HMV going into administration

road_high · 15-01-2013 01:25PM

They knew damn well months ago this was a distinct possibility. Yet they waited 2 weeks after the busiest time of year for voucher sales to go into administration. Funny that.

Eponymous · 15-01-2013 01:26PM

WoollyRedHat wrote: »

I think if they just turned HMV into a poster-selling and chocolate and sweet place, it would be much better off.

Subtle! You're obviously as old as me.

My name is URL · 15-01-2013 01:26PM

ratracer wrote: »

SO HMV are saying they are not in a position to accept gift vouchers now, even though the shops are still open. How can this be right?

Theoretically speaking, if one just goes into the shop, take €30 of stuff and leave a €30 voucher on the counter and walk out, could one be done for theft, when technically, it isn't really theft as the goods have been paid for upfront.

You should go for it... it's a matter of principle damn it!

seamus · 15-01-2013 01:27PM

ratracer wrote: »

Theoretically speaking, if one just goes into the shop, take €30 of stuff and leave a €30 voucher on the counter and walk out, could one be done for theft, when technically, it isn't really theft as the goods have been paid for upfront.

Yes. The goods aren't yours without a contract of sale between you and the retailer. Unless the retailer has agreed to accept the voucher as consideration for the goods you are taking, then you would be guilty of theft for taking them.

To the best of my knowledge, shops are not under any obligation to accept their own vouchers for payment.

ilovesleep · 15-01-2013 01:33PM

Penn wrote: »

how long can they hold out too?[/OUOTE]

As for how long they can hold out, it will be anyone's guess. They'll still have a market hopefully.

I suppose the best thing we can do is support them and businesses that you do like and want to see survive and remain open. In my locality a small hotel shut down which is definately missed by many but I remember when it first shut there was a lot of disappointment from many people but the majority of the complainers were from people who hardly ever stepped foot inside and supported it.

Penn · 15-01-2013 01:37PM

mfitzy wrote: »

They knew damn well months ago this was a distinct possibility. Yet they waited 2 weeks after the busiest time of year for voucher sales to go into administration. Funny that.

OR... They were hoping Christmas sales (probably their busiest annual period) would help boost them up a bit so they wouldn't go into administration at all, but Christmas sales were worse than expected.

RossyG · 15-01-2013 01:40PM

P_1 wrote: »

True, digital media is really overtaking physical media, especially for music.

Lantus wrote: »

I've been waiting with sad expectation at this for some time. The world is changing and moving from solid to digital state media.

PEDANTRY CORNER

Some physical media like CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays are also digital.

What you mean is downloads taking over physical media.

Laois_Man · 15-01-2013 01:41PM

I have heard they will not honour gift vouchers even though Deloitte intends to keep the business running while it seeks a potential buyer.

I submitted an online order last Friday for the wife for something I couldn't get on Amazon - the fewckers better honour that!

ratracer · 15-01-2013 01:43PM

ilovesleep wrote: »

Penn wrote: »

how long can they hold out too?[/OUOTE]

As for how long they can hold out, it will be anyone's guess. They'll still have a market hopefully.

I suppose the best thing we can do is support them and businesses that you do like and want to see survive and remain open. In my locality a small hotel shut down which is definately missed by many but I remember when it first shut there was a lot of disappointment from many people but the majority of the complainers were from people who hardly ever stepped foot inside and supported it.

If they won't accept a gift voucher as payment, they can whistle if they think I'd give them 1c in support.

My name is URL · 15-01-2013 01:43PM

Laois_Man wrote: »

I have heard they will not honour gift vouchers even though Deloitte intends to keep the business running while it seeks a potential buyer.

I submitted an online order last Friday for the wife for something I couldn't get on Amazon - the fewckers better honour that!

If they don't you should be able to reclaim the money through your credit card provider.

Dublinstiofán · 15-01-2013 01:44PM

I'm devastated. There will be NO specialised music store in Ireland if somebody doesn't
agree to take them over.

VinLieger · 15-01-2013 01:44PM

Gutted if this happens as it will leave the majority of console gamers who are unaware of Gamestops ****ty business practices having to deal with them, please please please let the next batch of consoles have a reliable and reasonable Digital Distribution system

Lollipops23 · 15-01-2013 01:45PM

I think everyone was sad to hear the news of them going in to admin, but the refusal to honour gift vouchers has zapped any of that sympathy pretty fast.

I honestly can't see why they can't take them-they've already been paid for! Is it put in the same bracket as a "debt" by the admins? As in, there's €2m worth of gift vouchers out in the world, so they owe €2m worth of stock?

Penn · 15-01-2013 01:46PM

VinLieger wrote: »

Gutted if this happens as it will leave the majority of console gamers who are unaware of Gamestops ****ty business practices having to deal with them, please please please let the next batch of consoles have a reliable and reasonable Digital Distribution system

There are other places to get games from than Gamestop. Xtra-Vision/Tesco for buying it direct, Amazon/Gamesnash for buying it online and getting it delivered. Not a perfect solution, but Gamestop aren't the only places to get games if HMV go down.

VinLieger · 15-01-2013 01:48PM

Penn wrote: »

There are other places to get games from than Gamestop. Xtra-Vision/Tesco for buying it direct, Amazon/Gamesnash for buying it online and getting it delivered. Not a perfect solution, but Gamestop aren't the only places to get games if HMV go down.

Yes but im talking about people who are unaware or not bothered with online options as they havent had their eyes opened :P

Penn · 15-01-2013 01:52PM

VinLieger wrote: »

Yes but im talking about people who are unaware or not bothered with online options as they havent had their eyes opened :P

They'll fairly be opening their eyes if Gamestop push up their prices any further

:eek: HOW MUCH?! :eek:

abacus120 · 15-01-2013 01:54PM

I have 250 euro,worth of vouchers that were paid for with cash,by the sounds of it,they are worth NOTHING..........

15-01-2013 01:54PM

Lollipops23 wrote: »

I think everyone was sad to hear the news of them going in to admin, but the refusal to honour gift vouchers has zapped any of that sympathy pretty fast.

I honestly can't see why they can't take them-they've already been paid for! Is it put in the same bracket as a "debt" by the admins? As in, there's €2m worth of gift vouchers out in the world, so they owe €2m worth of stock?

HMV presumably owes different people for different things - vouchers to customers, suppliers for stocks, government for tax, landlords for rent etc.

It has assets to try to cover those debts - cash in the bank, stocks, money owed to them etc.

By law some have a greater claim - the tax man usually is first to get paid for certain taxes collected by the company.

Vouchers goes into the general lump of debts that get a share of whatever is left after the preferred creditors are paid.

If they were to allow vouchers to be used they would be putting your claim ahead of all the others in priority.

abacus120 wrote: »

I have 250 euro,worth of vouchers that were paid for with cash,by the sounds of it,they are worth NOTHING..........

Hang onto them - a new owner might honour them or in a claims process you might get something at the end.

murpho999 · 15-01-2013 01:55PM

I am amazed at the amount of people who have computers and internet but still buy CD's and DVD's?

On Sky News last week they covered the same item and people were saying 'Oh I prefer to have the physical device' or what if your hard disc gets damaged or what if you delete by accident.

Well apart from undelete, everything can be backed up in the cloud and retrieved anytime.

Also the likes of iTunes, your purchases are their always and can be retrieved at any time. So you can never lose anything.
Cheaper prices, good quality and instant delivery too. What more could you want?

The idea of having loads of space taken up by discs and the inability to play playlists that suit your own taste rather than being forced to listen to one disc at a time is awful to me now.

Embrace it people it's a great world once you go digital and it's not going to be stopped.

justshane · 15-01-2013 01:57PM

abacus120 wrote: »

I have 250 euro,worth of vouchers that were paid for with cash,by the sounds of it,they are worth NOTHING..........

I have a 300 euro credit note and they have my Ipod

Penn · 15-01-2013 01:59PM

murpho999 wrote: »

Well apart from undelete, everything can be backed up in the cloud and retrieved anytime.

Pretty much the only thing that comes out of the clouds where I live is rain. A lot of people (myself included) simply don't have (can't get) a good enough broadband service to be able to download or stream high quality video files on demand, never mind any type of cloud service.

Digital will take over, that's for sure. But much better internet service is required for a lot of people before they can embrace it.

Utopia Parkway · 15-01-2013 02:02PM

murpho999 wrote: »

I am amazed at the amount of people who have computers and internet but still buy CD's and DVD's?

As you said yourself a lot of people like to own physical copies of their media. Not quite the same showing someone your music or film collection by clicking and scrolling with a mouse.

Not to mention there are still large parts of the country where broadband coverage is still pretty mediocre at best. For these people downloading tons of media is still a long way away.

Gummy Panda · 15-01-2013 02:04PM

I feel sorry for the staff today. Lose their jobs and now have to take abuse over the vouchers not being accepted :mad:

murpho999 · 15-01-2013 02:04PM

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

As you said yourself a lot of people like to own physical copies of their media. Not quite the same showing someone your music or film collection by clicking and scrolling with a mouse.

Not to mention there are still large parts of the country where broadband coverage is still pretty mediocre at best.

It is actually....works very well and things like coverflow look pretty good.

sink · 15-01-2013 02:05PM

murpho999 wrote: »

I am amazed at the amount of people who have computers and internet but still buy CD's and DVD's?

On Sky News last week they covered the same item and people were saying 'Oh I prefer to have the physical device' or what if your hard disc gets damaged or what if you delete by accident.

Well apart from undelete, everything can be backed up in the cloud and retrieved anytime.

Also the likes of iTunes, your purchases are their always and can be retrieved at any time. So you can never lose anything.
Cheaper prices, good quality and instant delivery too. What more could you want?

The idea of having loads of space taken up by discs and the inability to play playlists that suit your own taste rather than being forced to listen to one disc at a time is awful to me now.

Embrace it people it's a great world once you go digital and it's not going to be stopped.

QFT

I haven't bought a physical CD for a couple of years now. I have signed up for iTunes match with 100GB of my own music stored in the cloud and Spotify for everything else. I have all my music with me wherever I go be that at home, in work, in the car, or out and about using my iPhone, iPad, Laptop, Desktop, Sonos Hi-Fi system.

Putting a disc on seems so archaic to me.

Skid · 15-01-2013 02:06PM

mfitzy wrote: »

They knew damn well months ago this was a distinct possibility. Yet they waited 2 weeks after the busiest time of year for voucher sales to go into administration. Funny that.

Just maybe they tried their hardest until the very end, to try to get a new line of credit from their suppliers. They didn't go into administration by choice. It was always a possibility and anyone with vouchers should have been aware that there was a risk.

They hoped that a good Christmas would be enough to get them more time. Sadly, it wasn't. If every retail chain who faced closure as a "distinct possibility" just gave up before Christmas, there would be precious few shops left.

Anyone with vouchers for any retail store should go out and spend them, not hoard them. Don't be left with worthless cards.

ilovesleep · 15-01-2013 02:06PM

VinLieger wrote: »

Gutted if this happens as it will leave the majority of console gamers who are unaware of Gamestops ****ty business practices having to deal with them, please please please let the next batch of consoles have a reliable and reasonable Digital Distribution system

That's it! I was going to mention Gamestop earlier. I don't like gamestop and HMV is probably the best and after that Smyths.

Out of interest, does HMV have nintendo ds 3d on sale, would anyone know?

super_furry · 15-01-2013 02:08PM

ilovesleep wrote: »

Out of interest, does HMV have nintendo ds 3d on sale, would anyone know?

Got one before Christmas and it was by far the cheapest place. A 3DS XL with Professor Layton was €219.

seamus · 15-01-2013 02:09PM

Skid wrote: »

Just maybe they tried their hardest until the very end, to try to get a new line of credit from their suppliers. They didn't go into administration by choice. It was always a possibility and anyone with vouchers should have been aware that there was a risk.

From a business point of view, if they told staff to stop issuing vouchers then the game would have been up and the share price would have collapsed before they even went into administration, and we'd be looking at a liquidation now rather than administration.

So while it appears callous from the customer's point of view to continue selling vouchers, in the long run a "business as usual" policy may have saved a good chunk of the jobs.

If they do ultimately stop accepting the vouchers, another business will swoop in there to grab the customer and offer to accept the vouchers for a certain % of face value.

les succulent ducks · 15-01-2013 02:09PM

any chance of a choc ice?

HMV going into administration

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