Ellison42

I called it. Earlier today, Infinity purchased DVDPlanet.com - All of the phone answering staff have been issued their final checks and are now unemployed. A skeleton crew will be kept on staff for a limited time to ease the transition to Infinity. This is so sad. It was 100% avoidable. A once well respected and friendly company has been run into the ground. No word yet on what will happen with their retail store. My heart goes out to all those who lost their jobs today. Sad. Very sad...

unbeeleebable

Is there a link to any news article on this anywhere?

matome

ARE YOU KIDDING??? As a matter of fact I tried calling again this afternoon and got a message saying the phone system was being upgraded and would be back online tomorrow at 6:00 AM. I also tried sending an email to the last person that answered me back on 9/3 and it came back as undeliverable. I'm still trying to get my last discs from them. There's a new note on their homepage now:

Due to inventory, orders will experience a slight delay in processing. Shipments should resume by Thursday, Sept 25.

Shit.

dvde

Just like I have said for the past year since Kenny left. Can we say the "TITANIC".

jimbo

I hope the DVDPlanet employees (not the "managers") find a better workplace and do well in the future.

dvde

Trust me when I say it wasn't the managers fault that the Planet failed, it's the executives at Image. They imposed allot of bad ideas and workplace rules and regulations that ultimately affected the company to go from a very profitable company to a company that couldn't turn a profit no matter what the managers did.

ianholm

It's a shame. I feel for the employees of this once great retailer. Another one bites the dust.

I saw your post on the other Planet thread. It's a shame but in these days customer loyalty means nothing. In fact you'll be the one losing in the end. You shoulda bailed when everyone else did.

Ellison42

It's true that the execs at Image are responsible for what ultimately ended up happening. But it wasn't as simple as poor decisions on their part - it was in the hiring of a certain person to "act" as Planet's individual President. This person was brought in to replace Kenny (remarkably poor idea). In trying to set his own mark, this person alienated nearly all of his employees in record time. Image, in all of their wisdom, felt this individual would breath new life into a company that wasn't exactly gasping for air. How many times does it have to be said? If it isn't broken, don't fix it. Look what this fix did. Nice going guys. Way to make dozens of hard-working employees become statistics. I hope you sleep well.

dvde

The president that they brought in was the reason why Kenny left the building and Image was the reason why allot of the management that was in place when they bought it left as well. The only person that I feel any pain for is Holly, who was a key part of Kenny's success and the only person there that had any clue what was going on after many other people left. I'm curious to what she will do now that she doesnt make that fat paycheck and until recent, job security.

jimbo

Hopefully she will end up at a better workplace where she'll be appreciated and have better management to work for.

strife

agreed any link to this? That they were bought and will no longer being operated.

Norm de Plume

That's a shame. My experience with Crane's/Planet over the years has been only positive.

Ellison42

dvde, I don't know who you are (or do I?). Your information is spot-on perfect. I think we know the same people (perhaps even each other). Is there some way you might give me a clue as to who you are? I'll do likewise...here goes...I know more about the history of DVDPlanet/Ken Crane's Laserdisc than anyone (with the exception of Kenny himself). Any reply?

El-Kabong

Wow - that's a real shame. They were my first hard core crack dealer WAYYYY back in the LD days, when 30 percent off was a godsend. I remember when they still had a paper hard copy catalog that got sent out every quarter.

Sadly I havent bought from them in years - that place has really gone down the shitter. What a pity.

dvde

Come on now, that's not enough to go on, because I can think of 2 or 3 people that would know allot of Ken Crane's history. I'm sure we know each other if you claim to know as much as Kenny would. Whats the first letter in you name?

jimbo

Have I ever met you ?

Ellison42

dvde,

T.

Ellison42

Here's the requested press release with all of the B.S. from the COO of Image and others...

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/030923/235301_1.html

dvde

Have you ever work for UPS?

dvde

Well I can think of two of you with that name. One of which went into law.

jimbo

Nope, just a customer who knew a few of people at the store including Kenny. He blamed me for goading him into starting a web page.

Ellison42

dvde,

I never worked for UPS. And yes, one "T" did go into law (Alhambra). I'm the other one. So, who are you?

dvd-4-life

Looks like they will still be in business under a different name.Maybe they could bring back Ken Crane.

dvde

Here's a little hint. For some odd reason, we didn't exactly get along.

karnblack

Is the B&M staying open? I might need to stop by and pick up some Criterions before they close if they already haven't gone under.