Cheato

As you probably already realize, if you want them, it's worth it.

Keep in mind that there are usually 60%-off sales, so cheaper titles can be had for pretty low prices. It's rare, but sometimes there are B1G1FS+60%-off-additional codes.
It's more common to not see the G1 as part of a 60%-off code, when free shipping is involved.

The base price for DVDs in standard accounts is $4.80.
That leads to a base price for TV club enrollment sets (math shown elsewhere in this thread and others) of $15.33.

So, $9.95+$44 = $53.95
You get 2 sets valued at $30.66.
That means your 6 DVDs cost you $23.29 total, or $3.88 each, a pretty nice average.

That's roughly the same as a $9.95 DVD at 60% off ($3.98).
So, titles that are regularly higher than $9.95 become more attractive at a 3/$22 price that also counts towards fulfillment.

$9.95 titles are basically a wash, so if you don't need them now, you can pick them up some other time as an add-on using a 60%-off code if/when it becomes available (again, not that common, but you may find yourself in a future situation where you can add extra titles into an order, getting 60% off and free shipping).
$7.95 titles would be throwing money away.

Also remember that sometimes there are "take an extra [10,15,20]% off" codes that can knock a few more pennies off those averages.

Bottom line: if they're titles you like that are normally $14.95, it's a good deal. Still a good deal for $12.95 titles, but a little less of an advantage.

If you're buying them just because you think they're a better deal, they're probably not really a better deal, and you're better off getting $19.95 titles you're prefer to watch/own.

lizard

^While the 3 for $22 is under discussion, I'd like to mention that one doesn't have to do both fulfillments that way. One could do a 3 for $22 and then a regular BOGOF plus free shipping for the other fulfillment at a later time. Just in case there are only a few of the 3 for $22 titles that are of interest.

I know, seems obvious, but sometimes we have a tendency to not see the obvious, so I thought I'd mention it.

Watson2

Has anybody received or even had their Quantum of Solace pre-order ship yet?

SMART-ASS

I ordered QoS Blu-ray during the bogo last week or so. Received it a few days ago.

Jedi Master 33

Got mine yesterday.

smashthesymbols

Has anyone ordered The Foot Fist Way and received it? I ordered it with a B1G1 a few weeks back, it was the freebie, and it's been stuck on processed ever since and is showing in my order history as a preorder even though it came out in February.

collven

What are the normal delays after signing up for the TV club to either receive your discs or be notified that your enrollment was accepted. I signed up a little over 2 weeks ago and never received an email and haven't received my order either.

I used to do CH quite a bit, but haven't since I switched to Blu when the PS3 came out. This will be my first membership since, and I don't remember them taking this long in the past.

SMART-ASS

I know we all about the dvd clubs here, but I was looking into joining the music club for the first time in many, many years. Apparantly the days of getting like 12 CDs for a penny are gone. Does anyone have any special codes that will yeild a better deal than the stnadard deal?
Thanks for any help

SMART-ASS

I don't have any experience with the tv club per se, but I would say that your app probably got lost. That happens a LOT these days. You should probably reapply with a different code.

collven

Thanks. At this point, I guess I'll wait until Monday and reapply if I still haven't received an email or anything from them.

BobO'Link

If you've not heard from them in 2 weeks it's very likely your application is "lost". I would wait another few days and reapply with *different* selections just in case it magically appears. After 4 weeks you should be safe reapplying with the same selections.

On all the accounts in which I've been accepted, I've received the "thanks for your application" email within hours and the "welcome to the club" email in as little as 2 days.

Which code did you use?

BobO'Link

You've waited too long. BMG Music Club is closing their doors on June 30th with the last day for members to order being May 31st. The only club that will remain is yourmusic.com which is a monthy subscription service in which you choose the next selection to be shipped. They will auto-ship a selection a month for $6.99 from a queue you set up. Always free shipping.

If you want to read more go here and wade through offer deals, etc. from current members.

smashthesymbols

Nevermind. I posted last night, and first thing this morning there was a shipping notice in my email.

collven

I think I used HDL. I'll reapply on Monday.

Looking at my credit card online, I do see a hold for the amount, but it was never charged. I guess that means it was lost? If something is out of stock, would they have notified me? It was the 2nd and 3rd seasons of Two and a Half Men, if that makes a difference.

WuBrotha1

Maybe some of you guys can help me. I placed three orders the other day using one of the codes from the site. My first order was 20 dvd's that totaled about $115; my second order - 19 dvd's for about $100; and my third order was 4 dvd's for about $9. I got a bunch of triple funcash from my first order which I used up on my second order and then payed for some more on that order. That gave me more fun cash which I used on the third order for the four dvd's and just payed the shipping.

Ok, so, a few days goes by and my charges show up all broken up into little charges - $36 and change, $50 something and change, etc. I just thought, "ok, that's probably the charge for each shipment they're making," cause then I got three emails saying a handful of the dvd's I ordered were being shipped. One email had like 6, another about 6 or 7, and the last email said it was shipping 4 of them. That's all I got. So, I thought,"Well, they're shipping them in chunks. I'll eventually get them all over the next week or two." Well, then, tonight, just now, I went to sign into my account and I got a message saying, "You're account is in-active. Please contact customer service." What??!!! I can't call customer service cause I can't log into my account and get my account number and its not in any of the emails I received. There's nothing on the site explaining what this means and I never got an email explaining there's something wrong with my account or that it was being canceled or whatever the issue may be.

So, I clicked through their online customer stuff til I got a contact-email page. I filled it out without my account number and explained the situation, that I couldn't log into the account and that I don't know what's going on and I'm worried because I have an order that I've been charged for but haven't received full shipping confirmation on and now I can't access anything or call for help because I can't get my account number. Ehh! Also, I don't have all the confirmation numbers to the three orders cause they are not in the order confirmation emails. In the shipment confirmations there are dvd's shipped from two of the orders, and it says those two order numbers, but that still leaves a third order number that I cannot reference.

Have any of you guys heard of any of this happening or know what's going on or what I should do? I hate having to deal with customer service issues with these guys cause it's impossible to get anything corrected. If I'm only getting the few they sent shipping confirmation about then I don't want the order. I don't want to pay over 200 dollars for that or be credited a difference and end up paying full price for each or something. I wanted everything I ordered with the deal they offered. That's why I ordered it. I'm afraid they've canceled my account and are not going to fulfill the order but still charge me for it. Maybe they won't send any of them and will refund me but knowing this company and the problems people have with them and returns and overcharges or wrongful charged I doubt this will get worked out. Please, if someone has some info that could help me I'd really appreciate it. I was told I'd hear from a representative in response to my email within 48 hours, but if I don't hear anything and I can't get an answer from someone over the phone about this and I don't receive more shipping confirmation emails for the remaining dvd's from my orders' or a full refund then I'm going to report fraudulent charges on my card to my bank. Ok, I hope you guys can help. And the code I used was for B1 + 60% off + $6 fun cash + free shipping on the order.

BobO'Link

HDL can be a bit flaky... especially if you used the link in the TVonDVD enrollment titles thread. I've had better success just entering the code manually in the "do you have a code" box.

The temporary hold on your CC is identical to what I see on accounts for which I've applied but never received any type of communication. The temporary hold is placed immediately upon application to test whether or not the card is "good". When that happens I usually wait 3-4 weeks if I want to try with the same selections and try again. Sometimes I'll reapply in a couple of weeks with different selections for no other reason than I'm jonesing for something new...

And, yes, if something were OOS you would be notified and whatever is in stock would ship. That would not prevent an application from being accepted.

From what you've described I would say the application got "lost".

movieguru

You may have placed too many orders to quickly. I would have limited to an order of 20 max in a day. Placing 2 larger orders like that would probably send a red flag to CH.

You should never purchase dvd's on a funcash order. just use up all your funcash and pay for the shipping. If you're going to pay full price for a dvd, why not place an order with another code?


If they don't send you all the dvd's from your first order, than you may end up getting charged full price for the ones on the second order that you used your funcah for since you now didn't earn enough funcash. Did you print out your order confirmations after you palced these orders? Always get a hard copy. You should also have received an emaol confirmation when you placed that order. That shuld have your account number on it and possible the order totals.

lizard

Every time we have a really good sale offer, some people pile on and place huge orders. Then we get the reports that the order has been screwed up or has caused problems with the account. Yet those of us who just buy a handful of DVDs/BDs don't have any problems.

When we get questions like this, I don't know what to say other than "let this be a lesson: don't place huge orders because unscrambling mistakes can be a nightmare". I realize that this doesn't help those who have already fallen into this trap. But, neither is there any pat answer to this problem. You will have to fuss with CSRs at Columbia House, perhaps for months to come. The fallback position of disputing any mistaken charges with the credit card company will work, but it will also mean no future Columbia House accounts, since they don't take kindly to that approach.

But the next time there is a good sale offer the same thing will happen. I don't get it. Why not buy a few DVDs and then just wait for the next deal (if one doesn't want to cycle accounts to get even better prices)? Why pile on?

lizard

Yes, Columbia House carries over 500 Blu-ray Disc titles. You can see a list of most of them in the http://forum.dvdtalk.com/dvd-clubs/5...bia-house.html thread. The problem is that there is no good Blu-ray Disc only club. There is one such offer, but the average cost isn't very good. That means that if you want to get BDs at Columbia House you will need to buy six or seven DVDs OR two DVD sets to open an account. If you do this you can then buy BDs to fulfill the account, using BOGOF offers. Some people here just keep the account open and keep buying BDs as sale offers occur. But for lowest average cost, it is still best to cycle accounts, assuming that one has a use for the DVDs purchased. And this is still the place to discuss such strategies.

If you read the last few pages of the enrollment code thread, you will find a number of codes mentioned. Most are standard 7:2 codes, for example: D50, 76C, etc. These are generally considered to be the "best". But, in fact, there is a 1:1:5 code* that has a substantially lower average cost (about $3.99/DVD, IIRC): B9V. The problem with this code is that it has only one fulfillment and since many of us are interested in Blu-ray Discs, fulfillments are more useful than enrollment DVDs. So, most of the BD buyers stick to 7:2 codes OR use the TV Edition of the DVD club: two sets for $9.95, two fulfillments, code HDL. [By the way, if one is interested in BDs, it might be best to use a 7:2 code as a 6:3 by declining the $9.95 "bonus" DVD.]


* "1:1:5" code B9V: get one DVD for "free" (plus $1.99 for shipping), buy one DVD for $19.95 or more to fulfill, then get five more DVDs for "free" (plus $1.99 each for shipping).

Cheato

I remember one time a few months ago when something like this happened. Another forum member (sorry, don't remember who) posted that he/she had gotten some info from a CSR that the CH ordering system has a problem when you order more than 20 DVDs. Thus, speculation that's the reason there's a maximum of 20 that you can order on the website at a time.

IIRC, the poster claimed that if you order more than 20 DVDs, the overflow DVDs get shunted into a kind of secondary account. And that's when your problems start coming up, since I think he/she said that a CSR has to manually process the order at that point. And that's when someone realizes that the customer used a code that wasn't intended for their use, and changes the order into the best deal available at that time (which is probably not such a good deal).

I don't know if that information is correct, but to the best of my recollection, that's what I read here in this forum a few months ago.

Personally, I have placed two 20-DVD orders to fulfill accounts (back when FunCash meant something--sorry, but even at $6 per DVD, I laugh at CH's FunCash program) a couple of times. The first time, no problem. The second time, the second 20-disc order got all screwed up. However, 10 minutes on the phone with CH, and 17 of the 20 discs were cleaned up in their system, and the other 3 I had to wait on since they were already "in processing." After they arrived, I called again and the CSR did the final adjustment on the order.

WuBrotha1

Well, I tried to log into my account today and it let me. I don't know what happened but my orders are still there, but I haven't received any more shipping confirmation letters. You ask why did I do one big order and not a small one? Well, because I only needed one more to fulfill my commitment, and I don't plan on staying a member for much longer, and with the 60 percent off and free shipping it was only 115 bucks for 20 dvd's that I've been wanting. On top of that it gave me $120 in fun cash for that order. You say funcash is meaningless but I got 6 full price movies for the shipping cost of 2 or 3 dollars each. So that's $127 dollars for 26 dvd's or $115 for 20 dvd's. How is this not a good deal and how is funcash worthless when it's giving you something for 2 or 3 bucks? It's just something extra, as long as you use it on the right titles.

In the second order I placed I used the funcash on it and ordered more movies using the code again, which ended being a $85 order for 13 paying dvd's, and then used the funcash on titles in a third order but didn't pay for any more movies. So, in all, I got 43 movies for about $220 bucks. That's about $5 a dvd. How is this a bad deal? The dvd's I got with the sixty percent off ended up being all 3-6 dollar dvd's and I got a few 8 dollar ones for movies that it was worth it and the funcash gave me movies for 2 or 3 bucks, just the shipping, which brought down the average price of dvd. I didn't know placing an order of 20 is "wrong" or messes things up. If it jacks up there system why do they allow orders of 20. The proof is in the emails they sent me, which I do have but they do not mention an order number or account number - I've checked multiple times. I've placed an order through their site the exact way the computer lets me. If I place five 20 dvd orders NOT using any codes they should still send the movies that are on the invoice. The allow 20 dvd's in an order for ALL customers. If they have problems getting the invoices because of the amount of dvd's then they shouldn't allow 20 dvd's on a order or multiple orders, and they should inform people not to do this. How would I know? That's ridiculous. Also, I've never heard anything about it being dangerous to place big orders through them.

I got a great deal and was hoping to knock out a big portion of movies I've been wanting to buy and if it wouldn't had let me place those orders then I would have ordered a handful of them like you suggested. Any other company you can place a big order for something and there are no problems. It's not that difficult. Well, like I said, my account's back up and some dvd's are on their way, but I don't know if the others are going to be shipped soon or if there's a problem with them and the invoices are lost or what. My only worry now is that I emailed them about my account being "in-active" and told them that I've placed orders and have only received shipping confirmation on some of the movies in those orders and now I'm being shut-out and its got me worried. I'm afraid this person that gets my email is going to adjust my order and charge me differently like you mentioned. Hopefully everything is fine and in a week or so everything will be shipped. I've heard that CH has made major improvements to their site and systems, but I don't want to have to call them about missing dvd's from an order or an entire unreceived order. Their CSR's can never get anything straightened out. Like I said, if this happens I'll just challenge the charges with my bank and tell them that CH never fulfilled my placed order and isn't shipping me what has been charged. And I'd ship back what dvd's I have been shipped so that my bank can't claim that I have product.

Oh, and it seems the movies I have been shipped so far are all four from the third order - a pure funcash order - and nine from the second order. Six are in one shipment, those ones were paid for dvd's, and three dvd's were shipped together in another, those being ones I got with fun cash. Nothing from the first order has been shipped and I still have three more funcash films that haven't been shipped. Ugh! I hope it just all smooths out.

movieguru

[QUOTE=lizard;9382277]Every time we have a really good sale offer, some people pile on and place huge orders. Then we get the reports that the order has been screwed up or has caused problems with the account. Yet those of us who just buy a handful of DVDs/BDs don't have any problems.

When we get questions like this, I don't know what to say other than "let this be a lesson: don't place huge orders because unscrambling mistakes can be a nightmare". I realize that this doesn't help those who have already fallen into this trap. But, neither is there any pat answer to this problem. You will have to fuss with CSRs at Columbia House, perhaps for months to come. The fallback position of disputing any mistaken charges with the credit card company will work, but it will also mean no future Columbia House accounts, since they don't take kindly to that approach.

But the next time there is a good sale offer the same thing will happen. I don't get it. Why not buy a few DVDs and then just wait for the next deal (if one doesn't want to cycle accounts to get even better prices)? Why pile on?[/QUOTE]


The reason people order the max here is because it reduces that average cost of the dvd's without have to recycle. If the code is buy 1 get unlimited for $7.95, the more you order the lower the average cost because the first dvd will be $19.95 or higher. I generally wait for the good codes and order the max myself.

Cheato

Using FC: 43 movies @ $220 => $5.12 each
You ordered mostly $14.95-and-under titles, or there is no way that you could have spent so little. [($115-$20)/19/40%=$12.50]

Not using FC: 44 movies (4 accounts), $211 => $4.80 each (slightly higher if you use >19.95 titles to fulfill)
You can order any titles you want, except some limited numbers on new releases (up to 16, including pre-orders), since you can't use them for enrollment--but it looks like you didn't order those, anyway, since your average CH price was around $12.50.

You (indirectly) asked me how FC is worthless. It's an opinion, and I stand by my comment. You saved a little time to get a massive fix of lower-priced DVDs now, and used FC to do it, and now possibly have an account problem because your orders were so big and the FC you were using may or may not actually exist at the time of processing the other orders. With patience and cycling, you could have saved money, gotten a better selection of DVDs, and not had to deal with FC at all (just the additional hassle of cycling, which may have value to you, since you say you didn't plan to stay a member much longer).


As for posting in two threads about the same problem just because you're hoping to get more people to read your question (your words, not mine), please don't do that. It's inappropriate behavior on every forum, not just this one. When people see a new comment posted in the Sale Codes thread, they go over there to check it out for information about, you know, the Sale Codes. Then they read some question from someone that's about their own account, and it kind of pisses some people off that they wasted their time. It may only be a few seconds, but it's their few seconds, not yours, and you wasted it and there was no reason to do so, other than selfishness.

And then ibsck posted a reply in there causing the same problem, which was not correct information, in my experience. I have easily had more than 6 DVDs in a shipping list. Here's one (don't you judge me!):

In the Line of Fire Special Edition
Widescreen
1
2560407
Ghost Rider Extended Cut (Unrated)
Widescreen
1
4678801
The One Special Edition
Full Screen & Widescreen
1
2697704
Bram Stoker's Dracula Collector's Edition
Widescreen
1
4719704
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle Extreme Unrated
Widescreen
1
3475506
King of Kings
Widescreen
1
1510601
The Detonator
Widescreen
1
4409504
A Knight's Tale Extended Cut
Widescreen
1
3907607
Total Items Shipped: 8

And, CH often combines shipping lists in one email, so you can see which boxes went out and what was in them. If they do that, you'll see multiple lists of titles grouped together, with different "Total Items Shipped" quantities. Sometimes you won't get shipment notifications at all (some people say they almost never get them; I usually do).


And then you posted a thank-you to ibsck in the Sales Code thread, bumping the thread again! How about a PM thank-you about your personal issue, or how about posting it here in this thread, instead, if you really want a public thank-you to be seen?

lizard

Well said, Cheato. Getting a bunch of very low value DVDs for $5+ is not a very good deal when the rest of us are getting higher value DVDs, including new releases, for ~$4.80 each. Can we say it any more clearly than that? I'd rather deal with the hassles of cycling accounts than trying to fix a gigantic messed up order.

I need to remind people here, especially newbies, that the sale offer codes we use ARE OFTEN NOT INTENDED FOR OUR ACCOUNTS. The Columbia House system allows us to use them (didn't use to be that way, btw) and they nearly always honor them SO LONG AS NOTHING GOES WRONG WITH THE ORDER AND THEY DON'T HAVE TO FUSS WITH IT! In the case of very large orders, there is more likelihood that something will go wrong and that a CSR will have to change the order, causing all sorts of problems. (I guess I should have put this warning in the FAQ in the first post of this thread, but huge orders aren't SOP here so it never occurred to me. I have now done so.)

Columbia House is a membership club not a retail store. It isn't run as a store nor does it behave like a store. Don't expect Amazon style service from Columbia House. We deal with the hassles of CH because it allows us to get DVDs (and BDs) for the lowest cost anywhere. But optimizing CH accounts isn't simple or easy, hence this forum.

movieguru

Ok, so i ordered 4 sets during the last sale where they were 60% off. I got a shipping notice a few days later but for almost 4 weeks I never received them. I check my account now and the titles are listed as returned. I nevwer returned them because I never received them to begin with.

Here's what the transaction looks like now. Not the shipping dates on the order that was placed in March 2009:

Item/Selection# Order Type Status Price
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: The Complete Collection
Full Screen
4984803 Standard Shipped 10/21/2008 $79.98
I Love Lucy: The Complete Series
Full Screen
4874103 Standard Shipped 02/05/2008 $39.18
The Flintstones: The Complete Series
Full Screen
4991006 Standard Shipped 10/28/2008 $51.98
The Avengers: The Complete Emma Peel Megaset
Full Screen
4402905 Standard Shipped 02/28/2006 $39.99

I've still been billed for these and no refund has yet appeared on my credit card. Has anyone seen an order like this where the shipping dates are changed from when they were said to be shipped to 3 years prior to that date?