Ugh, I've been charged for a Director's Selection I've declined...
 

Yep, ColumbiaHouse has apparently charged me for the Pan's Labyrinth Director's Choice even after I declined it. I have a big fat $27.24 charge on my account, and it only just showed up yesterday, but on my CH account it says "Order Date: 5/7/07" so I'm not quite sure what to do here. Any advice on this one?

Columbia House not only did the same exact thing to me once but did it FOUR months in a row. I canceled eventually and never joined again. That may not be the answer you are looking for but at a point it is not worth the trouble.

Season 2 of Bevery Hills 90210 has mysteriously appeared in my order history, even though I declined. Same day, 5/7/2007 and an automatic charge. That'll be marked 'Refused, Return to Sender'

Well, I guess everyone here should check out your accounts to see if you got hit as well. :(

I suspect a lot of these "mistakes" are done on purpose, and anyone who keeps the DVDs means profit for CH.

I guess that's money you won't be seeing charged back to your card for 4-6 months. :(

The same thing just happened to me, for a different selection. Jerks.

"Bill me later"

I stopped letting CH have my CC info years ago after they pulled this shit on one of my accounts.

Sounds like a headache. And just to think I was actually considering joining. No thanks.

Happened before I just called and they fixed it before it was shipped.

Is there a way to change your account to "bill me later" once you join? Had to use a credit card for my TV club membership.

Yep, I just called and they told me they pulled the charge as well and the authorization charge should be pulled in 72 hours or so. I'm glad I caught it before it shipped (if they actually did what they said they did).

I must say that, no matter what comes of the phone call, the phone call I just had with them was the most simple call I've ever had talking to anyone from CH.

Suit yourself. While this is also happening to me (different title: Stomp the Yard) this is only the second "Director's Selection" mistake in more than six years and more than 75 memberships. Some make these occasional screwups by Columbia House into a bigger deal than they really are. For those who really care about such hassles, just fulfilling and closing accounts as quickly as possible will prevent having to deal with Director's Selections. I prefer to keep a very old account open for research purposes.

If anyone can't get the mistaken DS stopped by phone, as others have done, just write "Refused, Return to Sender" on the unopened box and send it back. When it is received, your account will be credited for the return. This typically takes two to four weeks IME.

If you can get them on the phone you can ask them to remove your credit card from your account, in effect switching to "bill me". You might also be able to do this by e-mail ([email protected]) but I have never tried to do it this way.

this would explain me receiving dreamgirls in the mail. im 99.99% sure i cancelled that DS but maybe they sent it anyways.

So are these actually showing up in your order history, or just your credit card statements?

I'm still in the clear over here. I just checked my account and nothing. This is the reason I always check what's in a package from them before I tear it open though.

Yup, thankfully I check on here because I don't check my account all the time, especially now thats its fulfilled just keeping it open until I get another account open.. but I have a charge in my account for Pans Labyrinth, that I know I declined.

*edit* took a 5 min. phone call to the number on their site, and its all worked out, hopefully. If not its easy to send back lol.

Showed up in my order history as the usual "awaiting credit approval".

So far, I'm clean on all of my accounts. Thanks for the heads-up, though!

I have the same thing for Stomp The Yard ordered 5/7/07, it's awaiting stock. If I get it I'll just send it back.

What is up with the overinflated expectations and conspiracy theories? The company makes a mistake, one person reports it in a public forum, and then everybody's chiming in about how horrible it is? Let's keep in mind that most of the people in this forum are here because they're getting DVDs for about $5 each. I don't mind if CH gets a little sloppy and makes a few mistakes (hasn't happened to me yet in about 6 years, but I won't whine about it if it does).

Would you rather pay twice as much per DVD so that they can have more perfect quality control? Keep in mind this would also reduce the mistakes that are IN YOUR FAVOR, like FunCash mistakes (and negative balances), pricing mistakes, overpriced items showing up as the free one in a B1G1 code, unadvertised codes working, and all the other little things that happen that I don't see anybody complaining about.

Yes, I know not everybody was griping, but the first bunch of replies in the thread really irked me.

Yes, we get great prices for which I am thankful. But, when they make a mistake, it seems to be across the board... for instance, Pan's Labyrinth SE (appears to have been a simple "wrong bin" error). The director's selection errors are more worrisome.

I, for one, am glad we have this forum to point out things like this. Checked my account and there was an automatic order for Melrose Place... which I had declined. Hopefully, a simple phone call has that straightened out - they said they would cancel the order and change my account to "Bill Me."

I'm glad that I posted this since it seemed to happen to a lot of other people. This is what this little folder is all about. :)

This happened to me on the exact same day. The status is stuck on Awaiting credit approval. I contacted them and asked them to cancel the order. The reply went along the lines that i failed to decline the directors selection and they would cancel if it hadnt gone to be shipped yet. But yes this will definitely be marked Refused, Return to sender. Guess they arent getting enough suckers to do the directors selections so they just stick it to the users and hope they open the package and keep it. ugghhh

I appreciate you posting this. It would have probably been shipped by the time I noticed it. Thanks!