After evaluating a number of sites to purchase a much loved TV series, Six Feet Under, I decided on Aussie DVD Shop.com

My reasoning was pretty simple, the price was cost effective, they charged in AUD currency, had a 100% money back guarantee and they even threw in a bonus DVD as part of the sale from a selection of 5 well know titles.

On 12 June I placed my order and on the 15 June, I received an email confirmation outlining my order charges including shipment totalling $88.97 AUD.

Alas, things started to smell a bit wiffy, when I reviewed my credit card statement which had been charged in Chinese Yuan, incurring an international transaction fee now totalling $93. 10 AUD. Okay, so the difference isn't substantial, but when an online site is not transparent of such charges, I immediately wonder about the product I'm going to receive.

On 30 June, I signed for my box set at the post office and excitedly opened the parcel. The first was evident, there was NO bonus DVD included and the box set looked a bit dubious, blurry images on the back, no hologram, etc, all the signs of a pirated copy or the equivalent to a fake Fendi bag.

On opening the box set, the DVD's weren't in series order and the images on each DVD met the same blurry box quality standard. The icing on the cake to verify in my opinion it being pirated, is that it did not include bonus material outlined on the back of the box i.e. book and 2 x CD soundtracks, etc.

Get's better, the first DVD in Series 1, Disc 1 played okay, the sound quality was not great and the video was not 100% clear but viewable. The next disc was just spat out by my DVD Player (plays all regions) and my MacBook. The third disc did the same...I gave up checking the rest as I had been scammed!

I immediately went and sent an email to their @service outlining the charges, no bonus DVD and defected if not pirated box set to request a full refund on return of goods and asked for a shipment address in Australia. Not a happy customer email, but pretty much straight to the point.

A couple of days later I receive a response with no name included, but saying I had two options; provide a list of each defective disc to have the supplier resend (fat chance), or return the product back to the supplier direct for a full refund (no address provided). Obviously they're not great at reading my request of wanting to return the goods, so why didn't they just provide the shipment details! My blood was pumping.

I received my next email with the shipment address being China and would need to cover these costs myself and recommended getting a tracking number to ensure return. This has cost me $28.25 AUD. All up I'm $121.35 AUD out of pocket. Who knows how long it will take to get my money back. It's now in the hands of my credit card company dispute team.

The moral of the story is DON'T BUY FROM THIS SITE! I had though I was saving myself 50% off of the RRP, but in the end it's just not worth it.