Gohastings

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by Sput, Dec 21, 2006.

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  1. Dillydipper

    Dillydipper Space-Age luddite

    Location:
    Central PA
    FWIW, I just took advantage of their "30% off all used" sale...all the discs in my order came through as usual, no problem. :nyah:




    Now playing on Ariel Stream: Kathy Mattea - Callin' My Name
     
  2. OnTheRoad

    OnTheRoad Not of this world

    Well really...the seller wasn't in the wrong, I was just dissatisfied with my purchase. They didn't misrepresent anything, and honestly, I was somewhat surprised they gave me any refund. So...I didn't want to leave them a bad mark and I didn't feel bad about losing my return shipping cost of about $2.50.
     
  3. BluesOvertookMe

    BluesOvertookMe Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX, USA

    I bought from Jay and Marie on Ebay dozens of times, never had an issue. What were your experiences?
     
  4. hvbias

    hvbias Midrange magic

    Location:
    Northeast
    They did provide a shipping label, but it was a generic label that had "postage not required if mailed in the United States" with their return address. There was no tracking number. I wasn't going to send it back without proof that they received it. So I contacted Amazon telling them about this and requested a shipping label from them. They automatically escalated the A-Z claim and apologized :wtf:

    They are saying it will take 1-2 weeks to get approved. I really just wanted to send this back and get a refund. Do these A-Z claims usually work out in the buyer's favor? In the claim I included pictures of the damage to the box. I'll be pretty annoyed if I am turned down and stuck with this box.

    Sorry for the noobie questions, I rarely buy music through third parties, the majority of my orders are books. This is my first A-Z claim.
     
  5. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    You will almost NEVER get the proper 2CD set if the 2CDs were issued in separate jewel boxes.
     
  6. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    What? You opened an A-Z claim because you didn't like what you bought? That's very low...
     
  7. OnTheRoad

    OnTheRoad Not of this world

    The A-Z claim was the way I was getting 'the run around' by the seller. When I contacted them initially I told them the reason for my disatisfaction and they were fine with it. After that though is when the problems began. Nothing low about it when there's an agreement then something along the way changes....

    Don't tell me one thing then pull an indian trick on me. THAT is the shame !
     
  8. Tjazz

    Tjazz Breakfast at (a record store)

    Location:
    USA
    Funny, I ordered Van Morrison's TOO LATE TO STOP NOW (2-CD) and got a single jewel case with the 2 cds inside. They were stacked on top of each other, so there was only the printed cover/tray for Disc 1.
     
  9. strifeknot

    strifeknot Senior Member

    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    I wish I had seen this thread and all the warning about ordering DCC editions from this company. Ordered a gold Cars Greatest Hits from them, received a BMG club edition of the Elektra release. They still have copies of the DCC edition listed on Amazon and on their own site.

    Only audiophiles are going to shill out the extra bucks for these releases, and they're going to notice if they don't receive the right thing. One would think Gohastings would've ceased this deceptive practice after years of having to pay for returns and process refunds.
     
    LeeS likes this.
  10. It's almost certainly a deceptive business practice done with conscious intent. They've been using it for years and after numerous complaints.
     
    LeeS and LordThanos1969 like this.
  11. Scocam

    Scocam Forum Resident

    Location:
    TX
    I just stumbled upon this thread and wanted to chime in...

    I've purchased several vinyl albums from goHastings (via Amazon) and in every single case the vinyl was either terribly warped, full of noise or off-center. I returned almost every album and will avoid doing business with them in the future. I can't imagine where their stock comes from and what hell it must go through to get there. I hope others have better experiences than I.
     
  12. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    You just got unlucky. GoHastings may have a lot of issues with their fulfillment practices, but selling second rate vinyl isn't one of them...Not sure what titles you bought, but there are a lot of bad pressings out there these days, especially once you move beyond the audiophile label axis.
     
  13. Expect changes to their business, as the management team has recently changed. It will be interesting to see what direction this chain goes in.
     
  14. Scocam

    Scocam Forum Resident

    Location:
    TX
    Good to know. I'll give them another chance in that case. Thanks for the info.
     
  15. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    Really...OK, that (possibly) explains why the price of used CDs on their website took a HUGE jump last week...Although GoHastings has their problems, I have been perfectly happy with their willingness to sell CDs for $1.50 shipped when the cost of postage is $2.00. I expect that is probably going to change.

    Is this what you're talking about:

    http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=109628&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1909273&highlight=

    It's a merger with a manufactured collectibles company.
     
  16. Yes
     
  17. Szeppelin75

    Szeppelin75 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Panama
    I just ordered with them the new PInk Floyd Division Bell and The Razors Edge AC/DC, may God be with me.
     
  18. Szeppelin75

    Szeppelin75 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Panama
    They must have changed administration or something, because my last package came very well packed and on time. Now to try and listen to the records. Good job this time Go Hastings.
     
  19. Tjazz

    Tjazz Breakfast at (a record store)

    Location:
    USA
    Shipping is now $1.29 per cd. They are using UPS innovation, which is very slow. USPS would usually take about 2-5 days. The UPS innovation might take 10 days.
     
  20. I was just sent one of the dirtiest used DVD sets I've ever received over mail order by GoHastings. Which is why I really don't like using them as a used retailer.
     
  21. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA

    I have received a ton of stuff from them the past couple of weeks, and none of it came via UPS innovation--all through standard USPS channels...
     
  22. Mr. LP Collector

    Mr. LP Collector Forum Resident

    Thoughts on a franchise I've been familiar with for a couple decades.

    They call themselves Hastings entertainment for a reason. Their stores (IMO) are set up stock wise is something like this;

    25% compact discs used and new
    25% dvd's
    25% books and magazines

    25% everything else, which includes posters, shot glasses, coffee cups, and cloth posters of past and current artists. They pop popcorn, sell candy bars, sell soft drinks. They recently have increased their inventory on dvd players, X boxes, even boom boxes. Probably half of this stuff is the budget cheap stuff, like Cody. Just recently in my area they have been stocking up on comic books. Three years ago they started stocking vinyl. Not a huge amount though they are up to a stock of around 500 lp's in my local store. Some of the smaller stores still don't have vinyl as of right now.

    They are headquartered in Amarillo, Texas, their primary store (and warehouse) was located for many years off Interstate 40 and Georgia St. I had been to a few of their inside mall stores but once in 1990 when I was going through Amarillo I heard about their parking lot sale on one of their classic rock stations, got off the interstate and checked them out. I bought over 100 cd's for $129 (still have that sales slip.) And, um, I hit the jackpot regarding what I got. I'm on the road visiting high school friends and relatives in several states and stop in to a Hastings if I am near one. They still have dozens and dozens of stores across maybe 15 states, mostly in states west of the Mississippi River. They have none in California and Nevada, all other Pacific and Mountain Time Zone states, they do though and several heartland states.

    I've only bought online once from them, I do online buying with over a dozen different businesses. I've read all the comments on this thread. Almost all of them have merit. Hastings problem is they have so much inventory in their superstores they don't have one person who takes care of the CD buying and selling. I've always maintain that the bigger the corporation the more screwed up they are. You have too many employees there who are paid minimum wage who just don't know all the genres of music. And it's not their fault. Nearly every Hastings employee I ever talked to in the 36 stores (yes, 36) I've been to have always been friendly and polite. Their not familiar with the collectable end of music collecting.

    Over the last ten years, when the music chains were doing their swan dive, I would see Hastings continually increasing their inventory from businesses who unloaded their inventory. I've seen cd's in the bins that still had other store stickers on them and Hasting stickers over the other stickers; stores like CD Warehouse, Camelot, Circuit City, Tower, Media Play, and others.

    Hastings is on the NASDAQ. And there have been stores that have shut down due to poor sales, a few of them are the stores in Salt Lake City,Utah, Lincoln, Nebraska, Greeley, Colorado and others. Personally, I don't know how they do it, but they do. Where are they going to be at five years from now, who knows?

    They first started their stores in 1968 and they slugged it out with shopping mall stores like Record bar, Sam Goody, Musicland, then a decade later with Camelot, Record Towne, On Cue, FYE, Suncoast, and plenty others.


    They are on the NASDAQ. Their stock has gone to $5.70 a share down to $1.90 a share and back up and back down and back up again. Their CEO over the last few decades, John Marmaduke, retired from the company and took a huge buyout. There are several stories online regarding this ordeal.

    Lots of times I walk out of their stores wondering how they do it. But they do, there are still a boatload of people who rent movies, and they will pack that place near my house. They only have a few stores that are in cities of 200,000 or so, three of them being Amarillo, Lubbock Texas, and Albuquerque New Mexico. Many others are in large towns that are in the 15 to 50 thousand people range. Barnes and Noble wouldn't put a bookstore there. Best Buy wouldn't put their stores there, so the Hastings franchise fills a void there

    And they especially fill a void near their headquarters in Amarillo, Texas. I would have to go online to see how many stores they have in Texas and Oklahoma, but I'll come in with a wild guess and say fifty. It's probably closer to sixty.

    Stores will trade overstock with other stores all the time. The reason i know this is I've had assistant managers in different locations tell me that.

    Like I said previously, (and I apologize for being so long winded here) I don't know they do it, but they do.
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2014
    PhantomStranger likes this.
  23. LordThanos1969

    LordThanos1969 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Phoenix, AZ, USA
    Thank you for the informative post. I do not believe there are any Hastings stores in Arizona, but they actually have one in my hometown, Las Cruces, New Mexico and numerous other locations in New Mexico (heck, there is one in Alamogordo, which is a tiny town). While I am not fond of them as an online retailer and would never take a chance on their online used selections, I think their brick and mortar stores fill a niche.
     
    Mr. LP Collector likes this.
  24. Mr. LP Collector

    Mr. LP Collector Forum Resident

    They do. And I'm not trying to be a cheerleader for them, I just call it as I see it. I've been buying music for a half century, yep, I'm old! lol

    Regarding Hastings stores, yes in Arizona they have three of them, in areas you wouldn't expect! They are in Lake Havasu City, Bullhead City, and Kingman. Yelp has a list of people opining on the stores, good and bad opinions. The one in Flagstaff closed a couple years ago. Eight months before they closed Flagstaff got a whopper of a snowstorm, about three feet worth. Heh, no surprise there! But the flat roof caved in and tens of thousands of dollars of merchandise caught hell. The store was shut down for months and IMO the store never really recovered. I had heard through collectors i know that it later suffered because of bad management. Hastings isn't known as a franchise for paying people for their knowledge but that's what corporate stores do. Most all the employees are 25 and under. But like I said before I've always found their employees to be friendly, always asking if you need help finding something. Eventually what replaced that store was a Sprouts grocery store.

    I've been in the Las Cruces store a couple times and I know where the other stores are as well! I have high school buddies and shirttail relatives who live from Cortez Co. to Farmington to Albuq. to Edgewood to Roswell to Carlsbad to Amarillo to Lubbock. I can hit a half dozen stores going down that route and a half dozen coming back!

    Regarding your comment about their stores "filling a niche", here is an example. They always have a bin or two regarding budget CD's prices, $2.99 and $3.99. CBS Sony. If you buy back catalog cd's by Jeff Beck these titles>>>> Guitar Shop, You Had It Coming, and Who else--even where Amazon prime sells these cd's for $6.88 and $6.98, in the Hastings stores they are $2.99 plus tax. Another example is Miles Davis. Just this morning I saw three of Davis' cd's in there at $2.99; My Funny Valentine, Miles In Tokyo, and Greatest Hits.

    Again, there are store policies I disagree with, but you'd be surprised what you could find if you did a little digging. It DOES take time, but as I've been retired for some time I always enjoy digging for deals. That's what collectors do, isn't it?
     
  25. Haven't really bought too much high level stuff from them (No audiophile CD's or anything), but they're a great seller in my experience and usually has great prices. One item I bought actually came signed by the band members themselves!
     
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