Join Freesat

Amazon are pleased to announced they are now selling the Humax FOXSAT-HDR directly (not just through their Marketplace). Their latest price of £259.99 is just a few £££’s more than the current cheapest online price from our price comparison page. With Amazon’s vast buying power we may see Humax reduce their trade price and therefore helping the retail value to continue downwards.

Visit Amazon’s Humax FOXSAT-HDR @ £259.99

Take this with a pinch of salt as it has come from Argos customer service; but in an email to a reader (Derek) of joinfreesat, Argos have told him that they will not be receiving any more stock of Bush Freesat SD digital boxes.

The conversation came about when the reader contacted Argos to request a replacement for a faulty Bush receiver; the email response explained that their current stock had all been sold and that they would not be receiving more. One can only assume they were willing to refund but nothing more.

Thank you for your e-mail regarding the Bush Freesat Box.

I am so sorry you have not been able to order a replacement for the freesat box. We have totally sold out and we will not be getting any new stock in. I hope you can find a suitable alternative from our wide product range.

Should you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us at order.enquiries@argos.co.uk or call us on 0845 640 2020.

Regards,

Argos Direct E-Commerce Customer Service Team.

It’s understandable that retailers some times stop selling products, depending on how successful they are, but given that not only is the Bush brand name owned by Argos, Freesat SD boxes have been selling incredibly well and Alba Group as a whole are not able to keep up with demand.

This of course might all be Chinese whispers at Argos towers, so if we find out anything more, we’ll let you know.

Edit (28-Apr-09): We have had a subsequent response to suggest that Freesat SD boxes will be available again around the 22nd May 2009. Argos giving us the run around!

Update (3rd March) – Play price now increased to £289.99. If you pre-ordered one at £249.99, let us know whether Play honour that price or not.

Play.com, the DVD/CD, Games and Electronic online giant have today announced the plan to sell the Humax FOXSAT-HDR from the end of March for just £249.99 delivered, almost £35 cheaper than the closest competitor today.

It’s possible that they have been given an indication of trade cost for in a months time, or are making full use of their Channel Island VAT status, but either way it’s an amazing price consider demand is still very high. It sets a precedent for price reductions over the next month, so will be interesting to see what happens.

If your willing to wait, Play.com are accepting pre-orders online now, alternatively, have a look at the currently availability on our Humax FOXSAT-HDR product page.

Just a quick heads up, Homebase currently have stock of the Freesat+ Humax FOXSAT-HDR available for immediate despatch, just in case you are still after one.

In addition, using discount code DISCOUNT10 either today or tomorrow, you’ll get a further 10% off the price, which brings the total price down to £270.03 including delivery.

Buy online at HOMEBASE for only £270.03 now!

Also, just in case Homebase run out, Argos (the same company!) are showing as stock available too, although without the discount available. You can visit the PVR at on their site here.

It’s the turn of Dixons today it would seem, they have stock available of the Humax FOXSAT-HDR Freesat+ online, priced £299.99 plus £4.95 delivery, but don’t forget to claim 2% discount using code FEB2 and free delivery using code FREEDEL149.

No idea how long they’ll last, so place your order pretty sharpish!

Buy online at DIXONS for £293.99

Alternatively, Currys also have stock, priced slightly higher (without discount) at £299.99 with free delivery. Now would be a good opportunity to bag a PVR!

Buy from CURRYS online for £299.99

(Sorry to everyone who has a Freesat+ box already and doesn’t really want to read so many stock updates, but just trying to help those still looking!)

Just a quick heads up, Comet have the Humax FOXSAT-HDR showing as available for order online, priced £299.99 with free delivery. As per last time, stock doesn’t last long so get yourself to their site ASAP! Note that not all regions may have stock, it depends on the distribution centre, but a few postcode regions we checked came up as delivery available from next Tuesday.

Buy online at COMET here

(Update – seems John Lewis have ran out of pre-orders now!)

Just to update you, John Lewis are now accepting pre-orders on the Humax FOXSAT-HDR, priced at £292 with stock expected within a week.

It’s not the cheapest deal around, but it’s another option if you are sick of searching high and low for stock.

This has been mentioned a few times by readers of this site, but at present, with the shortage on Humax PVR’s, it seems to best solution is to pre-order from Maplin, and save some money at the same time.

This is what you need to do:

Step 1 – Visit Maplin and click on the “Subscribe and save up to £25 off your order” in the top right corner.

Step 2 – Register an account and sign up for the newsletter…or sign up for the newsletter only.

Step 3 – Wait a few days for the newsletter to arrive via email, which will include a 20 digit code.

Step 4 – Add the Humax PVR to your basket, but because the £25 discount only applies on £300 orders or more (the PVR is £299.99), add this Radial Electrolytic Capacitors which we believe is the cheapest item at just 0.11p.

Step 5 – Wait for Maplin to process your order, and save yourself £25 (well, £24.89!!!).

Total price: £275.10

Given that obtaining stock is so difficult at the moment, why not at least pre-order and save yourself some money? Maplin have so far been honouring the orders within the time-scale indicated.

Freesat must be absolutely furious at the moment, having announced a fantastic 200,000 sales in 8 months since May 2008, it appears that the majority of retailers have no stock of the biggest selling products.

Alba Group have not distributed any Grundig or Goodmans SD/HD boxes since October/November 2008, and with Argos now owning the Bush brand, these are unlikely to be seen for sale anywhere but Argos. We are waiting for confirmation from Alba Group, but it’s been hinted that a 2nd generation box is in development which might mean no supply until February or maybe even March!

There’s no such issue with Humax’s HD Freesat box (FOXSAT-HD), they are still available everywhere, but the PVR version (FOXSAT-HDR) remains in very short supply, with no distribution since before Christmas! Humax have indicated that the PVR’s will be available from the major retailers and independents this week, but not in large volumes, with increased quantities expected from February. We of course will let you know when/where stock becomes available, alternatively visit Maplin who are taking pre-orders with an estimated delivery date of 14 days.

Panasonic’ supply of Freesat IDTV’s seems fine, no major issues on any of their screen sizes. John Lewis have said to a number of potential customers that the 42in Freesat Plasma (TH-42PZ81) has been discontinued. Panasonic have confirmed to us that this is certainly not the case and both the LCD and Plasma’s have all been selling very well.

Hopefully all these shortages are just a blip, a result of Christmas shutdowns etc; using the excuse of the present economic climate shouldn’t be much of a factor given that the large majority of the distributors have firm orders placed, they just can’t get the supply.

Visit our product pages to help you find available stock from the major retailers

Dixons have just confirmed that they have stock available online of the Humax FOXSAT-HDR Freesat+ Box. It’s available for £299.99 with £4.95 delivery, but if you use discount code FSPLUS5 you’ll receive a 5% discount.

Once added the discount code, follow up with discount code 10DIGI for a further 10% off…and then use discount code FREEDEL49 for free delivery too!!!

That’s only £256.49! Buy online at DIXONS here

*Discount only available until Wednesday 17th December 2008 so be quick!

(ignore the image, it’s of the standard HD box, but the product is right!)