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A Plymouth man was left furious after spending thousands on a Bitcoin processor on Amazon – only to receive a DVD of a children’s film.

Ichim Bogdan Cezar, from Stoke, believes he was the victim of a scam after forking out more than £3,000 on the product, only to receive a copy of Baby Boss on DVD.

He also slammed Amazon for refusing to refund the product on two occasion in a grievance process that has taken more than two months to sort out.

Mr Cezar said: “It was very stressful for me.

(Image: Richard Amofa)

“The thing that bothered me the most was the fact that it felt like Amazon wasn’t willing to put in any effort to help me get my money back.

“I understand that they are a huge company and they may get a lot of complaints but this is something that has been ongoing since November.”

Mr Cezar had bought the product – a Tanli ASIC Processing Bitmain AntMiner S9 13.5 TH/s - on behalf of his brother-in-law who lives in Romania because Amazon does not deliver to that country.

In what was a huge outlay, Mr Cezar’s brother-in-law and two other friends put their money together to make the purchase on November 21. In total it amounted to £3,149.99 (EUR 3,691.64 – the currency which was used to pay for the product).

A parcel was delivered, and signed for by Mr Cezar’s wife on December 5, but it was only when he got home from work and opened the package, he found it contained a DVD.

What is Bitcoin? Bitcoin is an entirely virtual currency that works without the need for a central bank, and can be sent over the internet. Coins are transferred directly from person to person, and are kept in a digital wallet that can be accessed on a computer or mobile device.

Stunned, he emailed the seller about the issue only for them to claim that it was a ‘mistake’ and that the correct product would arrive by December 16.

(Image: Amazon)

When the correct product didn’t arrive, Mr Cezar grew suspicious, and after making failed attempts to contact the seller, he contacted Amazon on December 18, which in turn made attempts to get the seller to send the package.

(Image: Richard Amofa)

His suspicions grew further when the seller – Minifigures Direct Ltd – closed his return request on December 20 stating that the issues were technical but they had been “resolved".

“I wouldn’t have made such an issue, but because it was such a big amount of money I couldn’t let it slide,” Mr Cezar said.

(Image: Richard Amofa)

“What made things more annoying is that the seller went AWOL afterwards.

“I knew I was getting messed around so I just wanted to get the money back and move on.”

Not able to get in contact with the seller, Mr Cezar applied for a refund on two occasions, on both December 23 and 24, but his claims were rejected because the product had been signed for – although unwittingly.

In an email to Mr Cezar seen by The Herald, the company said: “The seller provided us with Royal Mail tracking that shows a delivery with a signature acceptance.

“Amazon.co.uk is not able to resolve shipping problems after delivery.”

He was then advised to contact Royal Mail if he wished to take the matter further.

It was only after a third claim made by Mr Cezar on December 29 that any action was taken, but it took until January 20 for Amazon to finally offer to give him a refund.

(Image: Richard Amofa)

He said: “Obviously it’s great that they will finally process a refund for me but it shouldn’t have taken that long, especially when there is such a big amount of money involved.

“It was stressful for me because all the pressure was on my shoulders to deal with it, with my brother–in-law being in Romania, so the longer it dragged out it became even more annoying.

“I just felt like no one from Amazon cared about the issue.”

Minifigures Direct, the Amazon seller, is based in Derbyshire, according to Companies House.

Records show that the business was only set up on July 18 by Mr Sharron Palmer.

The reviews on Amazon are mixed, with its products gaining both one-star and five-star reviews.

The polarised feedback, again, heightened Mr Cezar’s suspicions.

“If a product is generally good or legitimate, the ratings will roughly be the same,” he said.

“When I made the order they had all five-stars, but it was only after I bought the product that I saw another review telling people to avoid them.”

It's not Amazon's policy to comment on individual cases.

However, in a statement, a spokesman for the company said: "At Amazon, we are committed to providing our customers with the best possible shopping experience.

"All sellers on Amazon Marketplace must adhere to our selling guidelines.

"Any seller found to contravene those guidelines will be subject to action from Amazon including removal of product listings and their account.

"The Amazon A-to-z Guarantee provides additional protection for customers who buy from Amazon.co.uk’s third party Marketplace and if a customer received the item, but the item was defective, damaged, or not the item depicted in the seller's description, we will refund or replace that item."