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Illegal Anime - What do you do?


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Almidia



Joined: 10 Jun 2008
Posts: 5
Location: Kentucky, US
PostPosted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:22 pm Reply with quote
With some leftover Christmas money i went anime shopping online, and spent roughly 170 dollars souly on anime and a [singlar - lol] plushie.

When I started getting shipments, I found out that the company I bought from, which to me looked safe [apparently not..] actually deals in illegal copies. I was SOOO peeved. I felt all happy because I rarely buy anime, and Im aware that the anime industry is in bad shape due to fan-subbers, so i was reeeeeaaaalllllllyyyy mad. And, of course, they are non refundable.

They are perfectly fine copies, but it is SOO obvious that they are fakes. So...am I stuck with them?

What do you do when you find a site that looks and says that it is fine, when really it isnt? Is there someplace I need to report this to?

~ A Sad Otaku
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Jkid



Joined: 24 May 2003
Posts: 197
Location: Capitol Heights ,MD
PostPosted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:31 pm Reply with quote
Where did you bought the anime DVDs from?
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Tratious



Joined: 03 Feb 2008
Posts: 316
Location: Savannah, GA
PostPosted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:53 pm Reply with quote
this is just a google search there might be more.

FBI Tips and Public Leads
https://tips.fbi.gov/

Internet Crime Complaint Center
http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
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Almidia



Joined: 10 Jun 2008
Posts: 5
Location: Kentucky, US
PostPosted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:55 pm Reply with quote
thanks for the comments Anime smile

I bought them from ">[This is a Known Bootleg Site]

and thanks for the links Anime smile
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EngrishFan



Joined: 15 Jul 2006
Posts: 75
Location: Somewhere in chilly Canada
PostPosted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:45 pm Reply with quote
You could also try filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. They can also give you a brief history of whatever company you're dealing with, including a summary of any recent complaints they've received and moderated that involves them.
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Kruszer



Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 7991
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:00 am Reply with quote
I mistakenly bought a few booted copies in my early anime watching days lured in by too good to be true prices. I eventually chucked them in the trash and replaced all six with legitimate domestic copies. Not only for legal reasons but also several of them were extremely poor quality discs that only lasted about a year before succumbing to laser rot.
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Skylark



Joined: 15 Mar 2007
Posts: 827
Location: ORE NO TSHIRT
PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:51 am Reply with quote
Not much you can do about past mistakes - in the future make sure the site you're buying from is not on any bootleg lists, and you'd be best to buy from either reputable sites like amazon, or direct from licensing companies. No offense but this is pretty much what you get for not really researching the site in question - it looks as though it's common enough that this site even has an automatic filter for links to it.
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Elfen12



Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 479
Location: Bay Area
PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 2:14 am Reply with quote
Kruszer wrote:
Not only for legal reasons but also several of them were extremely poor quality discs that only lasted about a year before succumbing to laser rot.


Forgive my gullibility and what not if false, but ... is there such a thing as laser rot, or are you sayin' like that they sorta just gave up and stopped playing. Because I too had a story like that where i was lured into good prices and i bought dvds, they stopped working after like 8 months and i was really confused, the disc looked fine but it like, it just woudln't play for me. I was wonderin' what that was all about.

-Elfen12-
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar


Joined: 14 Aug 2006
Posts: 16961
PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 6:15 am Reply with quote
EngrishFan wrote:
You could also try filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. They can also give you a brief history of whatever company you're dealing with, including a summary of any recent complaints they've received and moderated that involves them.

I have to agree most with this suggestion. When I've bought from new stores online or ebay and had them turn out to be pirated copies or just fakes this is where I report them. There's really not much you can do in terms of getting replacements or your money back unless the company/store is willing to do it. But you can at least report them so hopefully someone else might be spared. After a while I've just learned to also stick with the ones you know are legit. You might find some better deal at some random store or on ebay but you have no real way of knowing how legit they are until you get the products. So I suggest just sticking with known credited stores. Between RightStuf, Animenation, Anime Castle, and Robert's Anime Corner Store you should have all of your anime and manga needs met. Plus RightStuf has bargain bins and tons of sales so it's hard to beat their prices as is.
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abunai
Old Regular


Joined: 05 Mar 2004
Posts: 5463
Location: 露命
PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 8:36 am Reply with quote
Elfen12 wrote:
Forgive my gullibility and what not if false, but ... is there such a thing as laser rot, or are you sayin' like that they sorta just gave up and stopped playing. Because I too had a story like that where i was lured into good prices and i bought dvds, they stopped working after like 8 months and i was really confused, the disc looked fine but it like, it just woudln't play for me. I was wonderin' what that was all about.

Oh, it's a well-known problem. It's a matter of some concern for data archiving, especially in important national archive -- I was briefed, a while back, on the projects run by the Danish National Archives to transfer old data to new storage media in a continuous process. It's a serious issue, without a good solution.

- abunai
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TheTheory



Joined: 23 Mar 2008
Posts: 1029
Location: Central PA
PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 8:55 am Reply with quote
if you paid via credit card it would be worth reporting it to the credit card company. They have some pretty good fraud protection stuff in place... and I would consider bootlegs to fall under possible fraud... whether they would or not is a different story.
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DragonsRevenge



Joined: 15 Nov 2004
Posts: 1150
PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 10:30 am Reply with quote
I'd sell it to someone else for twice as much.
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zab



Joined: 25 Dec 2008
Posts: 14
Location: England
PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:11 am Reply with quote
I once bought a Boxset from a website that was quite obviously dealing with bootleg copies, i emailed them repeatedly and of course they were not replied too.

However when i said i will be filling a small claims case in the courts, the money was refunded within the day with an email requesting the Boxset back.

Im in the UK by the way, but im sure wherever you have a similar process.


Or if you paid with paypal, file a dispute, you will win.
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DuelLadyS



Joined: 17 Mar 2006
Posts: 1705
Location: WA state
PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:33 am Reply with quote
TheTheory wrote:
if you paid via credit card it would be worth reporting it to the credit card company. They have some pretty good fraud protection stuff in place... and I would consider bootlegs to fall under possible fraud... whether they would or not is a different story.


Exactly- complain to whatever middle man did your transaction (paypal or Credit card) that you were sold illegal goods under the guise of legitmate product and want your money back.

Also, keep emailing the comapny you bought them from (call if they list a phone number)- be insistent, and make sure they know you're willing to report them to the CC company/ the BBB/ file a suit. Most of those place would prefer the legality of their product not be questioned to that extent, and'll let you do a return just so you'll go away. Laughing

As for what to do in the future- not much, unfortunately- ANN is the closest thing to a bootlegger database (put the url for a site into any post- if it gets covered with 'this is a bootlegging site', you'll know.) Prevention is the best method- compare what a site has to known legit sellers like TRSI and RACS and see if it matches- and don't buy anything that seems 'to good to be true', it often is.
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Mistook



Joined: 19 Feb 2009
Posts: 11
PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:56 am Reply with quote
So, Topic Creator. You're saying you got imports instead of the ususal R1 sets?

I don't see why people make a big deal out of it. I know you may want the R1 set, but for less than half the price and pretty much the same quality, I don't know why you'd ever want an R1.

I don't know, though. Maybe you didn't even get an import by a legit import company. Maybe in the end of this all, I don't even know what I'm ranting on about.
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