Gadzooks... I've been had! | Aeropause Games

Gadzooks… I’ve been had!

Submitted by Stephen Munn on January 30, 2009 – 9:39 pm11 Comments

Castlevania soundtrack bootleg CDs

I’ve been enjoying the great deals I’ve been getting on the soundtracks to some of my favorite Castlevania games lately, but something struck me as kind of odd on one of them when I opened it up today. The two-disc set for Lament of Innocence was in one of those cases with a swinging panel, on which discs mount on both sides, but the tray card got caught in the panel when I opened it up. Well, that’s weird… looks like poor design. Wait a second. Made in Taiwan?

A closer look and a quick search online confirmed the bad news. A seller on Amazon.com has sold me a bootleg CD from a well known music pirate in Taiwan, known as Miya Records. Then I realized I had bought three other soundtrack CDs from Amazon and eBay, and I checked those out. While they’re all coming from different companies, they’re all bootlegs, and let’s just say I’m pretty shocked. The companies are Miya, Smiley Face, Son May, and KO. I’ve contacted all four sellers about this matter and will report back as to the results. The Amazon purchases are protected and backed up by Amazon, but the eBay thing is kind of up in the air. I can report them to eBay, but I’m not sure what they’ll do about it.

I’ve talked about illegal merchandise on eBay in the past, but I’m surprised to see it on Amazon, particularly from sellers with such high feedback ratings. I suppose it just goes to show how the shopping masses don’t really know what they’ve been handed in most cases… or perhaps don’t even care.

Tags: amazon, bootleg, castlevania: apocalypse, castlevania: circle of the moon, castlevania: lament of innocence, castlevania: symphony of the night, ebay

http://intensedebate.com/people/Joe_Aeropause Joe_Aeropause

They figure most people won't care because they are more concerned about getting a good deal. I had that happen once or twice on eBay, where i ended up with a Southeastern version of a computer game or two. I contacted Ebay, but they seem to not give a shit, and they make it so difficult to complain. Even now, they have changed their rating system, to make it harder to leave negative feedback.

All the fallout at Ebay has probably moved some of those sellers to Amazon and other online auctions as well. In the end, you are always going to have question marks over anything you buy at an auction where you cannot examine the merchandise first.
http://intensedebate.com/people/StephenJMunn Stephen J Munn

I'm fortunate enough to have protection on the purchases from PayPal and Amazon, both of which expressly prohibit counterfeit and bootleg products. Paypal and Amazon will cover the purchases because I paid through them. One of the Amazon sellers has agreed to refund the item in full, plus return shipping. That went back out in today's mail. No response yet from the other Amazon seller or one of the eBay sellers. The other eBay seller says he'll refund only half, so I escalated the Paypal claim. He's issuing a full refund plus return shipping or I'm going to continue shutting his racket down. If he refunds the money on Paypal, the claim ends automatically. Part of me wants him to keep fighting it so I can put him out of business.
http://intensedebate.com/people/XCWarrior XCWarrior

Dude that sucks that you got ripped off like that. I almost bought a bootleg version of Tetris DS a couple of months back but saw something right before I bid on it that made me realize it was not the real deal. Sue hope you are able to find the real things down the road.
http://intensedebate.com/people/pixi666 pixi666

Wow, never expected that from Amazon…
Alphons Potters

I also bought these CD's (on the picture) and some more Castlevania cds.
I am a huge Castlevania fan, have al the Games on all consoles Original (even the GBA and DS games I have are original)
In mine opinion it's Konami's own fault that they sell so many bootlegs audio CD's of these.

I even bought 1 years ago two castlevania audio Cd's in a normal Good known Anime Store here in the Netherlands.
Later I found out that they where bootlegs because it stated Miya records on the back.
The store didn't even know it!

I wanted more Castlevania music of other Games so I bought the rest on Ebay from different sellers. All where bootlegs but very cheap and great quality and professional.

Don't get me wrong if I could bought the originals I would, but paying 40/50 dollars for 1 Audio Cd is Outrageous and Konami should have released the CD's in the whole world not only in Japan and some other Countries.

I enjoy these Audio's Cd's that I own and they are perfect quality (as good as the originals).
Alphons Potters

TIP: If you want to be sure to buy the real deal (for the Castlevania CD's)

Go to: http://www.play-asia.com

But then again the prices are HIGH!
40/50 dollar for 1 audio CD (in mine opinion outrageous expensive!)
StephenJMunn

Right, that's exactly the issue. I've looked there for the CDs, and that's just too much money. I've picked up most of the albums as downloads from the iTunes store and Amazon's MP3 downloads. Konami sells several of them as high bitrate downloads.
http://www.club-penguin.org/ Club Penguin Cheats

That went back out in today's mail. No response yet from the other Amazon seller or one of the eBay sellers. The other eBay seller says he'll refund only half, so I escalated the Paypal claim. He's issuing a full refund plus return shipping or I'm going to continue shutting his racket down.
http://webkinz-tips.com/ webkinz בעברית

I also bought these CD's (on the picture) and some more Castlevania cds.
I am a huge Castlevania fan, have al the Games on all consoles Original (even the GBA and DS games I have are original)
In mine opinion it's Konami's own fault that they sell so many bootlegs audio CD's of these.
http://dizzywoodguide.wetpaint.com/page/Sprites+Unique+Dizzywood+Characters Kid Game Avatars

I always thought Amazon was legitimate. Very shady business…
http://dizzywoodguide.wetpaint.com/page/Sprites+Unique+Dizzywood+Characters Kid Game Avatars

I always thought Amazon was legitimate. Very shady business…