My Letter to HMV

To whom it may concern,

On Friday, May 12, 2005 there was a message on my home phone from HMV indicating that my pre-ordered copy of the new Red Hot Chili Peppers album; Stadium Arcadium, was put aside for me at the Merivale Road location (located at Merivale Place 1651 Merivale Road (613) 226 9190 in Ottawa, Ontario) where I had placed the pre-order.

Excited that the weekend had arrived and I finally had time to pick it up, I left my house in xxxxxx, xxx (hey, you don’t know what kind freaks are out here in the world reading my blog!) to drive out to the location.

After driving the 30 kilometers to the store, with my pre-order confirmation voucher in hand, I went to the front cash to show them my voucher and ask for the album. After a few minutes of the cashier looking in cupboards and out on the floor and speaking on the phone with an unidentified person (whom I can only assume would be a supervisor on duty?), he informed me that they did not have a copy for me and was very sorry.

Working in the retail industry myself at one point in my life, I chose not to express my frustration with the cashier who had no control over the situation. I politely asked if they could arrange for me to pick up the album in the xxxx,xxxx location since I did not wish to drive for 30 kilometres again in fear that the store would once again not have the album. I was impressed with the fact that they arranged it so I could pick it up at the other store even though the pre-order voucher indicated that this would not be possible.

I would like to question how a store could go ahead and call people indicating that a copy of an album is now at the store and ready for pickup, and then not have it. I understand that the pre-order voucher does not indicate that a copy would be placed aside for the purchaser, however, considering the phone call I received which indicated so, one would think there actually would be, especially considering I had driven out to the location within 24 hours of the phone call.

You may be asking why I had chosen to make the pre-order at the Merivale Road location in the first place considering it was 30 kilometres away from my house. I was picking up a DVD which was on sale and the only store in the area that had it left in stock was the Merivale Road location and at the time I noticed the pre-order deal for the new RHCP album and signed up. Unfortunately, I didn’t notice until later that the voucher indicated that I had to buy it at that location and not at any HMV location.

I would ask two things:

• Have someone explain to me (in writing) why this error occurred
• Reconsider the policy on needing to pick up a pre-order in the same location that you placed it. It was easily done in my case as an exception, so why not do it for all who take part in the pre-orders?

I must say that I am not impressed with HMV at the moment and that I will be spreading my distaste amongst my other friends who are known to frequent HMV stores. Hopefully my comments to my friends can be positive after hearing from you.

Please note that I am sending this same letter to both the head office in Etobicoke, Ontario and to the Merivale Road location in Ottawa.

Thank you,

The Palmer

***and there you have it. I wonder what kind of response I will get. To all those who have ever been snubbed by stores – write to them! I am kicking myself for never writing sooner to Home Depot about my paint issues last fall…it’s probably too late to do anything. On the other hand, it doesn’t hurt to try, right?***