DVD Donkey review: Big scam! 230

I ordered a set of Centennial DVDs on the 16th December 2007. The charge was made on my Visa statement straight away. I then received an email on the 9th January 2008! as follows :-

Dear (name)
Your order is in back order, it is in our top priority to ship it to you, we will keep you updated on the status of your order, if you do not wish to wait any to this please reply to this email and we will refund you right away, you can also call our customer service line.

I replied to cancel the order and asked for a refund. Two days later on the 11th January 20008 :-

Dear (name),

Your order is in back order, it is in our top priority to ship it to you, we will keep you updated on the status of your order, if you do not wish to wait any to this please reply to this email and we will refund you right away, you can also call our customer service line.

I had a gut feeling this could be a scam as this series has never been released on dvd. I believed the dvds would have then been copied either from VHS or TV. Looks like a loss for my husband and myself :(

Company is also using the ficticious address in Regina @ 1920 Broad Rd.(NSA). This company does not seem to be on the up and up (Fraud).

I ordered a set of dvd's before Christmas and have yet to recieve them. I have called the service number and it doesn't even go through. My emails are answered with the same excuse-Backordered. I will never do business with these folks again and I urge you to do the same.

DO NOT USE DVD DONKEY...They are completely fraudulent.They claim to stock hard to get dvds and they don't.IT'S A SCAM.They will fob you off with phrases such as "it's on back order we will contact you when it's dispatched".No company should debit your account before your goods are dispatched.I SMELL A DIRTY STINKING RAT...!Check your credit card statements they could scam us in the future better still get a new credit card and number.Stick with Play.com,Play USA.HMV...etc.If they don't have it it's not yet available.

I received notice my DVD'S were shipped 1/1/08, but They have not arrived as of 1/10/08. Order #173683
I tried getting info with the tracking number without success, and also calling your toll free number no response. Any information will be appreciated.

Alexander Fischer

I ordered more than $100 worth of DVDs (a collection) from DVD Donkey (I ended up on their website after going to Amazon.com, and thought it was a legitimate referral). The shipping charges were too high (over $20) for regular postage, and this should have raised suspicions.

My order was placed December 14, 2007. As of January 8, 2008, no delivery, and no effective means of talking to anybody at this (alleged) company. Their telephone site takes messages but doesn't return calls. I think my money is gone for good.

I was asked by a friend in the UK to order a DVD called "Paper Chase" because I live in the US.

Their e-mail in response was the acknowledge of my order and Credit card details containing a price which added up correctly as S&H and DVD value. Then when it was allegedlydespatched - NEVER TO ARRIVE TO DATE! - I received the e-mail advising it was despatched showing the 2 original figures but added up to show an increase of nearly $8 which they advised they had taken from my credit card. They now attempt to justify this as credit card processing.

Does anyone know if the police can be involved in this?

The Internet is a great tool, but like any other consumer market, you have to deal with sleaze. I got scammed by them but I got my money back. Most credit card companies and banks offer fraud protection. If they don't, they're probably a fraud themselves.

I placed an order for the complete series of Hawaii Five-O for my mother. That was about mid October. Finding a phone number was a huge pain but when I did finally get through, the connection was so bad I could barely hear the operator. These people are supposedly in Manitoba but when I call relatives in New Brunswick the connection is perfectly clear. As for the Florida location, I have a feeling they are nowhere near the Western hemisphere.

Anyway; I also tried the live chat interface on the website. What a joke. The operator I chatted with had a scarcely functional knowledge of the English language. But that aside, I couldn't believe how evasive she was. And when I asked for a tracking number you would have thought I had asked for the combination to her wall safe. She kept telling me I didn't need a tracking number because the package would be delivered any day. I had to insist 4 times before she finally gave me the number.

Naturally, I went to Canada Post's website to track the package and, can you believe it, the number was invalid. Imagine that. So I struck up another chat and managed to get the same operator. She actually had the nerve to tell me that I would have to wait at least 2 weeks before the number would be available to track. Even though she had just got through telling me the package would be at my door step any day.

I gave up trying to call and chat. I knew I had been scammed. After about 6 weeks, I went to my bank and explained what had happened. They had me fill out a form and within 2 days my money was back in my account.

But it doesn't end there. Four days after my money had been returned, I actually received the DVDs. There were 29 disks in 5 cases. This was shipped in a large manila envelope. Sure enough, these were illegal bootlegs. I reviewed several of the disks. The quality was piss-poor, as if the episodes had been transferred from old VHS tapes. Some of the episodes even had the TV station IDs still in the corner. Even funnier, some of the disks were duplicates. But hey, what can I expect for free...notwithstanding the time lost and frustration I've endured.

Alas, it has been an eventful ride. They wind up spending lots of time and effort making illegal bootlegs and then finally shipping them to me and I wind up getting my money back. It isn't much of a consolation that I managed to cost them a few dollars but I do feel bad for all the people who have lost their hard-earned money to these ###. Just remember, you can win by ordering a charge-back on your credit card and it will hurt them in the long run. I just hope law enforcement catches up with them soon.

Sean Alexandre
Bishop, CA

I can't honestly believe most of you people even got so far as ordering from this website. Over half of what they sell is bootleg anyway. If you couldn't find Disney's Gummi Bears or Newhart on dvd through Amazon what made you think this site was legit?

Not that I condone these crooks ripping you off but c'mon people...have a little common sense and do some research on what you're buying.

Dvd Donkey is a giant scam. I started getting supicious after i ordered something from them a couple of nights ago. I found out that the dvd series i ordered does not even exist. I canceled my card just in the nick of time, so luckuly i did not lose any money. I hope people read this and stay away from these low life crooks.

I oredered from DVD Donkey and I got my DVD's on time.
After I ordered, I ran across this site and I thought I got ripped off.
But they came, and work fine the only thing I dont like is that there are commercials on the shows ,other than that there fine.

I put a post on here a couple of weeks ago about some dvds that I ordered from DVD donkey, which took ages to arrive and weren't official copies of the series, were simply recorded off the TV, so I decided to try my luck and got on the Live Chat.. well after telling them I wasn't happy and that what they were doing was illegal (and I used the polite but firm technique) and was assured I would get my money back. Well I certainly wasn't holding my breath, but true to their word, within six days I received a full refund on my credit card. I was so suprised! But extremely happy as you could imagine. I still think they are extremely dodgy, but I guess I was just lucky this time! So I have ended up getting some dodgy DVDs for free (and so far they all work, even if they are just recorded off the TV).

The RCMP have seized thousands of counterfeit DVDs of popular American TV shows and arrested eight people suspected of masterminding a black-market scam to sell the videos.

Mountie investigators raided an undisclosed Montreal location Tuesday where they found thousands of illegal DVD copies of shows like The Six Million Dollar Man and Ally McBeal, as well as 200 DVD burners.

Eight people were arrested and face several fraud charges under the Canadian Criminal Code and Copyright Law.

Make sure you hand all information to the police and keep any evidence that may have employees fingerprints on them.

News Just In...
The RCMP believe the DVDs were burned in Montreal and sold widely across North America through several internet sites.

The counterfeit DVDs were sold at market prices which led buyers to believe they were purchasing original copies.

Canada's national police force warned consumers to be vigilant when buying DVDs online. Counterfeit versions are typically of poorer quality, the RCMP said at a press conference Wednesday.

People who believe they've bought counterfeit versions can contact the RCMP at [protected], or the Canadian Association of Film Distributors at [protected].

I also ordered from DVD Donkey and have not received my set of dvd's. I had hoped to get them for Christmas. I have e-mailed and also tried calling the phone no. to no avail. I would suggest no one order from this company. My bank is now checking on them for me. Hope this also helps someone else out there.

It is unbelievable that this BS is allowed to continue. My girlfriend ordered six seasons of an old TV show that we like and we never received a confirmation email and, over two weeks later, no merchandise has arrived. The fact that so many people have been scammed by these ### is outragous. I am going to contact Google, we accepts a sponsorhip from DVD Donkey (DVD Avenue), and see what I can do to get them off of Google. I hope these bumbs get caught and go to jail.

DVD Donkey is criminal. BEWARE! These people are not returning e-mails, phone calls, etc. If you know where they are located, please post the address. I want the police to know where to go when I file theft charges! This is serious. I want them to be punished and I have the money to do it.

Received an email comformation today saying my DVD's are on their way! Yeah right, I'm scared to see them come after reading what everyone else's DVD's were like after receiving!

Here is some information others have been looking for
If for any reason your shipping information is incorrect, please contact us immediately so that we can resolve the issue. orders@DVDDonkey.com

At DVDDonkey, we are comitted to providing our clients with the highest level of customer service.
(The above line is laughable)

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or comments.
Toll-Free - 1-877-7-TV-SHOW or email us at orders@DVDDonkey.com

What a joke...I am going to continue to push to get these scammers removed from the internet!

Happy New Year All!

**My e-mail I sent to DVD Donkey****

Thank you for finally sending an e-mail conformation after I requested one almost 2 weeks ago and made this purchase almost a month ago. The product we received was defective the case was ripped, several of the DVD's were incomplete, or didn't read the disk. The product was just homemade from someone's computer and was not of the quality one would expect for $107.00. In addition you said it would be billed under the company name DVD Hits but it was billed under DVD avenue. Your company changes your name so often you don't even know what you are billing under.

We are extremly unsatisifed with this product, the service, and your response time. We would like to request that are money be returned to us.

**We will never order from these people again, my bank has told me that since I am disputting it I should receive my money back...big scam!**

i had ordered the suposably compleet set of the Three stooges for a christmas gift for my child and was garenteed shipping by christmas told that for shipping and everything it was going to coast me $88.18 but instead they charged me $95.32 granted its not a big price differance and like some of you still no dvd set and you call no return phone call thare was no comformation email either luckaly i contacted my bank and got a refund i also clicked on there chat with a live operator and was told that oh im sorry your merchandise was not shipped yet and with that i told them i wanted a phone call in the next half hr or i was contacting the bbb and fed froud dept well wouldnt you know that i got a call in less than 2 mins and was told by them that i would receve my refund in 7 to 10 wks lol then i told them that they were able to get there payment in less than 15mins i wanted mine back in the next 24hrs and was hung up on so now i will take it to the next leval sorry to all that this has happened to hope it dont happen to others

Yes, I too fell for the sham that is http://www.dvddonkey.com/ or http://www.tvaddicts.tv/. Having ordered a DVD of Family Matters on 12/14/2007 which I was charged $124.12 in total. Yesterday, 12/28/2007, a damaged package was delivered which contained 7 DVDs. 2 of which were broken. Having tried 4 of the DVDs, only 1 played, the others were rejected/ ejected. The one that played contained Black & White footage of an old TV recording of a western. There was no invoice, no name or address. In fact, there was a note stating that in order to return the goods do not send them to the address on the package, but instead to call the now infamous [protected]-TV-SHOW. The package has a senders address from Winnipeg, Canada. But no name.
I have cut my losses and cancelled my credit card. I have also filed a complaint with an international agency for fraudulent internet traders. The address is http://www.econsumer.gov/ I'd advise you to all do the same.

Hi guys,

I was just about to order from this site, and then I thought twice about it. It looks so user friendly! I wondered how they could sell a dvd collection for only 88.99 when on ebay they are going for 300! So I googled their name and this site came up. Thank goodness it did! I will not order from them now. I wish all of you good luck with getting your money back, and thanks for spreading the word! I will be sure that no one else I know orders from them!

This web site is still up and running. How can that be? I saw the form for the Federal Trade Commission but didn't have time to fill it out. What does it take to get this site taken down?

They are very clever. They get you to wait 14 days before you begin checking, they bill you for a different amount than your original order and the billing on the credit card is under a different name. Makes it harder to locate.

How many of you canceled your credit cards as a result?

Charlotte.

I too have been taken by dvd donkey. All my son wanted for Christmas was a particular dvd box set and now here it is 3 days until Christmas and I have yet to recieve a confirmation e-mail much less my sons dvds.Thanks alot.

The following info is from the Canadian BBB. This company is based in Ontario and the parent company is called DVDAvenue.tv

The donkey's part is located in Miami Florida. There are 60 complaints filed against this company, 61 counting the one I just filed. Good luck

DBA: Dvddonkey
» Other
Address: 1671 Aventura
Miami,
FL 33095 » Other
Primary Phone: [protected] » Other
Primary Fax:
Primary Contact: Jim Michmen,Owner » Other

Website:

Company ID: [protected]
Business Start Date:
BBB Created Record on: 11/16/2006

Nature of Business:

Domain name: DVDDONKEY.COM

Administrative Contact:
contactprivacy.com, dvddonkey.com@contactprivacy.com
96 Mowat Ave
Toronto, ON M6K 3M1
CA
+1.[protected]
Technical Contact:
contactprivacy.com, dvddonkey.com@contactprivacy.com
96 Mowat Ave
Toronto, ON M6K 3M1
CA
+1.[protected]

Today 12-20-2007 I have not heard anything from DVD DONKEY.COM about the full seasons of Party of Five which I was getting for my daughter for Christmas. I happened apon this website looking to contact with the company. The charge has been taken out of my account and I have nobody to talk to from the company. Here it is 5 days till Christmas and I don't have a gift for my daughter. This company needs to be stopped!

I have done the same thing and spent all my Christmas money on this for my husband. I am devestated. I used my check card which is a visa. Do you think they will let me get my money back? How do I prove this is a scam?

I also placed an order with dvddonkey and never received confirmation about my order. I have tried to contact them many times through emails. I have heard nothing. This company got me for 107 dollars. I strongly urge everyone to stay away from this
fraud.

I had ordered a dvd box set from dvd donkey only yesterday and now have come across this website. I thought the site sounded great and that it shipped to the UK, so I was happy with that.

I had suspcions that something was wrong as I have emailed them and have not heard anything back from them. I can't believe I still ordered stuff from them as it all seemed too good to be true!

I have had no response from the company and cannot believe I have been taken in by this. I am beginning to think that I will never see the DVD's that I ordered!

Is it still possible to get your money back and cancel your credit card bill?

Lucy Eden.

Now I understand why I haven't received my dvd's! Too bad, my sister really wanted them for Christmas. THIS IS WHY I HATE ORDERING ONLINE! Anyway, yes, of course my account has been debited. And I sent emails with no response. Although yesterday when I sent the email, obviously I could access the website, but now it's gone, and all I see is this one. Too bad I didn't see it sooner. Well, lesson learned, I guess. Is there anything anyone can do about this?

Anyway, Merry Christmas to all! And may we all be wiser and more prudent in 2008!

Sue.

Oh, yes of course after I have ordered the DVDs I now find this web-site! And yes, I believe I am also being scammed! I placed an order on the 21st of November. I had some questions for the company so I tried calling but there was no number! There was a way to speak to a representative on-line so I chose that. I waited and waited and waited finally after about 20 mins of waiting someone came on to speak to me. I asked them about the shipping process since they gave me a confirmation # and explained that I would have to check Canada Post to see when it was shipped. I was very confused - the web-site states they are a company based in FL but they are having the items shipped from Canada? Did this mean I was to pay Taxes and Duties for it to come across the border? So I asked them these questions, they tried to put me off by not really answering my questions then they eventually stopped answering. I copied the entire on-line chat and printed it out, then I called my Visa to explain that I think it was a scam. The Visa company explained that the company - DVD Donkey officially has 30 days from the date of purchase for me to receive the product, after that the Visa will then reverse the charges, but that still leaves me with out the DVDs! Oh, well not much I can do at this point, I guess just look for the DVDs somewhere else.

If anyone knows the number to DVD Donkey please post it as I would (just for the heck of it) like to give them a call.

Thanks
Natasha

I to have been ripped off from DVD Donkey, (what a great name because they made all of us look like ###!) 70 + bucks for me, was ripped off. Not a whole lot but for me it was everything. A single person, with no family, recoveing from cancer, thought I would snuggle under some warm covers with my tv dinner on Christmas Day and watch my favorite tv series. It was a small Christmas wish and that was even ripped from my personal pathetic life. Thanks DVD Donkey, hope you and your family have a wonderful christmas on everyone elses dollar and dreams. I can't imagine the ### that would rip people off on Jesus's birthday. Just remember everything comes full cirlce and someday you will get yours. God bless.

I to reported mine but I have to wait 30 days from the date of order before the bank will do anything about it. By then it will be middle of January and who really cares about their past Christmas then!

Merry Christmas Everyone!
Hugs
Sally

MY ORDER FINLY CAME DISKS PLAY OK FOR BOOTLEG I HAVENT WACHED THE WHOLE THING YET DISCS I DID WACH WERE FUSSY BUT PLAYABLE.

My neice asked for the Dawson's Creek DvD's for X-mas. We found all the seasons on DVD Donkey. We were excited that we found some at a reasonable price. We paid for it and YEP like the other comments (we wished we had read them bf we purchased them) and have not rec'd an email confirmation but they sure have charged my credit card! So sad that someone would do this, esp for the holidays! BEWARE!

I purchased jonny bravo dvd box set last month and on arrival found them to be of poor quality and not the originals. Trading standards are being informed.

Well I would like to say thanks to all of you for your posts. I was looking for the JAG complete collection for my stepfather for Christmas. He told me he had seen a website that was offering all 10 seasons for 130 something. Luckily for me, I was looking for that and read that only 4 seasons have been released so far. So when I clicked on dvddonkey, I was trying to figure out how in the world they could offer all 10 seasons (6 of which haven't even been released) and for the price of 3 seasons elsewhere. Something was telling me this didn't look right. Even the pics were sending red flags to me. I thought I would do a little more research on this donkey site before I forked up that much money. Well this is where I ended up. Thank you thank you thank you. You have just saved me over 140 dollars and probably a lot of headache. I am going to myspace and post a bulletin about this scam. Hopefully we can get the word out before anyone else gets HAD! I guess if it sounds too good to be true, it is.

I was also taken. ordered $280.00 worth of DVDs and no confirmation email. No phones were answered, chatroom talked to me and i asked them to call me immediately and they did not after saying they would. I tried to trace their domain name but server was to busy I guess everyone else trying to do that to. If someone can find out where this company is located I don't care if its at a hotel let me know. I will personally go their and take my big stick with me. I am really pissed. They also overcharged the $7.00 something on my card. Card company said after the charge goes through to call them back and they will reimburse me and go after the company. Thats why everones interests rates are so high. Please warn as many people as you can about these jerks. I consider them terrorists for doing things like this. They can take me as a threat if they want because I mean business you don't get in my pocket more than once and Im coming after you!

SAME WITH ME! Got the duckman dvd set, and the same thing, no response to my emails, nothing.

I was had too! I ordered a set of DVD's on 11/25/07 and have not received my DVDs or a response to my email. I called my credit card company and they don't see the charge. Does anyone know how the company appears on billing statements? Thanks, Linda

I ALSO ordered from DVD Donkey on Nov. 27, 2007, and never received the confirmation e mail. I called and left messages, no answer: I tried to e mail, that was blocked; I was overcharged on my credit card by $7.14, which I did not approve. I called my credit card company to raise a flag. I finally was able to 'chat live', but had to wait 2 weeks for the credit to appear on my statement! This is any internet shopper's nightmare! I will tell everyone I know about this experience, everyone!