Circuit City quietly accepting HD DVD player trade-ins
By Steven Kim 
posted Mar 5th 2008 10:19PM
posted Mar 5th 2008 10:19PM
Did you get stuck on the losing end of the format war, and are now cursing that HD DVD player as it stares mockingly at you? Does your rage meter go to 11 when you hear of consumers living abroad getting treated to some trade-in value on HD DVD players? Well, our friends over at Format War Central have gotten word that Circuit City is quietly offering a trade-in program to consumers who jumped into the HD DVD pool within three months of Toshiba's fateful announcement. Apparently, you'll be able to trade in your player, at full purchase price, towards a Blu-ray player or a gift card. Nice move, Circuit City! Three words of advice if you're affected and go to cash in on this deal -- "calm but firm." Let us know if you have any luck in switching out equipment in the comments, too!
I'm not buying this story right now. I checked with 3 Circuit City stores in the NYC and they flat denied it. The original article from Electronic House has only confirmed a store in Washington. So if "quietly" means they will refuse it when you walk in with a player then it's true. ;-)
I find I disagree with alot of what Electronic House says... Its funny though, I wrote a long "correction" of an article they posted, calling it a "common misconception" and they asked me if they could put it in their print magazine.
Take what you read there with a grain of salt, and if you find fallacies, let them know :)
I work in the industry, and I want to call BS as well on this... I'm sure this came about from some individual store manager making an exception for someone based on any number of criteria... and now the internet rumor mill has left us with this... CC people have been quoted all over the place talking about clearancing these units, and Toshiba has stated they will work with partners to "sell through", so we know they aren't taking returns. Judging by CC's last quarter earnings (or lack thereof) I would be overwhelmingly surprised if this were an actual company policy - I don't think they can afford it.
I wouldn't want to trade in my HD DVD. Sorry, no dice.
OUCH. The hurt just doesn't end for the HD-DVD camp....
My first reaction was: anyone who goes to CC for anything is a fool. But then when I was scouring LA for Sunshine on BD the only place they had it was CC.
So I've basically added nothing to the conversation.
I am a CC Manager. This is not 100% true, while there is some fact about it. We were notified by corporate to take a "relaxed" return policy with HDDVD players. Those of you who don't believe this, fine...but you'll also realize why this is if you know anything about how CC returns work.
a relaxed return policy is the same thing as manager discretion... this is far from a company policy and more of a YMMV kind of thing...
thats correct, it is not a company policy however there was a specific email sent to us and then a subsequent document stating that we should allow returns towards bluray players (with paying the differenc obviously) even if the player is "more than several months old." still there is discretion involved it is loosely a policy
Thanks for chiming in with some news from the ground, CC Employee. We were hedging towards this approach by Circuit City when we recommended a "calm but firm" approach -- no point in upsetting the store manager!
If you don't mind me asking... What then is the plan as far as selling the now months used HD-DVD Players? How do you justify this loss of money besides the obvious "customer satisfaction"?
Even if it was true...why would someone do it? If you bought a HD player, would you not also have bought HD movies. Trading the player leaves you with movies that you can NEVER watch - leaving only one option, try to sell the movies at discount - further fueling the financial losses associated with those purchases. I think that Blu-ray needs to get quality machiones out in the market at reasonable price first...I don't like that today's Blu-ray machines will become obsolete (for special features and internet capabilities) by the end of the year - only reasonable option is to by PS3 which is somewhat future proof. Now that Sony has limited avilablitiy of backward compatible PS3 (80 GB players) with no clear message as to a replacement system, investing in this format is not a fiscally responsible thing to do. As a consumer it's sad that I'm expected to keep buying hardware to support software production. Blu-ray could entice HD DVD owners by dealing with obsolete disks which is my biggest issue with the format war. I bought selected DVD's which will need to be replaced (some like Zodiac or Transformersare not available in Blu-ray at this time). Maybe Paramount could offer an exchange program to those of us who have HD DVD disks when they re-release titles in Blu-ray??
I'd love to start buying only Blu-ray disks...but will not be made a fool of twice by investing in hardware that is questionable or soon to be obsolete...I'd like to buy one blu-ray player that will last for several years (with full functionality).
One obvious reason is if you don't want or have room for two players.
Also, those early profile BD players will only be obsolete in the sense that a DVD player without the multiple camera angle feature would be. In other words, who really cares about those "features?"
Dave, I expect there are a lot of folk that warily bought a HD-DVD player and got a few free disks (hopefully they finally did get delivered) and don't have that much invested. For these pilgrims a credit for a Bluray player makes sense.
The rest of your argument ("machines will become obsolete") is total crap. You are living a lie and what's worse you know it. All Bluray players ever built (subject to updates of course) will play the movie on the disk (excepting Samsung combo players). I expect those attracted to the $99.99 HD-DVD sale prices are not the ones who watch or even aware of all of the extras. For them a credit on a new player is manna from heaven.
Your "they can have my player when the peel my dead fingers..." attitude is scary. I know you think NFINITY and TRUTH TELLER are you friends but they are not. In fact they are evil, they smell funny and will never date women.
We really are not that different, I used to have a Laser Disk for which I enjoyed tremendously but when DVD entered the scene I realized that LD's days were over and eBayed my player and disk to some die hard enthusiast for $400. Yes, I missed the pleasure of handling those big expensive disks and changing them once a movie but then I learned to love the DVD.
It's time to let go.
for calling someone out on a general "untruth" you sure had to qualify the hell out of that rant.
I also work at CC. Like CCEmployee said, it's really just extending the regular return options on the players. Normally if you bought it within 30 days you could get any kind of refund. Typically we can just send the player back for a credit from the manufacturer. This is Toshiba's loss...not ours.
I work with Circuit City and know the details regarding the HD DVD player trade-in policy.
Stores will accept returns for HD DVD players within 90 days of purchase. Customers will receive store credit for the purchase price. This applies only to players – not HD DVD discs.
Some website refers that the offer is valid for the next 90 days, and it does not matter when you bought the HD-DVD player.
Granted 90% probably bought one during the last 90 days as that when the prices fell.
But I bought the xbox360 HDDVD add-on 10 months ago.
Do I quilify?
if it is true does the player need to be from CC only?
Yes. It does need to be from Circuit City. Proof of purchase is necessary receipt or screen 164 (CC employees).
Feels like I may have escaped World War 2.9 with barely a scar...
Bought my Toshiba A-20 from the City last June and successfully returned it yesterday for a $399 gift card - without the box and just with receipt, remote, manual, rca cable and power plug (had thrown box out after mailing upc for disc offer)! Transported the dusty thing in a cloth bag through pouring rain via metro!
Thursday night, I'd initially called the store to see if the manager was familiar with the offer, and he said he wasn't at all. I had been psyched nearly all day until I looked more thoroughly passed the incomplete Phil Swann re-write and noticed the 90 day thing, but other sites reported success in my area, so I was puzzled. Then, I called 1-800-THE-CITY and an awesome Manila woman on the other end said I could return it and she even briefed the manager at that same store while I was on hold. I even called the number again in the morning just to be sure I was eligible and that woman even called the same manager and said all was fine. Just had to dig through piles of receipts I should have recycled a long time ago. I brought it in to the store in the afternoon, apparently while manager was in a meeting about this whole thing, and through a few back and forths by the nice woman who was handling my return with the manager in his office, I got my gift card for full amount.
Nothing short of amazing! Maybe not the City's intention, but the industry now has someone now who's giving the other format a second thought, even if he hates the spelling, the region codes, the early adopters' machines' obsolescence, etc.
The only collateral damage for me in the HD-DVD format war, other than time invested, was a stamp and envelope to mail for the disc offer (which took a month or so too long I might add!) and a purchase of a digital video essentials HD-DVD/DVD combo disc, which perhaps I can re-sell. I believe in renting and will probably stay that way, with the exception of quality productions and discs not likely from major studios, and perhaps music if a sustained high definition, mono to multi-channel audio format can be developed (i write mono because classic recordings could be presented in their original single channel mix).
To be honest, I wasn't very happy with the A-20 or the programming of most HD-DVD titles (they always seemed like a rushed-through afterthought). Unit took a while to boot up, HD discs couldn't be stopped and started up again at the same point, and Toshiba didn't offer legacy support DVD-Audio!!!
I tried to return my Toshiba HD-DVD A30 today to circuit city and since I bought mine on november 7, 2007 they say I am just outside the 90 day limit and they will not make a exception what so ever! I am only two weeks outside the 90 day limit. Well I won't be patronizing circuit city any longer, since this so ridiculous that they don't even post it so you know you can return the damn thing I am on hold with corporate headquarters right now and probably won't get anywhere either I feel that since I bought the damn thing on salesman's word that this was the way to go they ought to take it back. Way to go circuit city see if I buy anything off you again, You know what they say one pissed off customer tells a thousand customers and it can hurt any business.
www.bestbuytradein.com