HMV.com is gone

Posted by Pierre Igot in: Music
May 8th, 2003 • 8:52 pm

A week ago, I received my weekly “HMV Communiqué” newsletter from HMV.com, as usual. It didn’t look any different from previous issues. I saw a couple of items that I might be interested in, and clicked on the link to visit the corresponding web page.

Much to my surprise, I was taken to a page that was actually part of the Amazon.ca web site. All it had in a corner was a little picture saying “HMV teamed with Amazon.ca”. That’s it.

I have been buying CDs from HMV.com for many years. I’ve probably spent thousands of dollars purchasing music from them. I have, on the whole, been very satisfied with the service. When the switch happened, I still had a couple of outstanding orders that had only partly shipped.

I cannot believe that HMV.com didn’t even bother to tell us that they were closing up shop and merging their operations with Amazon.ca. I have nothing against Amazon.ca in principle. But is that the way to treat faithful customers who’ve spent thousands of dollars in your store? Not even a short email notice informing us of the switch?

To make matters worse, today I received the following notice about my preorder of the new Blur CD:

From: orders@hmv.ca
Date: Jeud mai 8, 2003 08:32:50 Canada/Atlantic
To: igot@xxxxxx
Subject: Your ORDER contains deleted items. [#xxxxxx]

Dear PIERRE IGOT;

We would like to apologize for the delay that you have experienced receiving your order. Unfortunately we have been informed by our supplier that the following item(s)is no longer available:

BLUR THINK TANK/LTD CD

The item has been deleted by our supplier and is no longer being manufactured at this time. We are currently in the process of HAVING its availability changed on our site.

We apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused and hope that you shop at www.HMV.com again in the future.

www.HMV.com Customer Service
service@hmv.ca
1.888.414.1468
1.416.620.5614
http://www.hmv.com
music. movies. more

How can a brand new release possibly be “deleted by [their] supplier”? Of course, if I go to the Amazon.ca web site and look for that very item, it is readily available — at a higher price than the price indicated on my existing order.

And what about telling me about this Amazon.ca switch instead of continuing to pretend that HMV.com is a separate, independent entity?

I emailed their customer service with these questions, and got the following answer:

From: orders@hmv.ca
Date: Jeud mai 8, 2003 12:02:00 Canada/Atlantic
To: igot@xxxxxx
Subject: Your ORDER contains deleted items. [#xxxxxx]

Dear Pierre,

Thank you for your message. Unfortunately, we will not be able to help you with your request as HMV.com no longer exist. The item which was cancelled from your ORDER is no longer available to us from our supplier.

We have checked your ORDER and can confirm that you were charged shipping only for the first three items. The fourth item was not charged shipping. Since your question is related to information on the new HMV.com web site, please contact Amazon.ca regarding shipping cost.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reply to this message.

www.HMV.com Customer Service
service@hmv.ca
1.888.414.1468
1.416.620.5614
http://www.hmv.com
music. movies. more

So now HMV.com “no longer exist”, but I am still able to communicate with me and they are still including the hmv.com URL in their signature? And how can the item be “no longer available to [them] from [their] supplier” if they no longer exist? Are we talking about a non-existent supplier as well here?

What ever happened to basic respect for the customer? I cannot believe that they have effected such a transition without taking a minimum of precautions regarding existing customers and existing orders. This is, in effect, quite pathetic, and very disappointing.


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