I bought 4 Disney DVD's from www.century21shop.co.uk and when they arrived, I was horrified to see they were posted from Thialand, and surprise surprise the DVD's were blatently fake. They don't have the Disney Hologram, the print is all smudged/ghost like, the back of the DVD cover says "for sale in the USA/Canada only", and Region 1, even thought they should be region 2. I rang the police to report the website, and have had a visit from a police officer, who has given me a crime reference number, however Paypal have said that won't do, and I have to get a statement from a retailer to confirm they are fake, or they have agreed to refund me if I post the fake items back to Thialand. Two really strange things 1. It would be against the law to post counterfeit goods through the post, so returning the item would mean I was doing something illegal. 2. I was informed by the police officer who came to my house that if I was stopped when walking around shops with fake DVD's that more than Likely I would be arrested, on suspission of dealing in counterfeit goods. I have however rang around retailers to try and see if they would agree to give me this letter. So far I have spoken to the Disney Shop / Morrisons/ HMV / Tesco & Asda, who have all said that its not something they could supply, yet when I rang Paypal to explain I was told that unless I supplied that, or posted it back, they would challenge my Direct Debit indemnity claim with the bank. When I explained that the 2 options which they want me to explore would both mean I would be breaking the law, I had the reply (from a Supervisor at Paypal), that lots of people every day sell Fake items, so the chances of me getting caught with them would be slim to none. HELLO, how can a company like Paypal think its acceptable that because all the other criminals out there deal in fakes, that its acceptable for me to risk it. What a joke, I am going to speak to the retailer disputes team at the bank to explain that the only options paypal are giving me are illegal ones, and will also be reporting Paypal to the FSA to let them know as well, and see if they aren't happy with Paypal's ludacris requests in order to protect a buyer of fake items. I have offered photo's of the items missing the holograms etc, but they don't accept those either. What can I do?, I don't want to get ripped off, and also don't really want to break the law in order to prove my case in getting the money back. The crime reference from the police isn't good enough, even though I have reported the DVD's, and the website that they were bought from. Another Paypal con in my eyes, to protect the people who sell fake items, as that is where Paypal is making their money.
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