Circuit City offers to refund HD DVD player purchases
Posted on 06/03/08 20:04 by Seán Byrne                             
Circuit City offers to refund HD DVD player purchases

Those who bought a HD DVD player at Circuit City before Toshiba officially gave up on the format war may be able to bring back their player for a full refund as store credit.  According to Circuit City spokeswoman Jackie Foreman, Circuit City will accept returns for HD DVD players bought in the past 90 days, going by this ABC News report. 

At least this way, those who ended up choosing the dieing format, but lucky enough to purchase it from Circuit City within the last 90 days can use this refund towards getting a Blu-ray player rather than having to fork out on its full price.  Another option is to use this store credit to get something else Circuit City has to offer and decide later on whether to go for a Blu-ray player. 

While it's nice to see Circuit City doing this, it does have the advantage of bringing extra consumers in the store as well as a way of reassuring consumers that they were not tricked into buying a HD player format within a few months of becoming obsolete.  Even though Blu-ray has won the HD disc format war, the format must now face competition with high definition on demand services, which could potentially become the next big thing after DVD.

It is unclear at this time whether Circuit City will also offer refunds for HD DVD movies purchased in store also.  So far, no other stores have announced whether they will follow Circuit City's move, however, generally most electronic stores will offer a full refund minus a restocking fee for products returned within 30 days of purchase. 

In the meantime, Circuit City will continue selling HD DVD players and titles in store and online for closeout prices until it has cleared out its remaining stock.

Reactions
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By buggsy (guest), Thu 6 Mar 2008 21:59
Circuit City (DIVX) did something similar to this back around 1999 or 2000 when the DIVX format died. they sold the DIVX DVD players for $100 more than regular DVD players. When DIVX died, those who had registered and then sent in the proper application form after DIVX died received a $100 check in the mail. I don't think that DIVX was exactly 100% owned by Circuit City, but Circuit City was just about the only place you could buy the players or the movie disks.
By DukeNukem, Thu 6 Mar 2008 22:10
DukeNukemWow, I counted six (6) instances of the acronym DIVX in that first message. It almost made me puke just reading it. Moving right along, I seriously doubt on-demand HD video will be any competition to Blu-ray. I think HD video files ripped from HD DVD and Blu-ray discs will be, though. People want quality, especially when it's free. You simply can't compare sub-quality, compressed HD with that of the same thing on/from an HD disc. Throw in all that DRM and the fact that Blu-ray discs are, with tax, almost $30 or $40. That's just insane, folks. They don't even have their format finalized yet. LOL. Where do I sign up? Hahahahahah. Stick Out Tongue
By buggsy (guest), Fri 7 Mar 2008 02:26
DIVX DIVX DIVX DIVX DIVX DIVX DIVX There, that's 7. OK. I admit I overused the acronym the first time. However, the fact remains, this is not the first time that Circuit City, or some entity connected to them, has done this.
By shaolin007, Fri 7 Mar 2008 21:24
shaolin007They also need to do the movies as well. If customers bought the movies and the player at nearly the same time and are only allowed to return the player for credit, what are they going to do with the movies once the player is gone? I guess use them as coasters. They should at least take those back for store credit also.
By neo1918, Sat 8 Mar 2008 04:54
Circuit City can't return the movies to Toshiba. They're not financing this. They're passing on the costs to Toshiba.
By n3r0, Sun 9 Mar 2008 08:42
DiVX is dead? since when
By SciFer, Mon 10 Mar 2008 10:40
SciFerAnd some of you laughed when I suggested this not to long ago biggrin
By buggsy (guest), Wed 12 Mar 2008 20:54
Shaolin007: When CircuitCity/DIVX (the disk, not the codec) gave the $100 refund on the players, they did not give refunds on the disks, either. Even though the customers could keep the player and still play regular DVDs, the DIVX disks were unplayable after the company went out of business.
By jeff (guest), Fri 15 Aug 2008 00:39

just wondering if anyone was able to play,those damn movies again ???!!! after they went under
By ferd, Fri 15 Aug 2008 02:18
ferd

I got a gift certificate from Amazon.com a few months ago, because I had purchased a Toshiba HD DVD player from Amazon before Toshiba caved in. I think it was $100, but I\'m not sure.  I already spent it.

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