MSE News: HMV administration Q&A: gift card, refund and job rights

dro

andrew1211 wrote: »

I repeat, administration did not occur until around 6pm on Monday. So why weren't gift cards accepted right up to that point?

As soon as the directors decided that the company was insolvent and they would not be able to trade out of it (i.e. when they made the decision to appoint administrators) they are legally obliged to treat all of the creditors of the company equally. If they were to accept a gift card in payment they would be giving one creditor (the gift card holder) preferential treatment over all of the other creditors (other gift card holders, staff, suppliers, HMRC etc).

The administrators have much more discretion. There is a real possibility in this case that they will decide that there is a chance that they will be able to sell the business or part of the business and will want to protect the goodwill of it by allowing people to use their gift cards (as they did with Comet).

john1002

From sky news interview with administrator;

While all 223 UK stores are still trading, the administrator confirmed its review of the business was continuing and there was no prospect of the company's decision to stop accepting gift cards or vouchers being overturned.


I also worry that if a private equity firm take some form of HMV then it may go the same way as Comet, I was amazed how much the private equity companys money they got back as a secured creditor.


Sad times.


John

GOG1956

The Guardian said:
If you have unspent vouchers you need to lodge a claim with the administrators and hope for the best. In the first
instance you should email the administrators at [EMAIL="hmv@deloitte.co.uk"]hmv@deloitte.co.uk[/EMAIL] to register your interest and request the
relevant forms.
I will be doing this even though my cards were for a small amount.

I_M_S

A bit of good news for those of you who are in or near Nottingham,
The Pit & Pendulum pub have just posted this on their facebook page.

Have you got an HMV Gift Card? Bring it to us show us and we will give you £5 off your total Food and Drink bill when you spend £10 or more

They are listed under Pit & Pendulum (Nottingham).

I have no affiliation with them by the way, just love going there when in Nottingham as its done up in a old / gothic style, the toilets are even behind a bookcase.

Wywth

When will the similar Q&A for Blockbuster be coming out?

Can I use my gift voucher?
Must I return the DVDs I have out?
etc

highnal

highnal wrote: »

I rang Amex this morning to see what they could do about the £150 vouchers I bought from an offer they advertised just before Xmas (20% off!). The nice person on the other end said they already had a number of calls on the issue this morning and they were in the process of deciding how to deal with it. They will either ring me back this afternoon or tomorrow morning with more information.

Will report back when I hear from them.

Samba123 wrote: »

Please do - I'm in exactly the same boat having bought £200 of evouchers from the same deal so hoping Amex will do something.

enigma368 wrote: »

Me too! I bought £480 worth =/. I actually was warned on this forum to use my vouchers about two weeks ago as it looked like HMV might go into administration. I tried unsucessfully to use them over the 2 week period, first my account was suspended for a week due to "suspicious purchases", and then the items were out of stock.

I called amex last week about this and said I was worried HMV was going into administration, that HMV was not letting me redeem them and that my vouchers would be worthless if they did go under. The guy was very nice but didnt seem to treat my suspicion that HMV might go into administration seriously. He said if it did, I would be fully protected, but I don't think he really thought through what he was saying as he didn't think it was a serious possibility.

I will be very angry if Amex don't protect me on this after beign told I would be.

Quick update - Amex called back today saying they need another week to decide how to move forward on this. They're waiting for Deloitte's administration plan to be announced for confirmation that they definitely won't be accepting vouchers in the future before starting to process claims.

They'll ring back next Wednesday but I said I'll call back if something's announced before then.

jh2009

thwaity wrote: »

Hi there

I used to work for HMV and still have an HMV pension.

What will happen to this and will I still be able to move it to my current employer?

The HMV pension you hold will be invested within the pension scheme. The funds by law CANNOT be used to pay off creditors, nor can be used by the administrators.

Longer term, the fund will continue to run, without the parent Company. Its a question then of how well funded that scheme is. Either any company that buys the group will take on responsibility for the Scheme, or whats probably more likely is that it will be taken into something called the Pension Protection Fund (A government lifeboat type scheme that takes on the pension schemes for failed companies).

You could contact the scheme to see if you can still investigate a transfer to another scheme but you should consider financial advice before you proceed with any transfer.

harmony1984

lnr wrote: »

Regarding using HMV vouchers in Waterstones, your guide states that they can't be used. However, I was able to use some old HMV vouchers in Waterstones a few days ago. Waterstones told me that if the voucher mentions Waterstones on the back (i.e. the vouchers were issued when the stores were owned by the same company), they will still honour them as payment/part-payment in Waterstones.

Hi, no, as of yesterday (Tues 14th Jan) Waterstones also will no longer accept the paper vouchers (they never did accept the plastic gift cards) as HMV are under the administrator's control. Hope this helps.

callum9999

bestyman wrote: »

Good on him. I would do the same if I had a voucher. I would leave the vouchers and my name and address and walk out. I`m not sure what the charge would be?

Not the brightest tool in the shed are you... "Hi, I'm stealing from you - here is my name and address should you wish to prosecute me"

helwarren

You would think that by honouring gift cards they will at least get people in the shop. I would imagine a lot of people spend over the value of voucher. My son only has £15 on his but wants the skylanders giants pack so would spend £40 cash.