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Deimos

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Have people noticed that play.com have now changed their systems a bit so that if your delivery address is to France you now have to pay in Euros and their euro prices are somewhat higher that they should be based on sterling cost and exchange rate !!

Also, if using a UK credit card then you may also get a currency transaction charge.

For me this has now made them too expensive compared to others.

Ian

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Yes, I am having a big e-mail whinge at them at present!  Please join in with lobbying them.  I know it's all about internet security but I'm blowed if I want to pay the bank to change my salary into euros, then pay them with my French debit card.  Nobody wins.  I've moved over to blah-dvd for the moment as they have not as yet moved to this silly system.  Sad thing is, they do not have so good a range.
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I e-mailed them as they have become uncompetitive. However, I had to e-mail info@play.com as I could not find any other addresses on their web site ! I think this has disappeared as I've had no reply. I think I'll just switch to somebody else as I'm not going to pay for a call to a UK non-geographic number just to tell them they are ripping me off !!

Have you a better e-mail address for me to contact them on ?


Ian

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I have e-mailed them before Ian, on that address. I did get an auto response and later an e-mail from them. So the address is monitored. I'll bet they come up with the premise that they have had to change to come into line with the money laundering lawz. I mean 15 quid, well were are talking big money laundering, but I'll bet that's what they say. I have phoned them several times and they are very helpful and as we are with Phonexpat the calls are only a couple of centimes /min and it's sorted quickly.

Our main accounts are here, so it's a case of measuring it against them or Amazon and they still come out tops for most things that are delivered here. The U.K. deliveries may be different, but as we still have U.K. accounts too they are still there most of the time. But all that, I will be e-mailing or phoning them to complain and ask for a reason...

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Undoubtedly play.com are one of the cheapest outfits going for DVDs and books.  However, they will now only ship to Europe if you pay in Euros and to the UK if you pay in sterling whereas in the past, you could pay in sterling from a UK account and get stuff delivered here - all post free.  However, if you pay with a UK card in euros, that is acceptable also, although they usually ask for a copy of a bank statement as proof of a legitimate account.  And then (if it's not Nationwide) you have to pay charges to the bank for the currency change.

Confused, you won't be after....

btw info@play.com always works for me.

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[quote user="Cassis"]So is (or was) it your experience that if you pay from a UK account would Play.com generally be cheaper than Amazon.fr when ordering DVD or CD for delivery to France?  I have not heard of them before.
[/quote]

Hi me awd Saus, we have quite often found that Amazon U.K. are cheaper than Amazon.fr even if we want it here and that choice is better for English titles too. But Play.com does come out better, more often than not. Play are based in the Channel Isles so why there is such a hoo haa over this and they have started charging in € for us? I can only suppose that they have smelled a bigger prophit (is that someone wot tells them the phuture) than dealing in LSD (the older ones amongst us will know that you don't smoke that) and that we will pay the price or shop else where. It won't bother them unless everyone shouts about it and I can't see that happening, can you?

 

Edit  :  I just shouted at them. I doubt it will change the course of the orbit we are in though?

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I e-mailed them on info@play.com and have heard nothing back. No automated ack and no response (yet).

I've found that a lot of Amazon.fr's range is actually through 3rd parties where the "In-stock" indications can be a bit iffy. also, One of them at one point started spending me loads of promo e-mails and I could not get them to stop. Almost SPAM except I had purchased from them indirectly. In the end I had to complain to Amazon to get them to stop.

From price comparisons I have done between Play.com and Amazon.fr when looking for things, seems sometimes Amazon are cheaper, sometimes Play are cheaper.

Play.com delivery seems exceptionally slow these days (normally a week from their "despatched" e-mail), but I guess that is probably Royal Mail/La Poste and not Play.com.

Ian

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I still use play becuase I find them cheaper and faster than amazon.uk. I sometimes use amazon.fr but play ususally has a better range and is still cheaper since france doesn't allow reductions beyond 5% on books. My other reason for not using amazon.fr is that I'd rather not have the American version of British written books (not an anti-American sentiment, just a question of vocabulary when reading to my kids)

It would have been nice if play had thought to actually warn customers somewhere on their website about the paying in euros thing. At first I thought it was only for DVD's and was some sort of copyright thing, when I realised it was for everything, I panicked and sent an e-mail. I got a reply very quickly. I think it was the orders@play.com address if that helps anyone. I hadn't really thought about it, but having to pay in euros means I don't have to pay commission here on my French bank account (this also means that all the time I was paying in pounds, I was paying commission unnecessarily- I just assumed that it was because it was a foreign account- stupid)

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  • 2 weeks later...

It was interesting. Needed to buy a specific DVD as a christmas present and play.com still have not answered my message to them (re-sent several times but just ignored by them). they had it is stock but no. So I checked a couple of others (Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, cd101 and cdwow and they were all cheaper than play.com (even without the € constraint thing), even though play.com claim to be discounting the particular CVD "significantly".

Think I've probably given up on play.com completely now.

Ian

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  • 2 years later...

We are play.com fans, love the range, the great prices, and the free delivery to France.

But WHY do we have to still pay in euros and WHY is their exchange rate such a rip off?

I bought a £5 DVD for my kids, had to pay in euros even though I have a Natwest account, and they charged me 7.50€. Still a good price but aaaarrrggghhhh!!

 

 

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  • 1 month later...
Hello

I'm french and I think I am going to buy on this web site.

I have also noticed the difference of the price when you put it in euro.

I might be wrong but I think it is because the shipping is included in the price, and maybe when you want your product to be delivered in France, the shipping cost is higher than if it was in UK.  So if I'm right, this is the reason why we have to pay in euro when we are in France, they convert the money and they add the shipping cost difference directly in the price.  It's only a theory I could be wrong.

I would like to know if they are serious, if someone had already suffered late deliver with them or other problems ?

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[quote user="ErnieY"][quote user="Clair"]for example:   24 series 5 at €70 chez Amazon.Fr but at €50 chez Play.com[/quote]YIKES

I bought complete S1-5 on eBay for £90 (all genuine), watched the lot and sold it off again for the same price [:D]

[/quote]

They are usually cheaper the longer you wait.

Series 7 is currently being shown: the DVD pack will probably sell at €50/£35 at first and will drop to €24/£17 a few months later.

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Caribouuu, I have been buying from Play.com for years.  They are in general a very good company to buy from and delivery to France is reasonably fast - normally 3 or 4 days in my experience.  However, the exchange rate to Euros is not realistic, but to be honest that is only important if, like some on here, you are paid in stirling and still have an account in the UK.  For us it's a pain as we have to pay to change the money into Euros in the first place, then pay Play extra for the privilege.  What's worse is the fact that we used to be able to pay in sterling and get the stuff delivered to France and can't any more.  But they're still often cheaper than Amazon france.  However, it's always worth checking out the Amazon UK prices because even if you pay delivery charges on top, they can often still work out cheaper.

As with everything, it pays to shop around.

Welcome to the forum, by the way.  Good to have another French contributor.[:)]

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Thank you for the welcome cooperlola ;)

I understand your situation, and yes the euro rate they use is not realistic, and it's not for the customers's advantage :p  But the prices are still cheap. I wonder why things such as dvd movies or video games are so cheaper in UK than in France.

I bought a video game for my little brother on a uk website before christmas, 15 pounds, while it is still between 50 and 65 euros in France. I don't know why prices are so different... even considering the fact that the low level of the pound makes it better for people living in France.

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