On October 29, 2006, I purchased the complete Untouchable series on DVD from Raredvds.tv; price including shipping came to $171.99. The next day I received two email confirmations from them. One from their site, displaying my purchase, item price, shipping charges, and a telephone number where I could reach them.
The second email was a more personal confirmation. The content described the fact that my card had been debited (my first clue that something wasn't legit, since normal merchants don't charge until the item is shipped), and that I would receive another email from their processor, Digital Realms, confirming my order.
They also stated that normal delivery time was between 10-14 days and that I'd receive tracking information by email. They added a telephone number (different from the first), where they could be reached in case of questions. No personal signature was given just Raredvds.tv and beneath that Raredvds.tv a subsidiary of Proliflik.com I tried searching Proliflik.com, but there was no site.
I checked my credit card summary, and indeed there was a new transaction dated 10/31 from Empiricalfilm.tv 514-827-3837 (same telephone number as on Raredvds.tv order confirmation), for $171.99. The fact that they had charged my credit card so early on, and there were many company names involved, made me feel uneasy, so I immediately tried contacting them.
Each telephone number answered as Digital Realms. The number given from the web confirmation was an automated system, but each selection I made disconnected me with a big "Thank you." The other number just gave a message of how they were either busy with other customers or that I'd called outside their business hours, and instructed me to leave a message. I didn't feel that I would get a reply from them, so I didn't bother with it.
They feature "Live Chat" on their web site, but surprisingly that didn't work either, so I decided to try the email approach. On Nov. 2nd, I wrote and told them how I couldn't speak to anyone by phone or live chat and asked about the status of my order. I received a reply the next day and they assured me that my order would be shipped within the next 5 business days, and I would receive email confirmation with a tracking number.
I waited the five days, but heard nothing from them. I tried the contacting them by telephone and live chat again, but it was the same story. I knew then, that something was amiss. I wrote them again, relaying that because of my experience with them that I had concluded that they were not a legitimate business. I told them that I would give them 5 business days to ship my merchandise, and if I didn't hear anything within that time, that they were to cancel my order and credit my Visa.
Well, I didn't wait that long. I went to work searching the web for information on scammers and came across usaconsumercomplaints.com. Needless to say I was sickened when I saw that this had happened to several other people. I immediately called my credit card company, informing them of my findings, and filed a dispute. I hope their investigation is successful and that they retrieve the ill gotten gains.
This so called business should be shut down and the people involved, imprisoned. They're not only thieves but from what I have read on other reports, they are piraters; which as I understand is a federal offense.
I just wish that I'd checked them out first, I could have saved myself a lot of grief.
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