Not Quite Ruling the Waves (Britannia)

Member Name: pbyron

Product:	Britannia
Date:	20/11/02 (149 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap in bulk, free gift and money off

Disadvantages: Terrible sales tactics, Monthly Editors Choice is annoying, Too many people having problems

Britannia Music and Video Club, a name that strikes fear into the hearts of many shoppers and sends Watchdog into a frenzy, it seems. So why exactly did I try them out? Well, it all started with a phone call.

Once upon a Time
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A polite young lady (aren’t they all when they try to send you something?) asked whether I was interested in videos or music, I told them I was interested in films, but on DVD. She then mentioned that I could get a free DVD sent to me, Swordfish to be precise. Well, I’d heard about Britannia’s lack of success and the dreaded editors choice, so I quizzed her. It turned out that accepting this offer allowed me to get this free DVD (for the cost of postage and packing, £1.94 to be precise) and only have to buy 6 more if I wanted to quit. Not only this, but they sent 4 £10 off vouchers for later. Fine, I thought, and said yes.

A few weeks later the postman came a-calling. Well, I’d got my DVD and a nice little catalogue explaining the system and giving me a chance to get some more DVDs on a two for £20 offer. Good so far. I phoned the orderline with my credit card details and paid the postage, making sure that I could get out of the offer if I wanted. I could also buy CDs and Videos with the same account as well.

How it Works
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Let me explain the system to you, if I may. There are two ways to get out of the club, one is to buy the minimum amount of DVDs (6 altogether) at once and at the regular price, then you can quit, even after just one month. The other is to pay for the DVD which they gave out for free. This sounds very fair and I will be trying it out quite soon.

Catalogues
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Ok, so I was happy with the arrangements, I just needed to wait for a month before the next Britannia magazine arrived. The problem was that the £10 vouchers that they supplied could only be used with the catalogue numbers, not a
vailable on their website. This meant waiting for the catalogue to arrive. Now, I don’t know about you, but I believe that there are plenty enough DVD titles out there to form a pretty thick catalogue. Well, imagine my surprise, then, when a flimsy little 12 pager came through my door. Half of this was filled with offer titles which couldn’t use my vouchers for and the other ones that weren’t full price titles were all videos. Not being one to buy old technology where I had a perfectly good DVD player, thank-you-very-much. So I await catalogue number two.

Recommended Recordings
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The second point to remember is that you are asked to buy a recommended recording once a month, when the tiny catalogue is sent out. If you don’t want it then you can contact the company by phone, leaving a message on the answer phone, by mail, or my own preferred choice, by using their internet site. The site has been improved a lot since it started and now offers a safe way of paying for and ordering your titles. It has a much wider range of music and films than the catalogue, but it can also be used to reject your recommended recording by pressing one simple button. If you want the title then you can choose to get it sent straight away instead of waiting the full 28 days while they wait to see if you have sent a rejection form to them. This is neat and simple and only takes a few minutes, where as the phone option is a maze of options and recorded messages which may have a few customers tearing their hair out!

Prices
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Well, Britannia say that they can save you pounds compared to high street prices, and they are right, in one way. If you buy a title at a regular price (the equivalent of RRP) then you are free to choose another or more at the Bonus price, which is often very good. These are not just titles which have been gathering dust, but many new films at very low prices. It does mean
that you would have to buy quite a few recordings to make your money, but with the free offer at the beginning it all adds up nicely.

Now remember that I told you I would be testing their quitting system out soon? Well, this is because I’ve found out that with the amount of DVDs I actually buy I will just end up paying the full amount or risk getting angry scowls from her who looks after the money. I’ve just bought my six recordings in one go (from the website) and will soon be working out which titles to use my £10 vouchers on, then it will be bye-bye Britannia.

Britannia rules the waves?
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Ha, not at all. My suggestion to you is to check out their website at www.britanniamusic.co.uk and look at the prices and the bonus offers, then decide whether it will save you any money. You will also need to think whether getting sent a recommended title every month which you have to reject will really annoy you or if you are prepared to accept it. Also bear in mind that many people have had problems with the company, and I don't agree with their bulldog sales tactics either.

My own opinion? I for one don’t want the hassle and will buy my titles online from a proper retailer in future.


Coming to the End
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It has been 2 months now since I left Britannia and unlike the horror stories I had heard from other people, I have not heard any more from the company or been billed for any extra DVDs. The money I owed had already been paid over the internet and a simple phone call to the company ended the membership. I did add that I was leaving due to not being able to afford it (the truth!) so they may have realised they were not getting any more money out of me!

So, all's well that ends well, but I would still only recommend the company if you were buying a lot of DVDs per month and didn't mind the hastle of rejecting a title monthly. Fa
r better to go to www.play.com for your cheap discs, I think I was one of the lucky few, so don't rush in to buying from this company on the strength of free gifts alone. It's true that there's no such thing as a free lunch.

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