# Can I get a refund for a pirated ebook I bought?



## MollyMalone (May 29, 2012)

Over the holiday I bought a pirated Kindle ebook. I only found out it was pirated when I contacted the publishers about the quality of the formatting and missing images. Perhaps I should have known by the price ($3.6, but I just thought it was a good find and probably an item discounted for the launch. It turns out that the true price of the genuine article is $15.15 and I would now like to buy this. Does anyone know if it's possible to get a refund from Amazon for the fake item? It's more than seven days since I bought it, because the publishers were closed for over a week between Christmas and New Year.

By the way, in case anyone else is thinking of buying this ebook, it's called _WordPress: The Missing Manual_.


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

I'm sure if you contact Amazon and tell them this, (the part about the formatting and missing images) they'll refund you.


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## SusanCassidy (Nov 9, 2008)

Assuming that you bought the book from Amazon.  They usually don't sell pirated books.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

There are 2 listed. One is called

WordPress: The Missing Manual ($12.64) and the other is called 

WordPress: The Missing Manual 2013 ($2.99)

Looking at the publishers the expensive one without the 2013 in the title lists O'Reilly, the other cheaper one does not. 

The files sizes are both large, but not the same. 

I would call Amazon and tell them about the bad formatting and they will refund your money even if its over 7 days. You might also tell them about the 2 versions if you want. But just the fact that you have missing images and bad formatting is enough for you to get a refund. Make sure to call Kindle CS, not Amazon CS.


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

SusanCassidy said:


> Assuming that you bought the book from Amazon. They usually don't sell pirated books.


True, but it occasionally happens. That's why I suggested that the complaint be about the formatting & missing images. The author or publisher would have to deal with anything about it being pirated.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

intinst said:


> True, but it occasionally happens. That's why I suggested that the complaint be about the formatting & missing images. The author or publisher would have to deal with anything about it being pirated.


Agreed. But I think it would be appropriate as well to point out to Amazon what you found and that you suspect a pirated version. You'll probably never hear anything one way or the other, but I do think they look into these sorts of things. Since you can point them to both book, it won't be hard for them to do some investigation.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

By all means, point out your suspicions.  Amazon has been really cracking down on copyright violations.  They'll want to know.  They've pulled books before on their own that they thought contained pirated material.

Betsy


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## MollyMalone (May 29, 2012)

Thanks to you all for your useful comments. I'm in Ireland, so do you know if there any way I can contact Amazon without calling - perhaps by email?

O'Reilly, the publishers, are on the case and are trying to get Amazon to take down the wrong one. They had no idea the fake one was out there till I contacted them with my complaint. They have sent me links to free download versions of the genuine one, saying they would like to stand by my purchase even though it was a pirated version, and that these should work on the Kindle. I think this is pretty decent of them, but would prefer to buy the actual Kindle version if I can get my original payment back to put towards it. I have hard copy books of other Missing Manuals, and I suppose I should have known that the fake one was too cheap, although I thought the discount price was perhaps part of a promotion.


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

You can email, on-line chat or request a call-back...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/contact-us


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I don't think you ever said: has it been less than a week? Only, if so, and you're using the US site, there should be a way to request a refund right in Manage Your Kindle.  There is, anyway, for US persons.  It's only if it's more than a week that you have to contact them and give them a good reason -- though, as others have said, poor formatting and the fact of it being a non-authorized copy is definitely a good reason.


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

You can return ebooks to amazon.co.uk for a few days after you buy them as well, I presume it's also a week but I've never checked!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Morf said:


> You can return ebooks to amazon.co.uk for a few days after you buy them as well, I presume it's also a week but I've never checked!


Right -- my concern is that she's in Ireland buying from amazon.com. Seems like it should be the same but. . . . .you never know.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I don't think you ever said: has it been less than a week? Only, if so, and you're using the US site, there should be a way to request a refund right in Manage Your Kindle. There is, anyway, for US persons. It's only if it's more than a week that you have to contact them and give them a good reason -- though, as others have said, poor formatting and the fact of it being a non-authorized copy is definitely a good reason.


Ann, she does say in her first post that it's been more than seven days - hence her question about whether or not she could still get a refund.

MollyMalone - I think your best bet is to go the contact page in the Amazon Kindle support section and get them to call you back. It won't matter that you're in Ireland - a while back, before there was a UK store, I got them to call me back from the US store so there shouldn't be a problem and it won't cost you anything.


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## MollyMalone (May 29, 2012)

Thanks again to you all for your helpful comments. And for that link, Morf - I will try that for my refund.

It _has_ been more than a week - a good lot more by now. But I think that the fake ebook may be gone, because when I put the title into Amazon's search engine to look inside the genuine one, I noticed that only one comes up now. So this should strengthen my case for a return.

It's strange, but customers in Ireland must use the US site for Kindle ebook purchases, even though we can buy our 'real' books from the UK store or the US one. Mainly I've used the UK site for those because of the postage. If I go onto the UK site by mistake to look up a Kindle ebook, I won't be able to see the price and will be directed to the US store. I believe that it's the same for buying a Kindle device, which I will be as soon as the wi-fi and 3G one hits the stores here - at the moment they seem to have just the non-3G one. I've been making do with the Kindle for PC while waiting. I'm not sure if I can buy the device from the US store.


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