Joel Goodsen

Hello Folks

I need your help please. I recently purchased a region 1 copy of I'll always Know What You Did Last Summer off Ebay (What can I say? I am a completest and I love horror flicks) and when I looked at the box it just didnt seem right. I always make sure I buy original discs and have never had a copy sent to me from Ebay before.

The box is identical to that of the region 1, the ISBN number is the same and it is printed on the right DVD cover paper, but the spelling of the story on the back cover has spelling mistakes such as their has been spelt "theri" and latest " lates" and the R sticker says " R for horro violence " instead of horror. The disc quality is like that of a studio and the actual disc is highly produced but underneath the title is Japanese writing and and the dolby digital small white logo and a red box saying 1+3x and also DVD - 9.

Is this just a highly produced bootleg? Mods, I am not promoting or endorsing bootlegs, I am pissed off about this. I always buy original and I am seeking an answer to this specific DVD, So I know what to do next.

Any help would be appreciated. Cheers

speedy1961

Definitely sounds like a bootleg based on what you are stating.

Bad spelling mistakes and grammar are dead give aways.

TomOpus

Yeah, what speedy said.

I would go back and read the auction carefully. Depending on how it's worded you might have legitimate grip for a refund.

Giggles

Looks 99% like bootleg. Check the seller's info. If he has negative feedback, read what other buyers left for him. You might see the seller has already been accused of selling bootlegs. Look at what's now for sale at his store and at DVDs he sold recently to other buyers. If there're lots of same movie DVDs and rather cheap - that's the most certain sign he sells bootlegs.
You can try to contact the seller, maybe he'll be willing to refund if you return the DVD. If not you can contact eBay customer's service. Most probably they'll take measures, but unfortunately only towards the seller. They can ban him, but you'll never get your money back. Hope you didn't pay much for it. I once lost almost $100 for all three Lord of the Rings gift boxes. The seller was banned, but I found myself with no money and no boxes

BSpielbauer

That is most definitely a bootleg. The numerous spelling errors /typos are the first indicator (I own a bootleg Fellowship of the Rings which has more than a dozen such errors, including "Lord of teh Ring" in large sized font.)

In fact, it is also possible that what you have is even worse -- a burned copy of a bootleg. This is where the seller has obtained one Asian bootleg, and then "mass-produced" it for sale using his home PC. He scans in the cover art, and prints copies on his inkjet printer. All of the spelling errors were there on the original, and they remain on his bogus copies.
Then, he "rips" and "burns" the disc onto cheap, inexpensive DVD-R blanks discs or DVD+R blank discs. Finally, he either prints a label onto the disc, or he prints out a label using an inkjet printer and simply slaps it onto the disc. His original bootleg was at least a "pressed disc." The ones he sells cost him less than a dollar total, and he can mass produce them in minutes with his DVD burner.

There is a lot of software out there which can identify whether the disc you have is a true pressed DVD, or a DVD+R, or a DVD-R. If it is one of the latter, the picture quality has been compressed to make everything fit, since the original was a dual layer disc (that is what the "DVD-9" on the label means). The burned ones hold only half as much material.

1- Contact the seller. Often they will refund your money to avoid risking your complaint to E-Bay, since it means he might have to lose his account and open up a brand new one and start all over (a common E-Bay practice when fraud occurs).
2-If the money is not returned fairly promptly, notify E-Bay. Do not expect quick action, and do not expect your money to be returned ever, in this case. They will do a slow investigation, and finally shut that account down.

-Bruce in Chi-town
=========
Ultimate fun add-on for a Home Theater: www.S2Digital.com

Joel Goodsen

Thanks for the advice guys. Im no mug when it comes to bootlegs. I have always avoided them on Ebay and I never buy off anyone with anything less than 97% feedback most of the time. I can spot them 99.9% of the time. The seller had 100% feedback and did not have an acutal picture of the DVD but a stock photo and basically just said Region 1 DVD. If they had even one dodgy feedback, I wouldn't have touched it.

Luckily, I have only spent £2.50, nearly $6 in your currency. I know that isn't alot but I like to buy originals and even though I earn that money with 15 mins at work, I dont work 15 mins for bootlegs. I have E-mailed the seller, they left me feedback as soon as I paid but I have yet to leave any for them, I will just wait and see what their response will be.

Giggles, my rip off is noting compared to yours, $100 is a heck of alot more than what I have paid. That would of bugged me for weeks. It's just the principal of the matter to be honest. Any sign it was a bootleg, which some sellers even do, I would not have minded because I would of known but they didnt even mention it on listing that it was imported for example. I feel pissed off. I have bought nearly a hundred or so DVDs off ebay with no bother at all...untill now.

I will let you know if their is any updates, if anyone is interested. Thanks again for the replies, it is appreciated

Giggles

Well, if you walk a minefield some day you'll step on one... And eBay is definately a minefield for that matter. I've bought from total 41 sellers there and had two negative experiences. The Lord of the Rings boxes case tought me to think twice. Later I learned this store was selling all three boxes almost every week. Well I should have asked myself where all the supplies come from... And certainly I learned to be twice more careful with pricey items and never to give my money away if I have a slightest suspicion. Yes, it's been bugging me for some time, but then I decided that $100 is just a $100. I can survive without them.
So yes, please keep us posted about the updates. It's interesting whether they'll sacrifice their account for $6.

Joel Goodsen

Everything has worked out in the end. E-mailed seller and have now had a refund. Yet after all this, I order Cable Guy DVD which the seller said was Widescreen but it was Fullscreen. There is a saying bad luck comes in three's...lets hope there isnt a third.

Cheers folks.

Giggles

Congratulations on everything worked out fine!

Drexl

Well, he may actually have an excuse there. That's one of the titles for which Sony/Columbia has dropped the widescreen side. Since they didn't change the UPCs, many sites still list these titles as containing both fullscreen and WS. He may not be aware of this practice, so he may have listed the info without checking the case to be sure. Even then, there have even been reports of copies that use the old cover art but the disc inside is FS only.

Joel Goodsen

Yeah I know all about that fiasco, but it was a used disc and it said full screen on the back, so it wasn't as if it said widescreen and it was just a one sided disc. The hassle you have to put with for a bargain and a good flick, eh?

Julie Walker

Oh and I have the third "I Know" film since I bought the triple pack at Wal-Mart. And everything is spelled correctly,and there is no Japanese writing or other logos on the disc or package itself. Just the basic Sony logo,copyright and credits you see on other dvds.

So you definitely got a bootleg!

AllHallowsEve

In this situation, I wouldn't doubt the release was real. The film was so poorly made, I wouldn't doubt there would be errors on the box. No care went into the actual filming.

All kidding aside, a few highly successful horror films were very inaccurate in their descriptions. Elm Street 4, a hit at the time, for example... The original VHS box talks about Kristen kicking ass or something along those lines. Considering she dies early on, I don't know where the writers got that from.

These mistakes are common practice on DTV offerings.

Hellraiser: Hellseeker -- Kirsty is back to kick Pinhead's butt and save the world. Not much of a world to save when you're in the film for five minutes and happen to make a deal with Pinhead.

I do see typos show up now and again too. Wouldn't be so bad if these people weren't getting paid to write for a living.

Giggles

Here's a story proving you have to be double-careful with eBay and alikes: yesterday I won an auction for Rozz Williams' Pig ($45). The seller's feedback was OK. I paid for the DVD immediately. Today I entered my account and found out that this seller is "no longer a registered user". So I don't know what to expect. Maybe I'll get the DVD and maybe not, because being no longer registered the seller might decide not to ship it at all - no negative feedback will ruin his reputation no more. I contacted eBay and currently waiting for their reply. Meanwhile I decided to check the seller's feedback, to see what he was selling. I found out that in the past 3 or 4 months he had sold about 5 or 7 Pig DVDs! Given the fact that this is a pretty hard-to-find LE, I can only assume he was selling bootlegs. Although one buyer left a feedback that it was an "authentic, excellent DVD". Who knows... So no because of my own stupidity and laziness to explore the seller's feedback in detail I'll spend nervous 2 or 3 weeks not knowing what will I get - an authentic copy or a bootleg if I'll get anything at all.

Cardsfan111

Hopefully you paid via paypal. You can dispute through them and retrieve your money. Be sure not to let 45 days go past or you can't file a claim. I got burned 2-3 times before I realized this route was the way to go.

Giggles

Thanks for the tip I didn't know that. This way I really can relax and don't be nervous about the money.

rennervision

I rarely see a person's feedback on Ebay as an indicator that he sells bootlegs. Like the OP said, his seller had 100% positive feedback. It's just never been a very good indicator (but you would think just the opposite).

I have a strict rule of avoiding auctions with stock photos after falling for the same scam myself. I'll also email the seller and ask for the catalog ID number or UPC code off the DVD case. (And it better match information already on file at websites like IMDB or DVD Empire.) If the seller emails me back and says they can't find it - well that's another dead giveaway.

EDIT: Thought I would add that Paypal was no help to me in the past. Their official stance was they do not intervene over disputes concerning the "quality of the goods." Maybe this has since changed, but it makes me wish I had been dishonest and just said the seller never shipped it. At least then Paypal would have possibly refunded my money!

Cardsfan111

It is a flawed system in a way. My wife left someone neutral feedback because they took their sweet time in paying. Then the day after the item was shipped out, the buyer responded with negative feedback and immediately filed a claim with paypal that the item wasn't received. Since I hadn't used anything to provide tracking, I couldn't 'prove' it was sent. The buyer in essence ripped me off by getting the item and her money back!

I suggested to the previous poster to use the paypal dispute since the seller was no longer a registered user. I'd be shocked if he/she received anything from the seller.

Giggles

Got a reply from eBay, but as I thought it's not of a great help. "We appreciate your business blah-blah-blah... We can't reveal the reasons why the seller is no longer a registered user because of the privacy policy... Try to contact the seller BY PHONE and resolve your issue..." So it's like the last time - eBay is not offering any real help, more of giving encouragement. I think I'll wait for 2 weeks (time parcels usually get to Moscow from the US) and then address PayPal.

Cardsfan111

Good luck, Giggles! Hope everything works out in your favor.

MikeShaynePI

I'd say it's your fault for buying such a shitty movie.

Joel Goodsen

Do you feel better now you have been helpful? You do? oh good

Giggles

Well, can't say anything actually about the movie, it was a blind buy. LIMITED NUMBERED EDITION - those magic words just hypnotize me. But really - thanks for the insight as Joel Goodsen mentioned.

Giggles

Bumping the thread to finish the story...
I finally got Pig DVD although it was in the way longer than it usualy takes a DVD to be shipped here. So I just started losing hope and here it was! And what's more amazing, it's not a bootleg! Considering the guy already sold like 5 of such DVDs I wonder where the hell he got them all.
Mine is sealed, mint, couldn't be better. 1328 out of 1334. So I'm glad that Damocles' sword is no longer above my head.

Joel Goodsen

ohhh great stuff. Glad the DVD has arrived. There is nothing worse than being ripped off, so I am glad it hasn't happened to you again. Here is to more happy endings.