Best Buy offers HD DVD owners $10 million in gift cards, trade in, shoulder to cry on
By Richard Lawler 
posted Mar 19th 2008 5:47AM
posted Mar 19th 2008 5:47AM
Best Buy is following Future Shop, Circuit City and others in reaching out to casualties of the format war. In this case, anyone who bought an HD DVD player from Best Buy before February 23, 2008 can request a complimentary $50 gift card for each player. For those too traumatized to even look at their discontinued hardware and software, Best Buy also announced it's adding HD DVD players and media to its Trade-In Center program, starting March 21. No word on how much a player can net you, but once it's updated, check BestBuyTradeIn.com to get an estimate and decide how much holding onto the past is worth.[Thanks, Harmin C.]
Update: Best Buy just issued a press release with additional information about the more than $10 million in gift cards it plans to distribute, and details on how to make sure you get yours, check out the full PR after the break.
Best Buy Stands Behind Customers By Awarding More Than $10 Million in Gift Cards to HD-DVD Purchasers
Leading Consumer Electronics Retailer will Send $50 Gift Cards to Customers Who Purchased an HD-DVD Player from Best Buy in the U.S.
MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With Blu-ray declaring victory over HD-DVD in the high definition movie format war, Best Buy, the nation's largest consumer electronics retailer, is giving $50 gift cards to customers who purchased an HD-DVD player or HD-DVD attachment from its U.S. stores before February 23, 2008. Customers will get a gift card for each player or HD-DVD attachment that they purchased. Through this program, Best Buy will distribute more than $10 million in gift cards to customers across the country.
"The DVD format war has divided our customers in a way we haven't seen since Betamax took on VHS more than 20 years ago," said Brian J. Dunn, president and chief operating officer for Best Buy. "At Best Buy, we understood and shared our customers' frustrations as they were being asked to choose one format or the other. Now that the format war is over, we hope these gift cards will reassure our customers that we will help them make a smooth transition into the right technology for their needs."
Most Best Buy customers won't have to do anything to receive their gift card. As a demonstration of its commitment to its customers, Best Buy will proactively mail cards to all customers that the company can identify as having purchased an HD-DVD player. Members of the Best Buy Reward Zone program, customers who purchased Performance Service Plans (PSPs) or who made their purchase on BestBuy.com should look for their gift cards in the mail by May 1. Other customers who may not be easily identified can call (888) BEST BUY to receive their gift cards with proof of purchase through a credit card or their Best Buy receipt.
"The beauty of this offer is that it doesn't require our customers to give up their HD-DVD player," said Barry Judge, chief marketing officer for Best Buy. "We know that many people who purchased these players have HD-DVD movies that they would like to continue to watch. We're telling our customers they can keep their players to play these movies as well as their older DVDs and use the $50 to treat themselves to anything else in our stores."
HD-DVD players can actually deliver greatly enhanced video performance with standard DVDs by upconverting the video resolution.
Beginning on March 21, customers who do want to get rid of their HD-DVD players can visit Best Buy's Online Trade-In Center at www.bestbuytradein.com. Visitors to the site will receive instant estimates of the value of their HD-DVD players and movies. Those who agree with the estimates can then ship their goods to the Trade-In Center free of charge by downloading a prepaid shipping label and will receive an additional gift card as payment for their trade-in. This service is open to HD-DVD owners regardless of where they bought their player.
For more information visit www.bestbuy.com/hddvd.
nice job best buy
That's awesome!
But how the hell do they know where I live to send me the gift card?
Nevermind. I just read the rest of the article posted here. I'm a reward zone member. $50 :D Hell, I even got a free Heros HD-DVD set, 2 more HD-DVDs in store, the one in the box (XBox 360 HD-DVD player), 5 free HD-DVDs, and now $50 back. hah!
I wonder if they will give me $50 each for 3 HD-A1s , 1 HD-A2, and 1 HD-A30....
I bought a bunch of add-ons for re-sale through BB. Gift cards for all of them would be schweet!!!
I wonder if I will get credit for my one player that I bought from Best Buy for Business.
Sweet! I bought an HD-A3 for $99 from Best Buy and sold it for $198 a few days later and now on top of that am getting a $50 card which I'll spend on HD-DVD movies to watch on my HD-A2.
Sweet!!! That means I got mine for a total of $6. I paid $106 for mine (including tax), but had a $50 gift card sitting around, so out-of-pocket was $56. Add in this free $50 and BAM - a $6 HD-DVD player to watch my 17 movies on! Woot!! And now I can use this $50 towards a Blu-Ray player! Thanks Best Buy!!!!!!!
if someone had told me 4 months ago that the war would be over and retailers would offer a consolation or even full return a player outside of the 30 day policy i'd say they were crazy. good job retailers and watching out for #1, the customer!
now just lower the prices on BR players...
I just called Best Buy because I wasn't a reward zone member. I finally ended up talking to a nice guy in the sales department, and he said they usually get memos about these things ahead of the press release, but they didn't for this.
They don't have any way to enter your address if you aren't a member or whatever, so he suggested to call back around May 1st.
I hope engadgethd makes a reminder post around then so all the eligible people don't forget.
Sorry, I have 106 (more to add to that number) HD DVDs that I don't want to get rid of, just because these retail chains want me to.
I'll buy a BD player in time, but, at the moment, I'll settle for what I have, which is my continually awesome HD-A2.
With the $50 deal, you keep your player. I'm happy with mine. I'm also happy with another $50 back. :)
Wow I'm impressed. This is really above and beyond. Best Buy is going to give me a $50 gift card because I bought and HD DVD player, plus they'll let me keep that HD DVD player and will let me sell it back to them if I want even though I only paid $90 (open box during the $99 sale) for it and they gave me three movies for free with it. What's the rub, are the red lasers all of a sudden incredibly valuable in some previously unbeknownst way.
HD DVD uses blue lasers. Geez. Keep up.
I'll see what the trade-in nets me and then I'll decide. The $50 is nice but would have preferred a full credit like CC is offering. Personally, I just don't want to have both and HDDVD and BD player and movies anymore.
I'll take my two GC's and buy a blu-ray to go with my A-3 and A-20. Thanks for $100 bucks Best Buy....
Does this also count for those that purchased teh HD-DVD addon for XBOX360 ?
Yes...check the read link for "details and qualifying models"...
Am I the only one who sees absolutely nowhere on that page where I can select an HD-DVD player for trade in?
edit: nevermind I see the date now :)
That's pretty cool, but I don't understand why they're doing it. Yes, I can understand people who bought one a few months ago, but I bought my A1 nearly 2 years ago and I still get a $50 gift card? I'll happily use it, but I don't understand the decision...
Building goodwill.
"building goodwill"
Actually, I've been thinking it over and I don't think that's it. They're going to be giving people the $50 gift card right around the time the stimulus package ($600/person) gets sent out by the federal government. I think their plan is to bring people into the store with the $50 gift card so that they'll hopefully spend their $600/person rebate check in the store.
Companies don't just give money away to build goodwill - why would they give $50 to people like me who bought an A1 nearly 2 years ago? Doesn't make sense. But if you follow the money, it makes a lot of sense...
- im happy with my hddvd
purchase. bluray is still a incomplete product. this is just another way of trying to stick you with buying something you dont want. since toshiba's announcement I have bought more than 20+ movies, I dont intend on buying a bluray player. the early buyers of bluray got screwed as those players cant play some of the more resent titles and the firmware cant be utilized because earlier players weren't equipped with internet connection/ethernet outlet. Im not buying into this b/s I love my hddvd player.
beowulf,300,the kingdom,american gangster,constantine,planet earth,hustle and flow,we were soldiers,transformers,blood diamond,jarhead,thefugitive,ri ddick,bourne ultimatum,traffic,friday night light,shooter,kingkong,meetthe parents,meet the fockers,erin brockovich,pride and prejudice,full metal jacket,army of darkness,four brothers,12 monkeys,blazing saddles,and breach. so there, this is hi def for your arse!!!
they want you to use the gift card for a bluray purchase for movies or player, not.
Still waiting on compensation from Walmart!
HD-XA1 left out in the cold?!@#$ Bestbuy doesn't know wtf they're selling!
But what are they going to do with all these players? Half.com? eBay? Give them away for free with a three-figure Monster Cable purchase? What?
They're not taking the players back -- they just giving everyone who bought one $50, no strings attached. Probably so you spend your government refund check at Best Buy... :)
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