@draven281973,

I know how disappointed you are. I've ordered DVDs before with the hope that they'd have English subtitles, and found that they haven't got them... I remember that they were purchased for other people, and that was doubly a concern because I can handle my own disappointment, but someone else's disappointment is another thing altogether!

From memory, I know that I simply decided to keep those DVDs for myself and find versions that definitely had English subtitles for the people for whom I'd originally bought the DVDs. So... to this day I have some DVDs in my collection which are not things I'd ever have thought to buy for myself, and which have no subtitles. I don't really mind for myself; it's good practice for some languages which need it!

My DVD of "Das Boot" is the most irritating title I have in my collection. It actually does have subtitles (which I don't want or need) but they are ON PERMANENTLY. Moreover, they are an annoying yellow and extremely distracting. The first time I watched the film, I found myself drawn again and again to those yellow subtitles, and I kept muttering, "But that's not the right translation!" and mentally finding fault with almost every sentence. One day I'll give this DVD away and buy a replacement from Germany.

Icelandic / Nordic movies are so frequently excellent! The Nordic Noir genre in particular really appeals to me (and to many). I can make out a little in Danish and Swedish and Icelandic, but nowhere near enough to want a film without any English subtitles. I feel your pain.

But here's the issue. If a listing or catalogue result for a film doesn't mention subtitles, the default information is that there are no subtitles. The seller had no requirement to say, "No subtitles"; the absence of that information should be taken as implying that there are no subtitles, or - possibly - that there are only Icelandic and German subtitles. Even that is an assumption. I would not expect subtitles unless that information is present under the DVD details on the listing/result.

In particular, because this was a DVD zoned for Europe, a buyer can't assume that English subtitles are present. Especially when it comes to German DVDs, English subtitles are not usually included, as anyone who imports German DVDs quite often will know. Oddly some DVDs in a series won't have subtitles, while some will. For example, Der Brücke (German for The Bridge) Staffel 1 hasn't any subtitles at all (but the German population can still watch with pleasure because the language options are Swedish, Danish and German), whereas Staffel 4 offers not only those three language otions but it also includes Untertitel (subtitles): Englisch.

You bought your DVD with an expectation formed by your previous experience, but I'm willing to bet that your experience of foreign language films and DVDs from all over the world isn't as extensive as mine... and my experience tells me that I shouldn't assume that the DVD has subtitles (let alone subtitles in English) unless the description actually states that there are.

Please don't let your disappointment lead you to blame the seller, who has not done anything wrong. I perfectly understand that you think the seller should have stated "no subtitles", but the seller has no actual requirement to do so. By not mentioning subtitles, the seller has avoided leading you to rightly expect that there would be subtitles.

I should mention too that some DVD manufacturer release notes are very sparse on the details. Your seller may not have known whether or not there were subtitles, and would have been at fault if they did list "No subtitles". The details that the seller gave you appear to have been correct, and this means you don't have a case for claiming significantly not as described.

Are there any subtitles on the DVD at all? Or other language options? Perhaps someone you know would be glad to have the DVD! Or you could relist it on eBay, onsell it yourself? Then you could look for another DVD of the film which definitely does include subtitles. What's the title of the movie?

Best of luck; it's quite possible you can onsell the DVD without being out of pocket (or very little out of pocket).