Firm sweetens blow to HD-DVD customers with Blu-ray

ACCORDING TO a report on DigitalWorldTokyo, Japanese electronics dealer Edion is going to take the unusual step of letting customers who bought the now utterly useless and totally irrelevant Toshiba HD DVD boxes swap the used machines for brand spanking new Blu-ray player decks from Sony, Panasonic or Sharp.

The firm is apparently so greatly ashamed and humiliated that it sold thousands of its unlucky punters HD-DVD gear, that they wanted to do the honourable thing. But decided not to get the management to perform collective Hara-Kiri.

Edion's press release says that the (noble) offer runs from March 1st - March 31st . Customers will need to make up the price difference if their new machine works out to be more expensive, but, surprisingly and in very good form by the electronics merchant, Edion has pledged to refund the difference if the new Blu-ray player costs less. It's definitely a slick move, sure to provide plenty of good PR for the company which obviously understands the basic tenets of customer satisfaction.

Players eligible for the swap program are the RD-A1, RD-A300, RD-A600, RD-A301, HD-XA1, HD-XA2, and the HD-XF2.

And, extending their Japanese generosity even further, Edion have also said they'll continue selling HD-DVD films and blank disks to any unfortunate customer who might still need them.

More here. µ