Well, less than a month later and I have a new potential scammer. I'm still waiting for the charge-back on the previous one and this malarkey rolls in.

I get a message reading the the buyer "received 1 cd from this series that is damaged."

Well, there are twenty DVDs in the TV series boxset I sent, genius. Thanks for being so descriptive. The item was brand new, sealed, and I actually had to take it out of its manufacturer's cardboard shipment box. It had no floaters, and I've handled three other copies and personally own one without any incidents.

I know boxsets occasionally get botched, but the thing that gets me is Amazon sent me the message, like the person tried to file a claim less than a week after making the order without ever contacting me. They got the item in three days FYI. It sounds like a fledgling shyster. I think they bought some individual discs from a season boxset at a closing BlockBuster; they were thinking they could somehow gyp the series boxset for free, as strange as that sounds, or fill out their collection and send the remnants back. I will update when I hear more, and post their info if they gyp me. They haven't responded to how and which disc was damaged. The item was insured if it turns out it was damaged in transit.


Edit: Yup, I was right. Told them I would refund them totally and pay for the return shipping and the box after they destroyed the parcel box it was shipped in. Had an A-Z claim waiting for me tonight. I let loose in the representation message and called it fraud, because they want to keep the boxset and get a full refund. I don't know if the buyer sees it, but I hope they enjoy. Their name will be posted once I lose the case or get back the box with whatever dud she shoves in. It's annoying Amazon will let this slide through.

A-Z claim message: customer wants to return this but she does not have box it was shipped in and this item is damaged and wants a refund, customer has tried to tell to seller that this series the first four disk skips and she even tried a different dvd player and same issues

It appears the rep who filed the claim was not proficient in English. Ridiculous beyond words. She has been cajoling the reps to refund her, with simple misspelled messages when she is quite articulate it appears. She never actually identified the discs that were broken/defective in any form and the rep assumed. I've e-mailed her six times, and was nice until the claim. I made sure to orchestrate the return, which she is playing dumb to wait out the claim and keep the item.

Edit 2: Well, the buyer agreed to send back the item and I paid return shipping plus handling since the last edit. I never got directly vicious beyond the A-Z defense and they dropped the claim when they were promised a complete refund again. I want to try to keep my feedback positive, even though it's gonna be a $22 direct hit on shipping alone with the broken unit returned. A restocking fee would just be asking for trouble knowing how this person is playing me.

I got the discs back already, and highly suspect it was a switcheroo to complete a defective set. They could only identify one disc that was messing up after everything. And it was troublesome during my playback inspection, with pure filth on the bottom of it. It was brand new when it was sent. Now, 19/20 Discs now have signs of being mishandled, with thick grease, prints, hairs, light scratches and dust upon them now. There are so many signs pointing the buyer was manipulating Amazon and knew the system. They knew I would bend under pressure. For instance, they acknowledged the A-Z claim would screw the seller metrics up and be a strike for me, something I never mentioned.

I will post the name soon, but I have a feeling it was a one-time swindle to get watchable discs for free. Also, they may have copied the discs, explaining all of the fingerprinting. There are dozens of possibilities, and the most innocent explanation appears to be the most distant.

Edit 3: The buyer's story did not check out, so I am posting the info below. The final verdict: at best, they overstated the problem to gain sympathy from Amazon to screw me on a refund. I could have sent a replacement disc from my personal copy (not brand new like the one sent, so, a moot point) for the one that was broken, but since they kept upping the story, it was ridiculous to even consider. They included a handwritten note that the first two discs were bad and they stopped using the DVDs, and they play quite fine of course. Though, 19/20 discs show signs of considerable use and wear.

Hypotheticals: The buyer either bought defective discs from somewhere else, broke their old copies, or intentionally defiled the one disc or some combination thereof. When they could not keep it, they copied the discs onto a computer or laptop, explaining the wear. They then may have replaced the discs from their duds and put them into the cases of my unit and returned it. I realize this explanation is beyond convoluted, but it is a very sophisticated deception.

W. Bennett (PM me for the first full name; I don't feel like having it come up in a search engine)
PO Box 638
Micanopy, FL 32667

The whole situation was ridiculous and could have been innocent to a point, but the multiple circumventions, the A-Z claim, the hesitance to return the item for free, and the peculiar condition of the discs returned speaks volumes.

For the record, the discs were not accidentally smudged like during a cleaning wipe-down, which can sometimes exacerbate the appearance of grease and would have been understandable, but not in this case; just the plain, uniform and leisurely mishandling of fifteen extra discs made very evident during inspection. I hit the hair and grease jackpot!