Cheato

Wow, I didn't know you couldn't use sale offers with Director's Selections. I have never accepted a DS, so I never tried to use a code with it. Interesting. Good advice, Lizard.

lizard

Like you, I've never tried to buy a DS and use a sale offer. I think there was some discussion years ago on ways to buy the DS with a sale offer, but I don't remember the details or even if it worked. So, I may be wrong about that.

My suggestion to always decline the DS is intended to keep things simple and to make sure that one doesn't forget to decline it in time; as you know, we get the occasional tale of woe here from those who get Director's Selections they didn't want. Rather than try to work a deal for the DS, just decline them, ignore them, and use sale offers to buy fulfillments at much better average prices.

If others want to hassle with trying to work a decent deal on a DS, if it is possible, have at it. But don't just buy the DS at full price (plus shipping!) just because Columbia House wants you to. This is the lesson I am trying to convey to newcomers to Columbia House.

putnum

So I am trying to use the sales code 807045 to buy The Wizard Of Oz 70th Anniversary Edition and Its A Wonderful Life 60th Anniversary Edition and its coming out to be $30.94. Is this right? The Wizard of Oz is 24.95 is that why? I guess I need to pick a title that is $19.95 but I am confused.

BobO'Link

^I've not looked up the prices but that sounds correct based on your description. You'll be charged full price for the *highest* priced item in your cart. Everything else will be 70% off.

putnum

Ok thanks. Just seems alot for two dvds. But thats what I get for not following the guides here the first time.

lizard

Columbia House is not the place to order new releases if you want them in a timely fashion. It is for serious bargain hunters who are willing to work deals and be patient. The wheels at Columbia House grind slowly.

One of the ways to cause problems with Columbia House is to "pile on" and make large orders or make large numbers of orders with a particular sale offer. [Understand that the sale offers we use are not technically intended for our accounts, in most cases.] If something goes wrong with an order it can be difficult to sort out when you weren't supposed to have the offer in the first place. CH works best for those who place a modest order or two from time-to-time. In the unlikely event a problem develops with such an order, it can usually be sorted out or just canceled (by sending back the unopened DVDs that have been received, if any).

My 2¢.

Squirrele Girl

Wow!! You're not Lizard, you're the CH Wizard!! Thank you so very much for the forum, and for being soo informative.
I've never had a Columbia House account before a friend recommended that maybe I should. My husband and his family are serious movie fanatics. She also recommended this site for savings codes. Well, I haven't seen deals like this because we always shopped at the stores. So, I think i went a little overboard. (thats what happens when a girl gets a new cc) Now my orders are coming in very slowly. It seems that my 1st 2 orders from Oct 12 +14 have not been processed, while my later orders from the 16th on are coming in already. Most of these are gifts, so I can wait patiently. Now Im getting invoices with the wrong prices, and such. After reading this forum, I think I will cancel my membership, and start over. I will not make the mistake of "pile on" again.
Thanks again for all your wisdom. I'm glad that there is a site like this for me to reference too.

BobO'Link

^Additional advice...

Read the "stickied" threads and this one from the beginning. You'll get a lot of your questions answered before you ask and will probably get answers to questions you didn't know you had until you read the threads.

Since you've married into a family of movie fanatics, you should also look at the "bargains" threads regularly for non-CH items and especially look for the next DeepDiscount 25% off sale announcement which should occur mid-late November/early December based on the timing of the last one. They also have fairly good sales throughout the year.

And if you have a Big Lots in your area check it out. There have been lots of excellent movies there in the past for $3/ea. The Big Lots Bargains thread has listings of what people are finding in different areas of the country. I would start with the last several pages of this one and work your way back to the front if interested in titles available during the past couple of months.

Welcome aboard!

lizard

^Another example of a deal in the main Bargains Forum is today's Angel complete series set at Amazon for $52.99. For those interested in that series, that's the lowest I've seen it priced (I find the original Buffy series has more "rewatchability" for me, so I watched and then sold my Angel set).

rider555

I made my first order in over 18 months last night.
I just checked the order status and all titles are currently listed as processed.
So,it's processed and than shipped,correct?

SMART-ASS

Theoretically, yes.

PGHFlyer

Does funcash REALLY expire on 12/31 every year no matter when earned? (I just got a lot with all my B1G1 orders). That is pretty rough if you bought Christmas gifts in early December and the funcash expires just a few weeks later!

Cheato

Yup. Although they have extended the deadline before, they haven't the last couple years.

SMART-ASS

You just earned $9 in Funcash on December 30th for buying several DVDs, there is nothing worth buying for $9, and you can't add to it because it expires and is deleted in less than 24 hours.
Welcome to Cloumbia House.

BuckNaked2k

Does anyone know if CH can just replace a damaged case, or do I have to return the whole item?

starman9000

You'll have to return the whole item, personally I wouldn't bother though and get a replacement case some other means to avoid the hassle.

Back with the CD club, they'd just tell you to keep it and would send you a new one.

BuckNaked2k

Yea, that would make sense. IIRC, DDDVD sends out replacement cases only. Thanks.

lizard

Columbia House can't be bothered to deal with replacement cases when a sealed DVD costs them only a couple of dollars. It would be way more trouble than it is worth.

If it is the first return on an account, the CSR will likely just tell you to throw away the damaged DVD and send out a new one. Otherwise, they will send a prepaid return label for the damaged one while sending the replacement separately.

thewrite1

Hi Lizard. I sent you a private PM. Can you please reply? I greatly appreciate your response. Thanks!

rider555

How difficult is it to return something to CH.
They sent me an order using one of the free shipping codes.
So after more than 2 weeks of waiting,the order shows up,I don't open the DVDs,I open one end of the box just so that I can get the invoice at.
I see that they did charge me shipping(I think it was $4.99).
I was not even aware that it was shipped via UPS(delivered to my Aunts house)til the postal clerk told me"We don't handle UPS packages".
I went through the process of setting up a return on CHs web site.
I clicked on both of these titles and selected the "i do not want this item"option.
Now,I am waiting on them to send me return label(s).

Will UPS take something that has been marked"refused return to sender"and marked with my initials?

SMART-ASS

Whenever I absolutely HAVE to send something back, I just mark it return to sender.
Be aware, that they may not refund the shipping charges. Sometimes they do, and sometimes not.
Then you may have to threaten and/or beg and plead for them to credit the full amount.
At that point, it means that some CSR is rooting through your account, and that means that anything can happen.
The last time I was supposed to get refunded some charges, it went from +$5 to +$10 to +$18 to +$13 to +$8. That was through many repeated attempts to get them to credit it down to $0 like they promised. Eventually I just paid the $8 and said screw it.

rider555

Does UPS accept something that is marked return to sender?

SMART-ASS

I've never heard of CH sending something UPS.

BobO'Link

^Same here. I thought they always used USPS. BUT... he might have accidentally (or intentionally not realizing there would be an additional charge even with a "free shipping" offer) selected "expedited shipping" as the amount matches exactly. Since the delivery time is shorter (unless you order pre-release titles) CH might use UPS for these packages. I wouldn't know as I'm too cheap to find out. I can *always* wait on shipping.

From the shipping FAQ:

"You can choose to send your order by expedited shipping to receive your order in 2 to 4 business days from the order date for in stock items at an additional cost of $4.99 per order."

Normal shipping for 2 non-set selections would be $4.98.

Watson2

Do all pre-orders eventually drop to 19.95, specifically Moon at 22.95 coming out on 1/12/2010? Also, can titles marked as not available as free selections be used as the G1 in a B1G1? Any quirks?