Hmv

Jikashi

That's madness that gift cards are no longer accepted, mainly due to the administration not being public knowledge until yesterday. The money has already gone into the company from the purchase of the card, its not like the stock bought with it is being given away for nothing. I know its not the fault of the CAs there but the higher ups who saw this coming should really have made warning to people who purchased cards at Christmas, y'know that gift-giving holiday a little over two weeks ago, to use them sharpish for they may or may not still exist soon, either to buyer at time of purchase or for the recipients in the past fortnight

Blisterman

There needs to be better consumer protection legislation regarding gift cards.
They should make it mandatory to keep the money spent on gift cards in a third party escrow account, which HMV don't get until the card has been redeemed. That way consumers could be refunded if the company goes out of business.

Anyone know if they are bought out by another company, will the gift cards still be accepted? How has this worked for other companies?

RoboRat

Complete disgrace. They continued to sell vouchers to members of the public as christmas presents, knowing full well they're likely to enter administration, and as soon as Christmas is over, before there's a chance to spend the vouchers, they stop accepting them.

How is that not considered fraud?

Completely agree, absolute disgrace. How is this allowed to happen? Its not like these things just happen suddenly and seeing as they decided to go into administration just after their busiest time and during their quietest time means that this was more than likely known in advance.

whomitconcerns

hmv gift cards can be used in waterstones also. Dont know if they are closing too?

RoboRat

Anyone know if they are bought out by another company, will the gift cards still be accepted? How has this worked for other companies?

Up to the company who buys them out... if they want to trade under the HMV name then they would have to otherwise the backlash would be massive. If they change name, they probably wont.

Bigcheeze

Guys from a legal perspective, the Irish company is not under any court protection from creditors....yet. Administration is a UK process only. The Irish equivalent is Examinership. I don't see what legal basis the Irish store have for refusing to honour vouchers. If they can't honour them they should not be opening their doors today and should be applying for Examinership or liquidation.

PopTarts

whomitconcerns wrote: »

hmv gift cards can be used in waterstones also. Dont know if they are closing too?

Can I use my hmv Gift Card at Waterstones and Fopp?

The hmv Gift Card cannot be used in Waterstones or Fopp as the hmv Gift Card is only compatible with tills in hmv stores. Both Fopp and Waterstones issue their own Gift Cards.

whomitconcerns

PopTarts wrote: »

Can I use my hmv Gift Card at Waterstones and Fopp?

The hmv Gift Card cannot be used in Waterstones or Fopp as the hmv Gift Card is only compatible with tills in hmv stores. Both Fopp and Waterstones issue their own Gift Cards.

Sorry just read now that they sold off waterstones last year...didnt realise...

Bigcheeze

Bigcheeze wrote: »

Guys from a legal perspective, the Irish company is not under any court protection from creditors....yet. Administration is a UK process only. The Irish equivalent is Examinership. I don't see what legal basis the Irish store have for refusing to honour vouchers. If they can't honour them they should not be opening their doors today and should be applying for Examinership or liquidation.

A UK administration order can apply to an Irish company under recent EU law.

omega666

so has anyone actually tried to use thier gift voucher and was refused?

Is it possible to do a credit card charge back on it?

Basq

omega666 wrote: »

so has anyone actually tried to use thier gift voucher and was refused?

Someone was refused in the Sligo store this morning.. saves me going in with my €20 voucher so.

Worth a read though!

sweetie

feck, I used a 20e one yesterday and a 5e off a spend over 35e. lucky me!

Bigcheeze

Deleted User wrote: »

A UK administration order can apply to an Irish company under recent EU law.

If this is the case, it would have to be applied through the Irish courts. This has not happened yet.

Newaglish

Basq wrote: »

Someone was refused in the Sligo store this morning.. saves me going in with my €20 voucher so.

Worth a read though!

The information in that link is a heap of nonsense

omega666

Basq wrote: »

Someone was refused in the Sligo store this morning.. saves me going in with my €20 voucher so.

Worth a read though!

feck, is there anything we can do? i've a 120 euro voucher

FraggleRocks

HMV in Henry Street refused vouchers this morning.

ScouseMouse

I have been following this on the business pages. It was predicted for the last while.

I went into the square yesterday and spent my gift card I got last year. I turned to my wife and told her they would be gone in 6 weeks. Lots of staff packing out stock, big discounts on a lot of the stock.

I feel sorry for the staff, the future looks bleak for them. People are going to get badly frustrated and bite the head off them but remember, its not their fault. Customers are going to lose their vouchers and they will lose their jobs.

I would not wish that on anyone at the moment.

Bigcheeze

Bigcheeze wrote: »

If this is the case, it would have to be applied through the Irish courts. This has not happened yet.

I don't believe that is required. A group of European companies I am familiar with were placed under a UK administration order - no further local orders were required. (Except where the local company wasn't owned directly by the UK parent)

Bigcheeze

this could get ugly.

RoboRat

If say you had a €20 voucher and they didn't accept it and you took something to the value of €20 could you fight your case in court?

Bigcheeze

Deleted User wrote: »

I don't believe that is required. A group of European companies I am familiar with were placed under a UK administration order - no further local orders were required. (Except where the local company wasn't owned directly by the UK parent)

If you can link to it great, but I'm fairly sure it does not work that way. It certainly didn't last time I was directly involved in one. Often what happens is the large parent goes into administration, and there are small subsidiaries who don't owe a hell of a lot to anyone except maybe the parent itself and have no hope of trading independently. In these situation there is no point seeking court protection and the subsidiaries continue to trade normally until the parent's process is resolved.

juan.kerr

RoboRat wrote: »

If say you had a €20 voucher and they didn't accept it and you took something to the value of €20 could you fight your case in court?

Not sure, but you'd probably forfeit your consumer rights.

Bigcheeze

omega666 wrote: »

feck, is there anything we can do? i've a 120 euro voucher

Well don't tear up the voucher yet. I think there's a chance the Irish stores will start to accept vouchers today.

SachaJ

Bigcheeze wrote: »

Well don't tear up the voucher yet. I think there's a chance the Irish stores will start to accept vouchers today.

Where did you hear this? I bought my nephews a €30 voucher each for Christmas and not sure have they used them yet.

imPhilip

I got a HMV voucher for my brother for Christmas, but bought it in Tesco. would Tesco be able to refund the cost?

SachaJ

If I paid using Visa Debit, would I have a leg to stand on with a charge back (or can you charge back on Debit cards)?

Newaglish

RoboRat wrote: »

If say you had a €20 voucher and they didn't accept it and you took something to the value of €20 could you fight your case in court?

You'd be fighting a shoplifting case and you would probably lose.

Bigcheeze

SachaJ wrote: »

Where did you hear this? I bought my nephews a €30 voucher each for Christmas and not sure have they used them yet.

I'm just saying it's still not clear what the legal position of the Irish stores is. All is not lost.

Myrddin

Where do consumers stand with this policy? The store is gone into administration & this morning I was told gift vouchers are no longer able to be used. They still have signs up advertising gift vouchers in the Liffey Valley branch, & a sign behind the till saying they accept them however.

The text on the voucher holder says HMV are within their rights to cancel the voucher scheme, but only after adequate notice has been given on the website & in store signage. The text of the voucher also states customers statutory rights arn't affected.

The manager was no help either, apparently he was "more concerned about peoples jobs" & simply told a queue of voucher holders to contact the National Consumer Agency.

Is there any way of being reimbursed?

MrJoeSoap

EnterNow wrote: »

Where do consumers stand with this policy? The store is gone into administration & this morning I was told gift vouchers are no longer able to be used. They still have signs up advertising gift vouchers in the Liffey Valley branch, & a sign behind the till saying they accept them however.

The text on the voucher holder says HMV are within their rights to cancel the voucher scheme, but only after adequate notice has been given on the website & in store signage. The text of the voucher also states customers statutory rights arn't affected.

The manager was no help either, apparently he was "more concerned about peoples jobs" & simply told a queue of voucher holders to contact the National Consumer Agency.

Is there any way of being reimbursed?

This link was posted in one of the other threads, worth a read.

http://www.cearta.ie/2013/01/i-cant-believe-the-news-today-if-administration-fails-then-hmv-might-go-away/