Play.com pummelled over purported piracy permissiveness

Play.com has come under fire for failing to quickly clamp down on an alleged seller of pirated Microsoft software. An IT consultant advised SME clients to order copies of Office 2003 Professional but says that on arrival it was apparent they were not legit: there was no holographic strip on the COA sticker, it had a fake VBA …

[Ryan Robinson]

Amazon is at it

Amazon is the same.

I purchased a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate for £79 thinking it was dirt cheap and there must be a catch but it was Amazon so I purchased it. The software activated and got updates for 2 months then I was hit by the "Windows is not genuine" message at the bottom right corner.

Turned out I was sold an MSDN serial key which was later flagged by Microsoft.

It happened to numerous other people who were complaining in the review section of the product. Because it was 2 months after purchase, it was difficult to get refunded but I did in the end as the reseller was not replying to my emails.

Just looking at Amazon now and it looks like they are still allowing these scammers to sell their pirated software through Amazon.

[Anonymous Coward]

PlayTrade

In my experience, avoid, or watch your CC get cloned in minutes.

A scammers paradise.

[Anonymous Coward]

PlayTrade

PlayTrade sellers can't "clone" your card details - they never get access to them, just like Amazon Marketplace sellers never get to see card details for orders placed through Amazon. The payment is processed by Play themselves, they just pass on the money less commission to the seller. If you had your card cloned you need to call Play themselves, it's their issue - but you've obviously never had your card cloned buying from a PlayTrade seller, have you?

[Scorchio!!]

Re: PlayTrade

"In my experience, avoid, or watch your CC get cloned in minutes.

A scammers paradise."

Ditto Amazon. Fortunately my bank were on the phone within minutes, and sorted the problem out.

[Graysonn]

It's not easy

To be fair on the sites, they don't hold any of the product. So it's got to be hard to check. And they're bound to get loads of complaints every day. If you have two people and one says it's fake and the other says it isn't, how do verify who's telling the truth?

[Anonymous Coward]

But to be fair to the punter

why should they care ? If Play.com got their %age commission out of the sale, then they should take responsibility if there should be an issue.

It's like certain high-street retailers, that are very good to sell you the thing, and then (unlawfully) try to tell you it's between you and the manufacturer if there's a problem.

This is why I wouldn't use eBay for anything non-trivial. They are very good at taking their wedge, and even better at trying to wash their hands of any problems.

[Anonymous Coward]

"sell their pirated software through Amazon."

Was this Amazon itself, or some unheard-of trader using Amazon marketplace?

Or does that question tend towards invoking the Fifth Amendment?

[Anonymous Coward]

Play.com problems in general

Play.com must be run by a bunch of idiots and the management of its IT is terrible at best.

Take for example. I am receiving SPAM mail from Play.com (yes from their domain) containing special offers and rubbish. I have unsubscribed more than 8 months ago and I still receive their spam. Contacted them probably a dozen times to have this sorted and get the reply back about my email has been removed from the mailing list and takes a few days to take effect.

Week later I get more Play.com spam. All this for only buying one DVD of Play.com and nothing else.

Anyone know where I can report the domain as a spam network because as far as I know unsolicited emails in the EU is illegal and they are continually sending more and more emails.

All I can say about Play.com is their handling of customer data and protecting customer interests is rubbish. (aka. The data breach from not long ago)

My advice is don't use them, even for buying something that they themselves supply until they actually give a damn

[Skoorb]

ICO

http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/privacy_and_electronic_communications.aspx

You can report it here. Or just sue them in the Small Claims Court under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003.

But that might not get you very far as Play are a Jersey company: https://www.jerseyfsc.org/registry/documentsearch/NameDetail.aspx?id=109157 so you may need to talk to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner in Jersey instead of the UK ICO: http://www.dataprotection.gov.je/NR/rdonlyres/BF82DB37-2744-4CD3-BECB-0F159A79F488/0/GD2a5Stoppingunwantedmarketingmaterials.pdf

There's an example letter / e-mail to send in there.

[Maverick]

you may find

that they have a UK warehouse, that could make then a bit uncomfortable :D

in fairness I have been a play.com customer for many, many years with with only ever one problem which was quickly resolved unlike many UK based businesses (yes Scan I'm looking at you you bunch twunts - not seen me in a long while have you?)

[Anonymous Coward]

Call the ICO

If you are in the UK the ICO may have the power to fine them:

http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/privacy_and_electronic_communications.aspx

[eBusiness]

Spam

I get the same stuff, ~2 mails per week, fortunately Gmail takes care of it. All they have achieved so far is that I cancelled the second half of my order.

Not minding laws, what kind of gain would they expect pissing off customers this way? Morons.