Columbia House is Back with Blu-ray - We Do the Math!

[admin]

Back in the 80's and 90's Columbia House was a big deal. I can still remember the postage stamp stickers they used to send, where you could search out and select your favorite albums and then plaster them onto your order sheet. I always wondered if they laced the stamp glue with some kind of mind-altering drug to get me to want to buy more CDs... It never seemed to work in any event. The best way to use the service was always to sign up with them to get a bunch of CDs - including the minimum amount you needed to purchase to fulfill the agreement over the next several years. Then, you could immediately cancel the contract since the requisite number of purchases were fulfilled. That avoided the monthly hassle of having to send back the silly CDs they sent you automatically. To be honest, the process was always painful for anyone who didn't do the math and close everything out up front.

Discuss "Columbia House is Back with Blu-ray - We Do the Math!" here. Read the article.

 

[its phillip]

I'll just stick with amazon

Having to deal with columbia house every three weeks doesn't sound fun.

 

[GO-NAD!]

Yeah, that business model is soooo outdated. I did Columbia House for CDs back in the 90's and it was a pretty good deal at the time. But, I'm not prepared to go back in time. I'll stick with Amazon as well.

 

[Adam]

CDs? I'm trying to remember if my first order from them was tapes or records.

As for the question in the article - no, I don't think it's a good deal. Over 25 years later, I can still recall it being a bit of a hassle. Then again, I never did the math like Clint.

 

[jfalk]

I definitely go back to the old LP days. But the new ability to go to a website once a month and cancel the automatic shipment actually makes it look much better to me. The mail return was a real pain, particularly for a disorganized teenager. But a moderately more organized 55 year old may be another matter, particularly armed with a calendar-based tickler message. Admittedly, it's not a great deal, but it doesn't look like a bad deal. In the old days, you could accumulate credits by buying at the regular prices and earn discounts on incremental purchases, intended to stop membership churn. So the deal may actually be better than your math.

 

[majorloser]

CDs? I'm trying to remember if my first order from them was tapes or records.

As for the question in the article - no, I don't think it's a good deal. Over 25 years later, I can still recall it being a bit of a hassle. Then again, I never did the math like Clint.

Yeah, for me it was tapes. I got stuck with a few I didn't want that didn't get sent back in time. Early '80's pop crap music, on tape no less.

I'd never do anything like that again. I cancelled the subscription as soon as I could. But now I wonder how many people screwed up their credit rating over this scam.

 

[Audioholics]

I think I did tapes once. I definitely did CDs. I remember only once that I actually let it get drawn out... after that I ran the numbers - and if I couldn't buy everything on the first order and then cancel immediately, I didn't do it.

 

[lsiberian]

I used BMG and it was worth it at the time. I got cd's I wanted for 4 bucks. I would never do it now.

 

[flamingeye]

never again

Many moons ago I did the Colombia dvd thing I fulfilled my obligation with them and canceled my subscription then 6 months later they send a letter saying I owed them $48 witch I replied back that I did indeed payed them and have the records to prove it well now it`s a year latter and again I get a letter from them about the $48 and again gave them the same reply with a copy of my prof then 2 years latter again but this time they threaten me and I`m now fed up with this and get BBB involved to witch so far so good no letters and it`s been another year so 4 years to get Colombia house to stop harassing me for $$$ I already gave them so be for warned , I for one will never trust a cd,dvd etc.. club again it`s not worth the hassle even if you have prof they will not stop!!!
note; I know $48 is not much to shut them up but how do I know that this time they would stop the first time I payed and proved it didn`t stop them till BBB got involved

 

[gholt]

I think I did both the Columbia House and BMG. I never did the math at the time. So, I think I stayed on too long.

 

[jeffsg4mac]

I have done them all at one time or another throughout the years. A few months ago I did the Disney movie club. I did the math and it figured out to be something like 12 bucks a blu-ray which is not a bad deal.

 

[MrPirate2882]

Pricing

You could save a couple of bucks if you bought the 3 commitments at the same time (then shipping would only be $1.99 each for the 2nd and 3rd).

However, they also tend to have a lot of offers like Free Shipping, B1G1, etc that could bring the costs down. if you did a B1G1 with all 3 commitments you'd get 6 for the price of 3 (though you'd pay for shipping 6 instead of 3). the guys at DVD Talk manage to do a pretty good breakdown if you can find it.

 

[j_garcia]

Used to like them but their practice of automatically sending you something every month got me really irritated, especially when it wasn't something I was interested in. They would KILL you with inflated shipping too. The initial deal was great, but they made up with it with their "regular" pricing, which ended up being something I could find for less online or locally and ultimately wasn't worth it in the long run except when they had sales.

The kicker was when I tried to cancel them...at first they wouldn't do it saying that I had not fulfilled my total purchases. I had, but they argued and I ended up having to go around and around with them over it. Then I had to call them and tell them to stop sending me offers to come back!! Forget them.

 

[RockRover]

Back in the 80's? Heck in the 70's, when I was 12, I signed up with Columbia record and tape club. I fell for the lure of seven 8 track tapes for a penny deal. I got screwed and learned a lesson.

Then later in college while I was living in a fraternity, we got the bright idea that we would "sign" up for every one of the "special" club deals we could...Using aliases of course!

Over the next several weeks and months we had new books, CD's, tapes, etc delivered to the frat house. Then the collection notices came...Then finally a series of collection agents came to the door looking for Mr. Bobby Butcheease, Mrs. Megan Fartzalot, Suzzy Wrotencrotch, and others. Needless to say the look on the collectors face as they realized who they were looking for was priceless!