Monday 25 March 2013

Thatsentertainment.co.uk - That's A Waste Of Time!

That's Entertainment is both an online and physical high street retailer of mostly used CDs, DVDs and video games but it also sells new titles. I have only ever shopped from them online so can only comment on this. I once tried to find their Norwich store but it appeared to have closed down. They seemingly have other stores in many major cities across the UK, but not London.

That's Entertainment pride themselves on being cheap, and in this they definitely succeed as they sell cheaper than most other places on the web, and their postage is free so the price you see is the price you get. Items start in price from £1.99 upwards and their pricing seems slightly scatter-gun in approach. Alot of old Popular titles are £1.99 as you'd expect but you can usually also find more obscure items at this price that I assume they have struggled to shift.
 
The site itself is charmingly designed with a handmade appeal and navigation around it is straightforward with simple search options by artist, title, etc... You can also browse by genre and price bracket although for me, I have found these features to never actually work properly. There are no advance search options so you are limited to simple searches which will be enough for most people. Paying is also straight forward but is outsourced so you leave the site to do it, but seems secure - I haven't to date had any issues. In all though, the site is self explanatory and well presented and laid out.

All sounds too good to be true, right? Well it is. That's Entertainment are not short of a few flaws to say the least. Item quality is never listed but promised to be in good working condition but I have found this definition to be variable with some items in what I would regard as much poorer (e.g CDs with numerous marks - they don't effect play but are not in very good condition). Postage, although free, is very slow and there is no option for an express service - it can take up to 2 weeks for some orders to arrive. I also believe it's limited to the UK, USA, France and Germany customers. Then you have the orders that don't arrive at all only for you to discover they have been canceled due to lack of stock but no one bothered to tell you. Customer service is appalling at best. When you email to chase an order you get a generic response that barely, if at all, answers your questions. This is in addition to the above stated cancelling of orders without letting you know.
 
To those familiar with purchasing second hand CDs, DVDs and games online, you may have encountered the behemoth of online variable quality and service known as Zoverstocks and these experiences may sound familiar. Well, they are... and that is because Zoverstocks seemingly are in some way affiliated with That's Entertainment. In what capacity I'm not sure but would guess they're owned by the same people (who also reportedly own Musicmagpie). Either way, it explains alot about the shoddy service on offer and condition of items. These guys are all about fast turn over and good value, with little care for much else. The Ryanair of CD/DVD/Game retail if you like.

Bargains are bargains, and they have plenty here and I love a bargain... but shopping with these guys is just too frustrating and you use so much time chasing orders that never arrive. I have purchased around 20-30 CDs from That's Entertainment and about 25% of my orders have been cancelled, and on one occasion only was I notified. They claim emails have been sent but may have been caught in a junk filter, but this hasn't been the case either.

If your willing to take your chances on a bargain then fine - I've never not had a refund from them - but if it's something you want and want quickly, look elsewhere and avoid disappointment.

Tuesday 19 March 2013

get-paid.com Search Engine = Rubbish!

Has anyone else had problems with the search engine on get-paid.com? It seems to work a bit, then stop working, then work again, and now it's stopped. To anyone that took my recommendation to use it, sorry. It's frankly a waste of time and effort. If they sort it out, I'll let y'all know.