Retailers slam HMV over PS3-PSP deal

[wraggster]

via mcvuk

Top games retailers have hit out at HMV for a deal that guaranteed customers a PS3 at launch if they bought a bundle including the console and a PSP.
An email from the firm last Friday guaranteed 5,000 consumers that they could be one of the ‘lucky few’ to pick up a PS3 on March 23rd – so long as they committed to buying a PS3, a 4GB PSP and two PSP games for £674.99.

HMV has now widened its PS3 offer to include taking ‘normal' pre-order deposits in store and on the web. It has continued the online PSP online, but customers of the deal will no longer be prioritised at launch.

“We won’t be following HMV’s lead on the PSP pre-order bundle, because we won’t hold our customers to ransom,” head of games at Choices UK Martin Baxter told MCV.

Head of promotions and PR at Virgin Megastores Stephen Lynn added: “HMV’s deal is up to them at the end of the day, but it’s not the sort of thing we’d offer our customers because we’re trying to keep things simple on PS3. We wouldn’t want to risk confusing our customers over any product – let alone one of this expense.”

A spokesperson for HMV said the firm refuses to comment on the opinions of other retailers.

[devdj]

man that bundle is way too high priced 674.99 pound man think of what it would be in euro about a grand. the price of a ps3 should not be more then the x-box 360 because at this rate the ps3 will fail in 2007. also i think it should go to the euro pricing in europe as pound sucks and makes everything too high priced.

[gdf]

haha, i will laugh at sony when it does, also nobody i know cares about ps3 anymore so nobody would even take the HMV deal.

[Veskgar]

Its really ashame to see the PS3 doing so poorly already.

I chose to get a Wii before PS3 anyway so I guess I'm part of that.

[Shrygue]

That deal wouldn't be of any good to me - I have 3 PSPs, plenty of games and 5 memory sticks making a collective capacity between them of over 5GB. Buying just the PS3 console would be better instead.

[Veskgar]

Yeah and I bet the memory stick was a SONY instead of the faster SanDisk which would immediately turn me away.

[Psyberjock]

Forget about Sony, HMV is a horrible company that wanted nothing more than to force people to pay more than they needed to. This was essentially price gouging. If you wanted them system you would have to pay dearly for it. Consumers should send a message to HMV. Stop shopping there. Let them realize the mistake. Otherwise they'll keep pulling this kind of crap every chance they get.

[Uchiha Sasuke]

man that bundle is way too high priced 674.99 pound man think of what it would be in euro about a grand. the price of a ps3 should not be more then the x-box 360 because at this rate the ps3 will fail in 2007. also i think it should go to the euro pricing in europe as pound sucks and makes everything too high priced.

Damn you! We won't give up our pound to join Europe! We have enough of our British nationality being stripped of us as it is....won't mention the specifics cos I'll be branded all sorts of names

But yeah I don't like HMV. They overprice things wayyyy too high. Just like Virgin and Game and all the big retailers.

I HATE CORPORATE GREED!!!!

[SpooForBrains]

I'm boycotting HMV anyway ... because they're rip-off merchants! Box sets of CSI, for example, can be £20 more expensive in HMV than at, say, play.com.

I think they have a shipment of PSPs they're not shifting and they wanted to encourage them out the door.

[Psyberjock]

Damn you! We won't give up our pound to join Europe! We have enough of our British nationality being stripped of us as it is....won't mention the specifics cos I'll be branded all sorts of names

HAha.. Damn.. you sure love your high prices!

I can sympathize with you that it's not ok to give up your culture and heritage, but it's also not ok to stand in the way of progress just to enjoy a bit of nostalgia. Ultimately it's up to the British people, but it is an interesting topic for debate.