A couple of months before Christmas, Ashley and I were watching season six of Star Trek: Voyager. We were on disc six, and took it downstairs to my office to watch an episode there (I think I was re-formatting a PC and needed to baby-sit the OS install). When we were finished watching the first episode on the disc, we removed the DVD and it stayed downstairs. A few days later when we wanted to watch the next episode, we went looking for the DVD and couldn’t find it anywhere. My office is already fairly well-organized, so it was baffling that the DVD went missing. Over the next week Ashley and I searched the house, and could find no trace of the DVD anywhere.
I turned to Google and searched for any information on what the procedure was for getting one DVD replaced – I couldn’t find anything, but it seemed ridiculous that I’d have to buy a whole new box set for one DVD. Giving up on that approach, I then tried to contact Paramount Home Pictures directly. The box sets themselves are no help, offering no contact information, so I found a phone number on Google (the number I ended up calling was 1-323-956-3010). I can’t remember exactly what department I got transferred to, but I believe I got the operator and asked to be transferred to someone that could help me replace a lost DVD. I left a voice mail on the system I was transferred to, and after more than two months passed without hearing back, I had given up on having it replaced. Then, much to my surprised, I received a phone call from a woman from Paramount Home Pictures on Friday. When I explained what I was looking for, she took my address and said she’d send me the DVD I was missing, free of charge. I was quite surprised that it would be free, so I asked her if they sent it out for free because it was so hard to get in touch with the right person – she laughed and said “Pretty much.”
I haven’t received the DVD yet of course, but I’m fairly confident I’ll see it before the end of the month. While I wish Paramount would have some process in place for the replacement of a lost DVD from a box set (Star Trek or not), it’s good to know that if you find the right person to talk to, they’re willing to help. I’m hopeful that this blog entry will show up in the search engines if anyone is looking for the same solution I was. Live long and prosper. 😉