does help but if they're already clean, it's likely to be a problem with the disc.... BUT DVDs are sturdy and can take a lot of abuse and it's not often that you'll end up with a bust disc. VHS on the other hand... I'd still take DVD over VHS any day.
ATB,
- Lisa :)
 
>One of my DVD players was bought last month and the other
>last year and I am meticulous about the way I handle them.
>
>I am not trying to hold S&M responsible, but if they state a
>lifetime warranty, then I do hold them to their word. >
>Perhaps you would not hold them to the lifetime guarantee, but
>I do not have a lot of money to spend and if a company
>guarantees something then they should stick to their word.
>It's called good business practice. It shows they are a great
>company if this is true and only speaks well for their
>business ethic.
>
>I did "Rhythmic Step" on it today with no problem. But IMAX
>sticks at Intervals 5 and 10. Inteval 10 will not play at all
>-- so should I be happy as much I paid for this DVD?
>
>I am not trying to disparage S&M in an way -- I am one of
>their most loyal fans and buyers. But the fact of the matter
>is their products are expensive and I've already replaced one
>with a crack in it (Circuit Max) at my own expense.
>
>You are implying through your response that:

>1: I mishandle my DVDs -- I do NOT!
>
>2. I should not hold a company responsible for an express
>warranty that they offer.
>
>I do not feel you are offering anything constructive to my
>thread; only acting as though you are on a pedestal in an
>ivory tower and I am a liar trying to scam a company.
>
>I read the DVD School and I have done every single thing it
>suggested. And my DVD players are not cheap -- one is
>Panasonic and the other is a Sony.
>
>Bottom Line: I have a defective DVD.



Amy, I have one thing for you...a big ole syber hug!

I feel your frustations, while I have never had problems with Dvd's I have had problems with multidisk plays and I refuse to buy another multidisk player because I tried it twice and I ended up taking them both back. Besides, I have to get up after each movie anyway, I just can't sit that long.:7

I think if you bought something that is defective, it should be replaced and I do remember seeing a lifetime guarantee on the Cathe home page. I don't know if its still there, but I remember seeing it when they first changed the look of the home page.:p To me, I don't care if its a $5 DVD or a $40 DVD, if I paid for it and it is defective, I would expect to have it replaced...like you said it is just good business sense. Hang in there, I have a feeling that SNM will do right by you.:D
 
I wonder if SNM would be interested in seeing this thread. It appears that there are several folks who are having problems with DVD's and just kinda living with it. :(

I'm guessing that the actual production of the DVD's and VHS tapes are contracted out to be mass produced. Seems like they'd want to know if there was a quality control problem with that part of the process, since so much effort is put into the content.
 
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