HMV: rip-off merchants

jessielicious

It was my boyfriend's birthday on Sunday, and suddenly on Saturday I had the idea of buying him Monsters Inc on DVD, so I went shopping. I already had a £20 HMV voucher, so I started there. The assistant helped me find it, and pointed out that it was £24.99. When I asked him why, he said this is what Disney do, they charge you more for the older stuff because they want you to buy the new stuff. So I had a look in The Disney Store, where it was £16.99. WH Smith was charging £19.99. All this makes me think HMV is ripping you off more than Disney. I decided it wasn't worth it just for him to have it on the day, so bought it online for £7 including postage, and gave it to him on Tuesday. Not sure what to do with my HMV voucher though, whatever I buy I'll know I'm not getting the best value for money.

juno

HMV (and virgin) are expensive. But sometimes their sale stuff is good value. I rarely go in though, as I can't stand their loud music and narrow aisles

JasonW_2

These companies just dont get it! PC World have started to realise in the last few years that if you lower prices to a reasonable level for *some* things, you actually get more customers who actually buy something! PC World could easily undercut the smaller computer shops and make a killing, but they still charge loads. They complain about having large premises and overheads. Hmmm, well why would I want to buy from you and pay more to you just cos it costs more for you to keep your shop open? See above PC World for a way out of this 'vicious circle' about lowering overheads by increasing sales! Specualte to accumulate and all that... They are standard products that you can get anywhere, so there are cheaper places to go. Sometimes I have needed something in a hurry so have bought there, but never for things I can wait for.

HMV and Virgin seem the be the same and I never bother going in now. The supermarkets off the best deals in towns normally apart from promotions, and t'internet beats them all hands down. I only order from CD WOW and Play these days, and sometimes amazon. The prices of older DVDs in HMV are totally unjustified. They also argue that the older stuff has taken up shelf space, so they might have lost out on sales of something that could take its place. Well HMV, you have answered your own question too: sell it cheaper in the first place it would walk out the shop!

I hate the high streets, can you tell? :rolleyes:

JW

Rex_Mundi

Yesterday I bought the first three series of 24 in DVD box sets. I shopped around a bit before buying.

HMV was £49.99 a series (£150 in total!!!)

Virgin had one series at £21

Woolworths had all three series at £24.99 . I thought, that will do. As I went to pay, I mentioned the Virgin price to the girl on the till. She told me Woolworths do pricematching and reduced all three series to £21 each. I thought it was a bargain £63 for the lot.

I certainly agree that HMV are a bunch of ********

Talon_Karrde

I recently bought something in HMV, earphones as it happens. I needed to take them back...they were unopened. It was then i read their returns policy on the back of their receipt. They give NO REFUNDS AT ALL! The most you can get is vouchers, and even then they dont like it. They prefer you to exchange for a different item for same or higher value there and then, and it has to be within 21 days. I know of no other retailer that refuses point blank to refund. There is the obvious threat of piracy with DVD's and CD's, but surely if the pack is unopened? And what happens if the CD/DVD/VHS/Game/Equip is faulty?? I know that consumer law demands a refund if the goods are not fit for purpose!?
In short, i will never use HMV again, Amazon/CD WOW etc and 3rd party selllers on Amazon are much better, along with supermarkets for some stuff.

solarstone

I think that HMV captures the youthful end of the market that would rather pay double than be seen dead buying something in Tesco or Sainsbury's. One interesting thing is if you look at CDs you bought from HMV 10 years ago they aren't much more now..... (A guilty conscience , yessir !)

Midas

Yes HMV's refund policy is a funny one. They are concerned about piracy, but people who buy stuff to copy it and then return it can simply swap it for something else, copy that and return it etc etc.

They swap stuff if its faulty no questions asked (e.g. scratched CDs - I've had to return things for that reason); but legally would prob have to give you a refund if you insisted, if they had supplied you with faulty goods.

Talon_Karrde

point is, if you buy CD/DVD from say supermarket or probably amazon etc....as long as cellophane is intact you can get your money back, otherwise they will only give exchange, but HMV you get no choice! suffice to say i will not be perusing their selection in the future!

DonnyDave

I got 1 of those voucher books from HMV last year. Even with their £2 off an album, it still costs £1 more for double ones than on the internet!! They have alot of stuff other shops (Woolworths, WH Smith) don't stock, but they do stick the price right up for that (as well as current stuff).

Talon_Karrde

HMV are on a hiding to nothing. With the growth of amazon and cdwow amongst others (such as 3rd party sellers on amazon) there is nothing you can get from HMV that you can't from them.

Talon_Karrde

oh, i just remembered, on the back of their receipt it states that exchanged good are not eligable for further exchange, so you only get the one chance...so, repeated piracy is not possible as a comfort either (not that anyone is condoning piracy!)