HMV now out of administration again

I was in the Darlington and Newcastle shops at the weekend (different days). I love the Premium Collection as it gives you the extra push to pick up loads of stuff you always wanted but never got around to picking up. I bought, in the BOGOF:

Dark Passage
The Yakuza
I Confess
The Big Sleep
Mighty Joe Young
The Valley of Gwangi

I had a lot of hassle trying to find Mighty Joe Young. It wasn't on the promotion rack. It wasn't under sci-fi or horror. It wasn't under the A - Z section. I forgot about the Limited Edition section!

Snobby guy on the counter said "It'll only be in one of two places. The promotion or the Limited Edition sections" I said I forgot about the LE bit and he just shrugged. I then pointed out it could have been in up to four places and I'm pleased it wasn't subtitled or I would never have found it.

I hear they have created a new world on The Crystal Maze. HMV World. They give you a list of titles and you have to find them or you get locked in :)

I had a big list of stuff I was after but I got so sick of picking up dog-eared stock. Everything was bashed and because they have been constantly changing the pricing stickers most of the cellophane was ripped off several titles.

They are getting more and more like junk shops.
 
stepped into the Newcastle store for the first time in years; thought (foolishly) they might have amended their prices due to the repeated admin threats. was looking for the bluray of Rome, £25 on Amazon. went to the TV section, there it was ~ £39.99. walked straight back out, won't waste my time again.
 
stepped into the Newcastle store for the first time in years; thought (foolishly) they might have amended their prices due to the repeated admin threats. was looking for the bluray of Rome, £25 on Amazon. went to the TV section, there it was ~ £39.99. walked straight back out, won't waste my time again.

You can pay a few quid more than online, but these prices are not going to see HMV in their new guise surviving.
 
stepped into the Newcastle store for the first time in years; thought (foolishly) they might have amended their prices due to the repeated admin threats. was looking for the bluray of Rome, £25 on Amazon. went to the TV section, there it was ~ £39.99. walked straight back out, won't waste my time again.

I recently caved in and bought the last series of Twin Peaks when Zoom reduced it to £20. That was the cheapest I'd seen it anywhere. It was only a matter of days later I saw it for £14.99 in HMV. They also had Star Trek Discovery at several quid cheaper than anyone else.

Bri
 
Its a shame a lot of you are having such negative experiences with HMV. :(

I have to admit, I pop into whichever one I'm nearest to on most Monday's - admittedly to pick up the new releases that I know are being released that day. The only one recently I wasn't able to get was the Criterion Hedwig that wasn't in the Uxbridge branch on release day.

I still love having that bricks and mortar store to head into - I know I could order it from an online store and have it delivered, but as many of you have said, its such a better experience going in somewhere, grabbing the four or five off the shelves and deciding which ones to put back (contrary to popular belief I don't buy everything...…). Its so odd, but when HMV stopped getting their new releases, I really did miss my weekly trip......you'd think I'd have better stuff to do with my time wouldn't you?????

Now I've got the hang of their wonky filing system, its always straight forward to find what I'm after, prices are pretty good (for most new movie releases at least) and once the points scheme is back up and running, there'll be even more purchases made - I was earning between three and four of the £50 money off vouchers a year before!!!! Vinyl junkies can fill their boots, they've so far had everything I've wanted so consider me one happy customer.
 
Its a shame a lot of you are having such negative experiences with HMV. :(

I have to admit, I pop into whichever one I'm nearest to on most Monday's - admittedly to pick up the new releases that I know are being released that day. The only one recently I wasn't able to get was the Criterion Hedwig that wasn't in the Uxbridge branch on release day.

I still love having that bricks and mortar store to head into - I know I could order it from an online store and have it delivered, but as many of you have said, its such a better experience going in somewhere, grabbing the four or five off the shelves and deciding which ones to put back (contrary to popular belief I don't buy everything...…). Its so odd, but when HMV stopped getting their new releases, I really did miss my weekly trip......you'd think I'd have better stuff to do with my time wouldn't you?????

Now I've got the hang of their wonky filing system, its always straight forward to find what I'm after, prices are pretty good (for most new movie releases at least) and once the points scheme is back up and running, there'll be even more purchases made - I was earning between three and four of the £50 money off vouchers a year before!!!! Vinyl junkies can fill their boots, they've so far had everything I've wanted so consider me one happy customer.

Same here,got used to their new system,as those mine local one hasn't change much,and still an happy HMV customer.

:)
 
Most of the time I find HMV are cheaper than Amazon. In the last month I bought the Chucky Collection and Nightmare on Elm Street 7 film boxset for £20 each in my local HMV, they're both around £35-40 on Amazon. New Arrow blu rays are anything between £16 - 23 on Amazon as well while HMV have them at £14.99 & often in the 2 for £25 deal. Amazon's blu ray prices increased when HMV went into administration and haven't dropped by much since, probably because their website isn't properly up and running again yet. Imagine what they would charge if HMV did go out of business.
 
I have it on good authority that they have decided the prices on the back of items is clown shoes and they will be pricing stuff on the front shortly.
 
I had a rare respite day solo trip to the mainland last week to Gunwharf Quays at Portsmouth Harbour - sadly, on arrival the HMV store had gone and was boarded up. This now means that the 3 stores on the South coast nearest to me on the Isle of Wight have gone (Southampton, Chichester & now Portsmouth) leaving Winchester as the nearest option. Unless they get the online shop back up and running that's probably it as far as I'm concerned,
 
what a surprise. as of today still no fully functioning website. though with so few branches i suppose it's not high on the agenda. those 'few weeks' it would be down for as suggested by the new owner in february must of been a big miscalculation on his part. or a lie.

and the pure card must be so hard to reintroduce as, again, a vague promise it will be sorted out sometime soon. or not. still, it's coming, it's coming, as they say in these parts.
 
Last edited:
what a surprise. as of today still no fully functioning website. though with so few branches i suppose it's not high on the agenda. and the pure card must be so hard to reintroduce as, again, a vague promise it will be sorted out sometime soon. or not. still, it's coming, it's coming, as they say in these parts.

It is a bit annoying that these are taking so long especially as they have found time to do podcasts in their promotional e-mails. Assuming I get the full value of my points I'll have £50 to spend. As a result I'm buying as little as possible from them until I get that. There's a few things I want that I won't buy until I get that money.

Bri
 
It is a bit annoying that these are taking so long especially as they have found time to do podcasts in their promotional e-mails. Assuming I get the full value of my points I'll have £50 to spend. As a result I'm buying as little as possible from them until I get that. There's a few things I want that I won't buy until I get that money.

Bri

i agree.

i would love to spend money with them but with no real local hmv left and no website it's proving impossible - hence my frustration.

didn't the owner say he would keep some iconic stores open even if they were losing money, or is my memory going? how they can't make money from Gunwharf Quays at Portsmouth Harbour is beyond me. when i was last in on the way to visiting my mum on the isle of wight it was heaving. mostly with french tourists queuing up to buy the 'old fashioned' cd...
 
Last edited:
Thankfully the HMV near by home (Thurrock Lakeside) is still open. I doubt if they would reinstate purehmv.
 
They just sent me a £5 off £25 in-store voucher for the nearest remaining store, which isn't really near enough to motivate me into paying them a visit. It's pushing their vinyl range, as usual lately...

Come and check out our new vinyl unitary in-store showcasing an extended vinyl range!

Simply print off this email or present the barcode on your phone at the till to be scanned with your purchase.

We look forward to seeing you soon!


Thanks HMV. Please don't wait up for me! :smashin:
 
They just sent me a £5 off £25 in-store voucher for the nearest remaining store, which isn't really near enough to motivate me into paying them a visit. It's pushing their vinyl range, as usual lately...




Thanks HMV. Please don't wait up for me! :smashin:

Cor how did you get that when I didn't? I'd probably be able to use that.

Bri
 
They just sent me a £5 off £25 in-store voucher for the nearest remaining store, which isn't really near enough to motivate me into paying them a visit. It's pushing their vinyl range, as usual lately...

Thanks HMV. Please don't wait up for me! :smashin:

The discount is off anything, not just vinyl. They are advertising their new vinyl range on the voucher and the placement looks like it’s just for vinyl at first glance.
 
I just checked on Google Maps a round trip to HMV would be 52 miles. There's no way I'm driving that far & paying an unknown amount for parking, on the speculative hope of finding £25 items to save £5.

On the other hand, if they opened in my town, I'd be happy to pop in for a look. :)
 
14 mile round trip, 15 minute drive each way. £1,20 for an hour parking. Not bad. But waiting for the loyalty scheme to start before going back.
 
I used my voucher yesterday and was told that I could use it as many times as I wanted up until the expiration day. It would be worth going through the tills a few times if you were spending multiples of £25.
 
rDA1MD5.png


HMV presses play on giant concept store

Wow, that could've been written in 1978. Awful writing too.

What a ******* disaster.

I was watching an Amazon advert on YouTube the other night and had a brainstorm: why doesn't someone EXACTLY copy Amazon? 2 or 3 companies could get together and wipe the floor with Amazon by simply providing the same thing -but just a little bit cheaper. Maybe, our business owners are too stupid or just a bunch of pussies (they couldn't even stand up to the 5p bag charge even though it was giving them millions of pounds of free advertising with us walking around with their logo -you know, like Adidas, Nike etc).

Anyhoo, I never ordered those recent Flight of The Navigator or In Bruges releases from HMV because I'd rather give my money to a company who has a proper website or lists on eBay. That's not rocket science to fix that is it HMV?

More vinyl with that, sir?
 
Wow, that could've been written in 1978. Awful writing too.

What a ******* disaster.

I was watching an Amazon advert on YouTube the other night and had a brainstorm: why doesn't someone EXACTLY copy Amazon? 2 or 3 companies could get together and wipe the floor with Amazon by simply providing the same thing -but just a little bit cheaper. Maybe, our business owners are too stupid or just a bunch of pussies (they couldn't even stand up to the 5p bag charge even though it was giving them millions of pounds of free advertising with us walking around with their logo -you know, like Adidas, Nike etc).

Anyhoo, I never ordered those recent Flight of The Navigator or In Bruges releases from HMV because I'd rather give my money to a company who has a proper website or lists on eBay. That's not rocket science to fix that is it HMV?

More vinyl with that, sir?

Ok, what about a pretty spur of the moment survey for anyone interested.

% wise how much has your spend with HMV decreased since the website and pure card have been so hard to reintroduce? Mine is around 90% less.

And isn't this concept similar to the record pods or whatever they were called in the olden days? Am I missing something?

It would be great if we could get these things from a store as Puttnam suggests but we need the store first. You've shut so many.

How does that work?!
 
n3R0P41.jpg

Fixed that.

I bought a 2fer£15 offer a few weeks back instore (they never had what I wanted though). That's about it for me so a drop of 95% at least. I was spending more at HMV in the last 2 years than at anytime as I like click & collect (which they now have for pre-orders I believe). I think most people posting here and elsewhere want brick and mortar stores I'm fine with that if they can sort everything else.

I noticed SportsDirect charge £5.00 delivery for click & collect but they give you a £5 gift token when you pick your goods up -a small thing but some thought put into their business.

... isn't this concept similar to the record pods or whatever they were called in the olden days?

The only booths that would help HMV is cannabis booths. Since they have Canadian owners maybe that's what they're planning since cannabis can be bought in shops in most parts of Canada.

HMV's biggest problem is a lot their online customers will just move on to other things.

They've grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory.
 
Not spent a single £1 with them since the loss of £50 Pure points.
Since then I would say I would of spent literally hundreds of £'s in store and online but their loss of a good customer.
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom