Warning: be aware of fake Ritek discs

[monkeymikey]

ripped from supermediaforum.com:

RIDATA Brand Media Safe from Recent DVD Counterfeiting Issues

North American Consumers Advised to Use the RIDATA Brand Media and Purchase Genuine Products from Advanced Media Authorized Resellers

Diamond Bar, CA – October 21, 2004 -- Advanced Media Inc. (RITEK USA) is the sole US subsidiary of the RITEK Corporation, the world’s largest optical media manufacturer. The company announced today that it has recently discovered an industry-wide problem with several Hong Kong manufacturers who are attempting to sell counterfeit RITEK branded 4X, 8X DVD-R and other manufacturer's name brands at very low under market prices. The problems relating to the counterfeit media does not affect the RIDATA branded products also manufactured by RITEK.


Advanced Media oversees the exclusive marketing and distribution of RIDATA branded products in North, Central and South America. Customers can rest assured that when purchasing RIDATA branded products, the customer is guaranteed to receive genuine high-grade optical media products manufactured by RITEK. The RIDATA brand also features the latest in fast, high quality DVD technology with its16X DVD+R and also the large storage capacity provided by the 8.5G DVD+R DL.


“RIDATA brand optical discs are manufactured under the same stringent standards as the RITEK brand, featuring high recording quality and dependability. To a counterfeiter, our loyal global following of customers provides an attractive market to go after. If you see RITEK G05, G04 or G03 discs without RIDATA packaging or are considering purchasing them from an unknown reseller, please make sure the discs are genuine”, stated Andy Huang, Marketing Manager for Advanced Media (RITEK USA). “RITEK has also recently discovered that a small amount of RITEK brand media has been repackaged mixed with TYG02 identified discs and sold as RITEK products.”


RITEK and Advanced Media are both very proactive on this issue and are investigating this unfortunate situation and taking every precautionary measure available to protect customers from future counterfeited DVD’s.


“DVD discs require an extremely precise production process as well as the highest quality materials and cutting edge production technology. A counterfeiter cannot provide the precision technology or quality control processes RITEK manufacturing has. That our discs consistently achieve these high manufacturing requirements is due to the great success of the company’s research and development capabilities.” A limited lifetime warranty is also included on all RIDATA media,” added Huang.

For details, please visit http://www.ritekusa.com/abpress_news.asp?news=15

************************************************** ***********

screw it: From now on im just going to buy from authorized dealers

[BJ_M]

most of the bulk riteks i got from major suppliers (when i bought ritek) never had RIDATA packaging ---

weird

[BJ_M]

sounds like a supplier getting pissed off over Grey market product that is not really counterfeit , but they didn't get a cut on ..

[lordsmurf]

most of the bulk riteks i got from major suppliers (when i bought ritek) never had RIDATA packaging ---

weird

That would be hilarious if you got fakes, with all those good experiences, while those of us with genuine Riteks were getting shafted by bad media quality.

[lordsmurf]

sounds like a supplier getting pissed off over Grey market product that is not really counterfeit , but they didn't get a cut on ..

I don't think that's the case.
I've seen NIKON and CANON moan endlessly over "gray markets".
But this is almost a complete issue of "Hong Kong is faking our media" situation.
That's what I see.

[BJ_M]

i switched to TY now anyway ... in fact just bought another 2000 of the harder to find 4X printable ..

should last a week or two :

[shop4tech.com]

To whom it may concern:

Firstly, I’d just like to say that this is clearly a very pathetic and weak attempt by one of our competitors to try and taint our reputation here at shop4tech. If you look at the title of the post there’s a question mark after “shop4tech” because even the person posting it must have had some guilt doing so. shop4tech does not and will not sell fake media, that obviously includes these Ritek discs in question. If you read the statement published by Ritek you will see that they mention that these “fake” Riteks are being sold, and I quote: "at very low under market cost.” Well, that’s very interesting, because we at shop4tech aren’t selling any Ritek discs at “very low” under market cost. Furthermore, our prices happen to be extremely competitive with many of the other major online vendors. In some instances we are able to offer the best prices on certain media because in many cases we actually take a loss on those promotions. Many other online media vendors aren’t willing to do this or simply can’t.

As far as this Ritek “hoopla” goes, (and hoopla is the appropriate term for it) we positively guarantee that the Ritek discs we are selling are 100% authentic and the only thing “fake” are the allegations that shop4tech may be involved in such unethical business practices. I think it’s clear which competitor is posting here, but I won’t stoop to their level. I’ll just say their tactics are very pitiful.

I do pose one interesting question. If we are selling fake Ritek DVD-Rs then why hasn’t Ritek published that on their official site? That would certainly be something to create a publication about. There’s a simple answer for the simple question. The reason that Ritek has not and will not publish such a thing is because it’s nothing more then an absurd allegation.

To assure that we are selling nothing but authentic Ritek discs we are going to put a guarantee up. Anyone who can prove with any kind of factual proof, that we are infact selling fake Ritek discs, we’ll offer anyone who purchased these Riteks from us a double your money back guarantee. In addition, you can keep the discs you were sent. To clarify, if anyone posts information of this absurd allegation, then everyone in the World who purchased these Ritek discs from us will not only get their $35.10 refunded, but they’ll also get an additional $35.10, and to top it off you can keep the Ritek’s we sold you. I fully encourage the person/company responsible for this post to not go into hiding, bur rather, substantiate your absurd claims.

shop4tech isn’t concerned with just making a quick sale. Our primary concern has shifted to customer service. Most recently, some rather big changes were implemented to allow a substantial amount of focus to be allotted to customer service. We know that in the past there were some issues pertaining to our customer service but each and every day we are making more strides to assure that there is an extremely minimal number of customer complaints. We want each and every single person to be completely satisfied with their purchase and experience at shop4tech. If for any reason someone is not completely satisfied, we will do just about anything within’ reason to assure that whatever issues they may of experienced get resolved promptly. When it’s all said and done, we want to assure that we’ve done everything we could to assure each of our customers are 100% pleased. If anyone here has or has had any issues that need resolving, please let me know so that I can personally see to it that you get taken care of. It would be nice to know exactly what the issues were, because it isn’t just about replacing an order or refunding money, it’s about assuring that the same problems don’t occur again.

Thank you

Sincerely,

shop4tech.com

[sabercats]

I just ordered the Ritek G04 last night from shop4tech, and this is my first time to order at your store , I used 100 disks Ritek G4 before and had 100% good quality, never have a bad one. Now this news scare me to dead , but shop4tech let me a good one to prove they are wrong

[hedstrosity]

i have been a shop4tech customer for well over a year now. ive also used supermedia, and rima.
i have bought 1000's of riteks from shop4tech. mostly g04's, and now g05's.
for them to be accused by a store i have done business with in the past bothers me cause ive always had top quality products from them. i may think twice before doing business with these so called "accusers".

IF this ritek brand shop4tech is using is counterfit. then i think ritek/ridata needs to find this company and take some tips on how to make some top quality media cause its PERFECT.
sincerely
an extremey satisfied customer of shoptech

[-jsl-]

shop4tech does not and will not sell fake media

Really? Any media with TYG02 id that isn't Taiyo Yuden media I consider to be fake discs and that is what your Matrix 8x DVD-R discs have been reported to be.

[lordsmurf]

shop4tech does not and will not sell fake media

Really? Any media with TYG02 id that isn't Taiyo Yuden media I consider to be fake discs and that is what your Matrix 8x DVD-R discs have been reported to be.

That's a very good call. Taiyo Yuden has said (I'd have to look for that info again) that if it says TY and is not made directly by a TY or OPTODISC plant, then it's fake. Period. To go one further, I believe it's only outside the USA that'll you'd ever get the OPTODISC-made media. Matrix is not OPTODISC (Taiwan), it's from China/HK.

Most media resellers got slapped hard in the past by fake SONY, fake TDKG02, and fake MXLRG01 media. I would be very surprised if they had slipped by this. All the big ones (Meritline, etc) at the time got slapped from it. I think that continuous flow of fakes shook up some changes in how many companies now buy things now (careful to use official channels only).

A huge portion of their media comes from Hong Kong manufacturers. It is no coincidence that almost all fakes originate from there. INFOSMART was named on one site as being the guilty party for many of them, including the TYG02 we see now, and very likely the MXLRG01. InfoSmart is the proud maker of crap like AN32. HK media is also typically a lot worse than Taiwanese media (CMC, etc), and add to the fact that Taiwan production has gotten better since MCC and a few others took operations over there.

Shop4tech may not be selling the fakes under the fakes codes (not advertised as TY media), but it's still fake media.

[shop4tech.com]

Hello,

To elaborate on the issue mentioned of selling fake “Taiyo Yuden” media, I can say once again, we at shop4tech do not and will not sell any “fake” media. As far as the “TYGO2” MID discs go, we are a reseller of media just like any other online media site. Our suppliers for the most part are the same. As far as the “TYGO2” discs are concerned, we have never in any way, shape or form promoted them as being Taiyo Yuden. We have a few house brands at shop4tech and the TYG02 Discs just happen to be one of our house brands.

To try and clarify further, a good example of a specific house brand would be with our “LEDA” discs. Our leda discs are actually “Princo” and we’ve been selling them under our Leda name for years. We don’t promote those as Princo either. With this being said, unfortunately, there are some online sites that are selling these “TYG02” Discs as authentic Taiyo Yuden discs. Those business practices are definitely unethical and we at shop4tech will have no part of that. As I said before, our primary concern and focus is on customer service and the highest quality products. Selling anything fake, and promoting it as authentic is not a behavior we’d even consider engaging in.

If there are any other questions or concerns I neglected to answer please let me know so that I can answer them. You can also feel free to email me about anything at derek@shop4tech.com and I’ll respond promptly.

Thank you.


shop4tech.com

[Capmaster]

Our leda discs are actually “Princo” and we’ve been selling them under our Leda name for years. We don’t promote those as Princo either

Not exactly forthright of you, since Princo discs are suitable only as landfill material, and it certainly isn't the same as promoting something as being genuine Taiyo media, which is a top-notch media :P

[shop4tech.com]

Not exactly forthright of you, since Princo discs are suitable only as landfill material, and it certainly isn't the same as promoting something as being genuine Taiyo media, which is a top-notch media

We aren't selling the Princo discs under the Leda name to hide anything, believe me, you'd be surprised at how many people purchase Princo media and rave about it. Princo media is extremely popular world wide and we have actually lost a considerable amount of sales due to the fact that we don't promote Princo media under the Princo name. It's something we may decide to change in the near future.

Regards,

shop4tech.com

[Capmaster]

Not exactly forthright of you, since Princo discs are suitable only as landfill material, and it certainly isn't the same as promoting something as being genuine Taiyo media, which is a top-notch media

We aren't selling the Princo discs under the Leda name to hide anything, believe me, you'd be surprised at how many people purchase Princo media and rave about it. Princo media is extremely popular world wide and we have actually lost a considerable amount of sales due to the fact that we don't promote Princo media under the Princo name. It's something we may decide to change in the near future.
Regards,
shop4tech.com

Maybe they do rave about it. I used to buy Princo and rave too until I tried burns larger than 4.00GB and discovered the notorious Princo dye spread deficiency :P

But my point wasn't to debate the merits of Princo. My point regarded your statement:

we have never in any way, shape or form promoted them as being Taiyo Yuden

and you trying to further the point by saying basically "We don't misrepresent media as being Taiyo. See ...we don't even represent Leda as being crap media, even though it is (Princo).

I saw a flaw in your argument that used an example of selling junk under a different name as proving that you have no intentions of misrepresenting media. It seemed a bit bass-ackwards to me

[Cobra]

I always like to know what I am buying. I used to buy a lot of Princo media, but I have recently found that it is so badly degraded I can't finish films.

I will never buy Princo again, and I would be furious if any retailer did not tell me exactly what I was buying.

[Capmaster]

http://www.shop4tech.com/user.htm?go=view_item&id=1371&cata=1&s_cata=

It says "Mfr: Leda" A bit misleading, is it not? There is no "Leda" mfg. of media. It's relabeling junk media with a different name :P

[Fandim]

Heh.... I like Shop4Tech's prices...but buying nearly 1,000 DVD's a month...I cant afford to have a horrible batch of media sent to me, and have to worry about an RMA, or fake branded crap... Oiy. Just heard too many negative things posted over the last year or so.

Think I'll stick with Supermediastore.

Seth

[lc]

To whom it may concern:
shop4tech does not and will not sell fake media,
shop4tech.com

but later you posted

As far as the “TYGO2” discs are concerned, we have never in any way, shape or form promoted them as being Taiyo Yuden.

But you never denied that the media code was faked or that you sold them You don't need to promote them as TY, the fact that you sold them with a fraudulent media code is disreputable enough.

[Halm]

Just for the record..........I ordered 100 Ritek 4x from Shop4tech last Friday for $37 and change shipped. Got them yesterday. They came as 4-25 pks. Checked a disk from each pack....all checked out as Ritek G04. the also looked right...deep purple recoring side. Burned one last night.........absolutely perfect.

So..while some of you may have problems with Ritek or Shop4tech or both...it seems that in my case Shop4tech filled the order properly, shipped it quickly, and gave me exactly what I ordered and a good price.

I'll use them again.

[harley2ride]

What Shop4Tech is doing doesn't seem to be any different than Best Buy sellin FUJI FILM 8x DVD's, which are actually TYG02's, Memorex Discs, being coded as princo, ritek, cmc, etc... Most DVD's are rebranded! I would be more concerned buying DVD's which stated that they were TY's, Ritek's, etc, and then find that they were from some other manufacturer... I've ordered twice from shop4tech, and both orders where exactly what they were stated to be (RITEKG04's). Burning movies on my Lite-On 851s, and BTC1008, have produced mixed results. Some good burns and some not so good. But no coasters so far, and I should have burned them at 2x instead of 4x. For stuff that I need to ensure quality on, I only burn Genuine TY's.. You get what you pay for.

[Adder_78]

What Shop4Tech is doing doesn't seem to be any different than Best Buy sellin FUJI FILM 8x DVD's, which are actually TYG02's, Memorex Discs, being coded as princo, ritek, cmc, etc... Most DVD's are rebranded!

We know that already. It's not the point. That has nothing to do with "fake media" issue.

If the company is selling fake media (even though they don't promote them as genuine) it's wrong. All customers can't see the difference between fake/real media codes. It would be little bit better if the company would put warning text: "media code is fake" or something like that...

[steve2713]

I've bought from Shop4Tech before a couple of times, and I think that their Sonic media is a steal if you know its limitations (Solid media for me burned at 2x, not so great at 4x, while others burn it at 6x and 8x with varying success). But to the point, apparently Shop4Tech is selling 'Matrix' brand 8x media, and it has a media code of 'TYG02'. http://www.shop4tech.com/user.htm?go=view_item&id=2526&cata=&s_cata=

Now the problem here is that some of us know this obviously isn't Taiyo Yuden media, but a lot of people are going to think that they are buying TY media, and that's 'not cool' 8) . I know better than to think that it is TY media, and it is not. However, if you look here - http://www.fatwallet.com/t/18/378284/ , you'll see the problem with this. People are jumping up and down yelling 'OMG, I just bought 100 packs of TY media for $35 shipped', when in reality they just bought who knows what... These online stores should state what media code(s) the media you are buying actually is, and if the media code is faked, then they should state that, and state the true media code, if it is known. Right now it may be relatively clear what is a true media code and what is not, but it is only going to get grayer and grayer if the trend continues. It is the responsibility of online stores such as Shop4Tech to prevent this from becoming an issue, by stating what the media that they are selling truly is.

[harley2ride]

I agree totally. All media vendors should list the true media code of the media being sold, instead of listing brand names, and they should then list the media by grade (ie: a,b,c, etc). Nobody knows what they are buying for sure now! Maybe if all the forums gathered feedback and emailed the retailers directly, we could get the retailers to make these changes. Thousands of voices do make a difference!

[BJ_M]

99% of people would have no clue if a vendor only published media codes -- they know names like maxell, kodak, tdk, fuji, memorex, etc......and thats it ...

names like CMC ,TY , Ritek , etc have no meaning what so ever to joe q. public

[steve2713]

I'm not suggesting that the vendor ONLY publish the media code - only that they include it with the 'brand' given to all of the different media sold online (I know you're responding to harley2ride on this point). As for online buyers of media from places such as Shop4Tech, I think that the percentage of people that 'have a clue' about media codes is MUCH greater than you suggested. The guy down the street is very unlikely going to go to Shop4Tech, Supermedia, Rima, etc. and buy his 25 pack of discs. He's going to go to Worst Buy or Wal-Mart to get them, or buy them online from a known retailer such as Worst Buy, etc. It's people like us members of Videohelp and Cdfreaks that DO have a clue that buy from these specialized media retailers, not to mention how many of us are buying our discs by the hundreds, if not thousands, while jingles down the road goes to Worst Buy and spends $30 for a 25 pack of Memorex. Your 99% might hold true for local retailers, but online buyers are much better informed. If I had to guess, I'd say that well over half of the media sold on Rima, Shop4tech, Supermediastore, etc. is purchased by people that are well aware of what a media code is and what its signifigance is. That is why it would be very worthwhile for these specialized media stores online to give us this information with the media descriptions. Maybe they fear that they will lose sales by not disclosing that Matrix media is actually not Ty, but rather Longten, etc. But they are certainly losing sales by selling media that is deceptive by having fake media codes. If they'd tell us what the true media code is, and/or refuse to buy fake media codes from their suppliers, they'd gain more respect from us I believe.

[lordsmurf]

I agree with everything steve2713 just said in the previous post. Excellent observations. Especially the closing sentences.

[steve2713]

What lordsmurf said...

[Capmaster]

What lordsmurf said...

What Steve ...errrr...Lordsmurf ...errrr ...Steve said

[BJ_M]

i agree also -- i am just thinking of the millions of people that just go to office depot or walmart and by disks -- a lot of them for their offices


think of people who buy computers ...


or maybe its just me -- thinking the average consumer is pretty naive ..