Seek and You Shall Find (Hard To Find Records)

Member Name: rleigh

Product:	Hard To Find Records
Date:	17/04/08 (87 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: An excellent service is offered, cheap postage on vinyl if ordering multiple items.

Disadvantages: Some records may never be found, they're just too hard to come by.

Hard To Find Records was originally set up in Birmingham in 1991. The store is located at Vinyl House, 10 Upper Gough Street, Birmingham, B1 1JG, and for a long time now they have been selling online also. The great thing about Hard To Find Records is that a lot of the records they stock are no longer in production. This makes htfr.com a great place to visit as you never know quite what you could find there, you can pick up some brilliant bargains on the website of records that have long since been deleted. There are over 200 000 vinyl records to choose from, they have an eclectic selection of which I'd advise you browse daily as you can never be sure what the website will turn up from one day to the next.


- My Personal Experience -

For many years I have been utilising the services of Hard To Find Records. I would say that for the past five or six years now I have been ordering vinyl records from the website and never have I had a problem with their services. I have heard some bad things from others, but personally my experience with the website has never been anything but positive. I have a great love for Drum&Bass music, I acquire my vinyl records from a number of sources both offline and online, some of which I will never use again but Hard To Find Records is one website I will continue to use for the foreseeable future whenever I see it fit.

In the past from htfr.com I have ordered some superb Sony headphones as well as a number of different vinyl records, and whilst I can't comment on their handling of larger products such as turntables and musical instruments, I can inform you that the vinyl's come extremely well packaged so that your records do not come delivered damaged and the headphones I ordered were also well packed and arrived in pristine condition. The delivery has always been reasonably quick, which is more than can be said of a lot of websites I have used in the past and over the years I have never had any problems with orders I have placed with Hard To Find Records.


- The Services Provided -

As well as selling vinyl records, the Hard To Find Records website also stocks a number of different products including DJ Equipment such as turntables, Music Technology along the lines of midi keyboards and midi desks, Accessories such as headphones and microphones, and even clothing and DVDs. The array of products available from the website is vast and always they impress me with the variety of products and services that they offer.

What I love most about htfr.com is that even if they do not actually have something that you're after in stock, you can request them to e-mail you if ever they do get the item in stock. I did this a few years back and never thought anything more of it, but literally 2 years down the line and I received an e-mail from them informing me that they had some stock of the vinyl I had been looking for two years previously. I was impressed with this service and their informative nature after two years quite frankly astonished me, goodness knows how long they keep your details on record on the off chance but I for one was certainly glad of the e-mail after all that time had passed.


- The Layout -

The website itself has a very simple layout making it easy to navigate from one page to the next in order to find exactly what you are after. Whatever you're in the market for, with a few clicks you can get to your destination of choice and whether that means looking through the latest releases in Hip-Hop, or searching out a new mixer; it's all very simple and doesn't take too long to do at all. There are drop down boxes to the top of the website if you're generally browsing, or if you know exactly what you're after then there is also a search bar that can be utilised in order to quickly arrive at the product you're after and perhaps make a purchase.


- Buying From Hard To Find Records -

Buying from htfr.com is an extremely simple task. You can quickly and easily make purchases from the website with your credit or debit card, they accept all major credit and debit cards such as Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Delta, Switch, Electron, Connect, Diners Club International and JCB. If looking to pay by card then you can rest assured that the website is certified by 'thawte' so that all data is SSL encrypted and that purchasing online from this website is perfectly safe. If however you like to pay by Paypal then this method is accepted also. More and more websites seem to be accepting Paypal now and this is greatly useful to all those out there that regularly use the service anyway for E-Bay. Only once with Paypal do you ever need to enter your card details and from then on you can make payment simply by filling in your e-mail and password as you would for many a website present on the internet. When you purchase from websites and pay with Paypal, you complete your transaction as you usually would and then you are transferred to the Paypal website to fill in your details and confirm that you genuinely do wish to purchase the product. I often pay by Paypal and have never experienced any problems, personally I would recommend the method wholeheartedly whenever buying online.

The two methods I have outlined here would perhaps be the most frequently used, however if you're comfortable with neither of these then you can pay by cash in note form, through postal order, cheque, or even by direct money transfer. Gift Vouchers can also be purchased for use with Hard To Find Records and would maybe make for a perfect gift for anyone with an active interest in mixing.


- Delivery -

When I've ordered from Hard To Find Records I've always found that delivery takes approximately four days from date of order to date of delivery. This is much faster than a lot of websites out there and in my opinion the speed with which they send is second to none. If ordering a single vinyl then you can expect to pay £1.99 for second class delivery, which I don't feel is too bad really. Obviously if you're ordering in greater quantities than one at a time then it will not cost you a further £1.99 for each additional vinyl, but instead will cost you £2.99 regardless of how many vinyl records you are ordering. It is this that I feel makes the website so brilliant, if ordering in bulk then you do not get stung on postage and htfr.com are in fact really rather reasonable. Postage and packaging charges obviously vary dependent on what you are ordering, however always they are in keeping with those found on similar websites of this sort.


- Final Thoughts -

Htfr.com is an excellent website and is definitely one that I would recommend buying from. As I have previously stated, I have bought from the website many times over the last few years and never have I had any problems. Hard To Find Records offer an extremely reliable service and it is this that makes them stand out to me. Many other similar websites have let me down over the years and I now do not purchase from them, Hard To Find Records however is one website that has never yet failed to impress and always when I've ordered from the website my items have arrived well packaged and in good time. I will definitely be using their services again in the future, and having never been let down by them before in the past I see no reason why they ever should in the future. If you're ever in the market for any sort of DJ equipment then I seriously suggest that you take a look at the Hard To Find Records website, they offer a brilliant service and should definitely be considered when making purchasing decisions. On a similar note; if there's any vinyl record that you've been looking for then why not have a look on htfr.com, they may not have what you're looking for but it can't hurt to try.


Website: http://www.htfr.com
Address: Hard To Find Records, Vinyl House, 10 Upper Gough Street, Birmingham, B1 1JG.
Telephone Number: 01216 877777

Summary: The Hard To Find Records online store is one that I personally highly recommend using.