HMV UK in Administration

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digitalbabe

Premium Supporter
Apr 12, 2009
42,350
USA
E-mail sent 1/29/2013:

"
Dear Sir / Madam,

HMV UK Limited (In Administration) (the “Company")

Further to your email, I write to confirm that after an assessment of the Company's financial position, internet orders that have been fully paid for prior to the Company entering into administration will be delivered over the next five working days. Internet orders that have not been paid for will be cancelled and a notification of this cancellation will be sent by e-mail over the next 48 hours.

Should you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact the e-mail address above.

Yours faithfully
For and on behalf of the Company

M S Watson
For R J Harding
Joint Administrator
"


Hilco takes control of HMV-thanks snoo

Link


Former web customer service address was: [email protected]

Phone:

Customer Service: 0207 303 0700

*Multiple members have stated that HMV has said that all pre-orders have been cancelled.

0845 603 8576 (local rate call)
020 8495 4434

Message posted at HMV site:



hmv.jpg


seen elsewhere via web but thanks to Our members for posting.

"Cross Sale on CD’s, DVD’s, Blu-rays, box sets and games across 230 stores and online comes just weeks after the traditional Boxing Day sale.

Last month the company admitted it is likely to breach its banking covenant - throwing the entertainment retailer's financial future into doubt.

A failure to fulfil lending requirements often signals a company is close to administration, retail analyst Robert Clark told Sky News.

"A lot becomes clear after Christmas - the sale suggests that they didn't have a good one and are trying to reel in as much cash to tie things over," he said.

"I’m not sure how much time they’ve got. I don’t think they’ll be able to sway their bankers. Financial institutions are less likely to show patience in this climate."

But HMV’s chief executive Trevor Moore said in December that closing more stores or placing the business into administration was not "part of our plan" and that the firm was in "constructive discussions" with banks about its performance.

HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo told Sky News the Blue Cross Sale was not unusual for this time of year.

"Normally we'd look to run a multi-buy campaign of some kind at this time of year, but we thought we'd freshen our promotional mix up a bit and try something a bit different that will hopefully stand out from all the other sale offers on the high street right now," he said.

The retailer has taken a huge hit in the face of competition from online retailers like Amazon and Play.

But analysts argue that HMV has failed to reinvent itself in the last 15 years and invest in its stores to keep up with the modern technology revolution.

In December, despite numerous promotions,it announced total sales had fallen 13.5%, while like-for-like sales were down 10.2% in the six months to October 27.

HMV reported a loss before tax of £37.3m - an improvement on the £48.1m loss over the same period the year before. But net debt at the 91 year-old company increased from £163.7m to £176.1m.-bank-deadline."


:::: Digitalbabe ::::

Staff: Community Manager
Hidefninja.com

From LV-426 on iPhone
 
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To be honest I would miss their online site more than their stores. If they closed everyone of their stores now, I really wouldn't mind that much. Sure it's nice to have a browse now and again, but I almost always end up walking out with nothing due to their pricing. Their range of films is good but their music section is awful (at least in my nearest HMV). It seems they've got rid of a load of space for CDs and replaced it with useless tat like T-shirts and electronics.
 
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The way the high street is headed we'll be looking at Gregg's exclusives at this rate :p

For all non-UK ninjas - Gregg's is a pasty / pastry shop which seems to be on every high street over here. They rank somewhere between pet food and soup kitchen in quality!

To be fair that's a bit unfair on soup kitchens, possibly a cross between dog food and dog droppings?

I suppose its possible HMV could keep their online presence even if they shut their stores.

That is the one single clever thing they have done - partially financially separate their online retail from the high street, whether it will work is a whole new argument.

I was in Sheffield High Street HMV today and it was amazing on how many people were in there probably twice as many as normal.

Quite a few of them were buying stuff but it wasn't the blue cross items it was things like the 5 blu-rays for £30 offer that's been on for ages or the 2 DVDs for £10.

Perhaps they should have spent the publicity money on heavily promoting offers like that instead.
 
The thing is everyone downloads music now.....so then your only really left with DVD'd and Blu-rays.....we all buy them on line as it's normally cheaper.

Would miss them is they went though...i like having a good browse in their stores.
I'm guessing they'd keep some of their flag ship stores open.
 
tbh i dont even look instore anymore i used to and chuckle to myslef and shake my head at the ridiculous prices on some of their stock only in hmv have i ever seen an amaray bd movie (and nothing special at that) marked up at nearly thirty pounds only to be reduced to ten a few weeks later the fluctuation was a joke and its always same old stuff on the same old "promotion" they need a shake up and to lower prices they hike them up to try and make some emergency revenue but they dont seem to realise this has the opposite effect and sends most people looking around cex and cash converters for something more realistically priced or online to the soon to be no more play.com RIP
 
tbh i dont even look instore anymore i used to and chuckle to myslef and shake my head at the ridiculous prices on some of their stock

Same here. The real entertainment coming from HMV is the price comparing from store to store. I remember before I bought my copy of the Safe House steelbook, I'd seen it in 2 separate branches priced at £28 and £26 respectively and then picked it up in my local for £9. I live in Sydney now, but when I was back in the UK I did a lot of travel for work so would often get to pop into a few different branches of HMV over the course of a few days. The prices differed hugely, even between stores that were 300metres apart.
 
The thing is everyone downloads music now.....so then your only really left with DVD'd and Blu-rays.....we all buy them on line as it's normally cheaper.

Would miss them is they went though...i like having a good browse in their stores.
I'm guessing they'd keep some of their flag ship stores open.

i think there is still a market for physical discs.
i would sooner have the actual item with artwork etc.
but only if the whole album is good.
i now only have around 150 cds (down from near on 1000 at my peak.)
but if an album only has 3 good songs then it doesnt deserve shelf space.
when i go in hmv i always have a quick look at the cds, usually only to see if there are any special editions of favourites etc.
but as i said earlier, the market is saturated. everyone with an interest now can afford a simple recording set-up, and with the internet, marketing is easy.
music isnt as exciting anymore, because you have to really search through all the rubbish to find something worthy.
amazon have the right idea, buy the disc and get the mp3 download included.
thats how it shoud be. why on earth would you be expected to pay twice for the same song?
thats like having to have a seperate tv license for each tv in your house.
 
Bad times at the moment in the UK, £170 million is a massive amount of debt, and for 4,000 people to potentially lose their jobs is awful! I feel for everyone that may be affected!

On a purely selfish note, crap, I've got some vouchers to use that I was waiting to use for Looper and Resident Evil Retribution at the end of month... I'm going to have to go tomorrow and get anything I can if administration is on the cards! :(
 
That'll be the end of exclusive UK steelbooks then :(

maybe they'll just close the stores but keep the online website ?


edit: Crap, just remembered I have a £10 gift card I still need to spend and won't be near a HMV til later this week :/
 
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Unless Amazon UK sort their **** out and start negotiating contracts, there are some BIG new releases in 2013 we in the UK wont get:

No G.I. Joe: Retaliation (Apr)
No Iron Man 3 (May)
No Superman: Man of Steel (July)
No The Wolverine (Aug)
No Sin City: A Dame to Kill for (Nov)
No Thor: The Dark World (Dec)
 
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Ah crap, more awful news. Really feeling for everyone who is losing jobs at HMV and Play. Very unsettling times

That'll be the end of exclusive UK steelbooks then :(

Not the end for UK steels, just exclusives for the time being. I have faith we will see more though. Still not good at the moment
 
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well, im gonna try to avoid buying anything new in this coutry that will put any cash in the governments pockets now.
amazon.de/.com/ca etc all the way (and cex trade ins, and ebay)
i would so love to abandon this hell hole of a country and move to the states or canada.

the only 2 uk retailers that do exclusive steelbooks gone in under a week.
add that to jessops and comet.... how many jobs gone in under a month???
im sure wh smiths will be gone soon too (they surely dont compete on any level with any of thier competition)
its bang on, supermarkets will be the only places left to buy before long. and no doubt they will be soon be government run.
 
well, im gonna try to avoid buying anything new in this coutry that will put any cash in the governments pockets now.
amazon.de/.com/ca etc all the way (and cex trade ins, and ebay)
i would so love to abandon this hell hole of a country and move to the states or canada.

the only 2 uk retailers that do exclusive steelbooks gone in under a week.
add that to jessops and comet.... how many jobs gone in under a month???
im sure wh smiths will be gone soon too (they surely dont compete on any level with any of thier competition)
its bang on, supermarkets will be the only places left to buy before long. and no doubt they will be soon be government run.

And just to rub more salt in the wound, i hear that at least one of the banks HMV owe their debts to - Loyds i think - were one of the banks bailed out with public tax-payer money :angry: :mad:
 
Man, that sucks!!..I really liked that HMV shipped to the US..Feel bad for the employees as well..
 
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