hmv
One thing that really p*sses me off about HMV is; when they have a sale on, they have an area of the shop with their "sale" CD's which is separate from their "regular" (non-sale) CD's. On a number of occasions when I've been looking for particular CD's I've found the SAME CD's in both sections priced at DIFFERENT prices!! It's bloody stupid. You have CD's on sale in the shop for two completely different prices - and substantially different at that! The idea that HMV are happy to charge you more than you need to pay for a CD just because you didn't spot the cheaper one leaves a bitter taste in this customer's mouth and certainly devalues the "HMV brand" (as Tedd has already stated).
I'm also reminded of another HMV story. A few years back (during the month of December) HMV produced free catalogues advertising suggested Christmas gifts from their store. In the booklet there were a number of money off vouchers. I got one of these catalogues somewhere, I'm not sure exactly where, it may have come through my letterbox! Anyway, I thought the vouchers were handy and I thought to myself - "I must bring them with me next time I'm going to HMV".
Of course, the next time I went to HMV I forgot to bring the vouchers! It was while I was at the counter paying for a CD that I noticed a big pile of HMV catalogues sitting in front of me. *Ding* I remembered the vouchers!! I picked up a catalogue and went to the vouchers page and asked the girl behind the counter if I could use one of the vouchers to get £1 off the £15 priced CD I had just handed over my money for. The girl refused and said something to the effect that the vouchers were for people who had read the catalogue before they made their purchases!! I told her that I had one of the catalogues at home and that I had read it, and that's how I knew about the vouchers. With a face on her, she told me that she'd have to ask her manager if I could have a pound back in exchange for the voucher. I said, "ok, ask your manager". She phoned up her manager and got permission to do it! And so I got my pound back!
The moral of the story... the old adage "let the buyer beware" is particularly true when it comes to HMV!