Bootleg dvd?

[Labyrinth]

I recently purchased a DVD boxset through an online retailer. The website showed this company as located in Washington, but my package arrived from China. Physically the discs look legitimate for the most part, but one thing I noticed that is off is that the writing that is etched on the underside of the DVD right around the center says "Buffy S1D1" etc in accordance to their position in the series. Whereas I had to return a previous set I had purchased from a different seller do to excessive damage, and on those discs they clearly said "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" in the same place. So obviously one set or the other was counterfeit. I've been playing the discs to make sure they are okay, and have run across a few abnormalities. First of all a couple of the discs (not all of them) play all the episodes when you hit play on the first episode instead of going back to the main menu as the other discs do. Now I'm on season 4 and the quality of the show itself is getting worse (lots of audio/video glitches).

This company has posted that they don't accept returns on open dvd's without a restocking fee, buyer pays shipping to return it, etc. and obviously I don't feel I should have to pay anything as this is an illegal copy. I want a refund for this, but before I send them an email I thought I'd post here for advice on how to best handle it.

Any advice?

 

[Renee750il]

You're not going to get your money back if it's a counterfeit copy from China. A friend of mine thought he was getting a real copy of Rosetta Stone . . . turned out to be a fake one from China and didn't have the code necessary to unlock it to use it. The process of trying to get the code is how he discovered it was a pirated copy.

The best you can hope for is revenge -- turning them in. Not sure it will do any good, but networks have a better shot at getting those operations shut down, and they might even appreciate it.

 

[Labyrinth]

You're not going to get your money back if it's a counterfeit copy from China. A friend of mine thought he was getting a real copy of Rosetta Stone . . . turned out to be a fake one from China and didn't have the code necessary to unlock it to use it. The process of trying to get the code is how he discovered it was a pirated copy.

The best you can hope for is revenge -- turning them in. Not sure it will do any good, but networks have a better shot at getting those operations shut down, and they might even appreciate it.

Not sure what you mean by a code to unlock it. These discs do actually play and I've already ordered a replacement set of discs from Amazon. They just went on sale, and I applied for their credit card for an additional $40 discount, so I got it for $30 total. It's not the packaging I wanted, but at least I know it'll be a legit copy.

I sent an email to the company listing all the reasons that I know it's not a legitimate copy and am hoping they'll give at least a partial refund. If I can get at least the $30 I spent on the new set from Amazon it'll be a wash. I'll most likely still report them in any case.

I just don't understand how they can get away with it. It's a very legitimate looking website, and they state that all their sets are from liquidations and close outs. I was just looking it over though and I noticed they've got things for sale that aren't even out on dvd. They've got a set of The Simpsons seasons 1-21 for sale, but only seasons 1-13 and 20 are available so far.

Any idea who I report them to anyways?

 

[Renee750il]

I'm not sure who is doing that kind of thing now. Used to, you could call the local FBI office. That may be the place to start still.

The Rosetta Stone software takes a code to unlock it to use -- not getting that is what put him on the track of it being a fake.

 

[Beanie]

Did you buy it on your credit card? I don't know what company you use but you could call them and tell them you ordered a DVD set and it turned out to be counterfeit. I'd wait until the company gets back to you because they always want you to try to contact the company first, but if the company refuses to give you a refund, your credit card company might reverse the charges for you. I had something similar happen - it wasn't counterfeit but the discs didn't work, and the company wouldn't respond to me when I asked them for a replacement or a refund - and Visa reversed the charges no problem.

 

[Labyrinth]

I didn't even think of contacting my credit card company about it. That's a great idea, I'll definitely do that to try to get a refund if they don't respond to me. I sent them the email late last night, is a waiting a week too lenient, or should I do something if I don't hear back within a couple of business days? They were quick to respond when I emailed them for a tracking information so I wouldn't think it should take them too long to respond this time either. It was a fox show, so I imagine maybe I can report it to them or something? If I report it to the authorities, do I have to send them the dvd's or do I get to hang on to them (I kind of want to keep the packaging if I can).

 

[Labyrinth]

Hrmm.. I'm replaying one of the discs that had horrible glitches when I played it in the dvd player downstairs, and so far it's completely glitch free. I'm starting to wonder if it was all my dvd players fault and maybe they are legit after all.

Does anyone here have any of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer dvd's by any chance?