BobO'Link

^Yep... ad blockers'll get you every time w/CH. Glad you caught it. I was just about to ask if you were running Adblock or NoScript.

Moleman1138

those idiots charged me for two identical enrollment kits.

Watson2

My current order was duped in the same order and the total doubled the day after it was posted to 'my account'. The order arrived today with my three movies but there was a note on the invoice about the same three movies being back ordered and would ship as soon as possible. CH seems to be on my case lately, I've already closed my long open account and am going to close this one when I think things are cleared up and will take a short vacation from CH.

starman9000

OK,

I've been trying to figure out the most valuable way to grab BSG 4.5 along with Watchmen DC.

Using the B1G1 codes, you have to throw in some filler to get free shipping on Watchmen, pretty much killing the deal.

I'm thinking the best deal for me, is using the B1 +60 +10 code and also grabbing the Peanuts 1960 set. That ends up being about $54, which is cheaper than the DD sale, but not by all that much.

Anyone else have any ideas?

starman9000

OK, I did some more "research" and it looks like the 805338 is the best code for me. I'm really annoyed with myself as I just found that Dr. Horrible is available for preorder at CH and would only be 5.38 using that code (much cheaper than I just bought it for at DD).

cgray

I'm having trouble logging in, and had trouble with my credit card after using one too many B1G2 codes today. I'm curious if they're related... Anyone else having trouble logging in?

SMART-ASS

No trouble logging in for me.
However, in these situations I have had trouble with my card before, because when the cc bank sees multiple transactions from the same venue, they suspect fraud. That may be what is happening, and if so you need to call them and explain that you authorized all of those charges from the same place.

cgray

Yeah, it's been cleared with the CC, but the actual login page at CH keeps kicking me to the "authentication/hard sign in" page. Strange... I'll give it a bit.

Edit... now I'm logged in? Just a finicky site sometimes, I guess.

Edit #2: kicked back out. I suspect that some users are affected by site maintenance or something.

BobO'Link

^Try clearing your cookies. If possible just do the ones for columbiahouse so you won't lose settings for other sites. This corrects *lots* of issues with CH.

lizard

Re: the Tuesday B2G2F deal
The problem isn't with the Columbia House deal as much as it is with the studios charging high prices for some catalog titles. If you are patient, it is likely that those titles will be available for much less someday when the MSRP is lowered. We have seen other older catalog BDs drop in price to $10 or so.

CH tends to be the lowest price for BDs when they are used to fulfill an account. The fulfillment credit drastically lowers the relative cost of the titles selected. But if you are just buying BDs on a fulfilled account, Columbia House sales aren't all that much better than what you can find at Amazon or places like that. Of course, the problem with using BDs as fulfillments is that one has to buy lots of DVDs as enrollments and that it is getting increasing difficult to get new accounts opened, at least for those of us who have had many before.

The "glory days" of Columbia House may be coming to an end, especially for those of us primarily interested in Blu-ray Discs.

SMART-ASS

If that is true, then it will probably be the end of CH.
Like you said, the dvds can already be had elsewhere for about the same average price.
CH will have to get with the Blu game, or charge less for everything, or they are going to dwindle.

BobO'Link

^It'll take quite a while. Blu seems to still be lagging way behind DVD in total sales:

Stats for the week ending September 6th, 2009:

Percentage of Top 20 titles by disc volume:
Blu-ray vs DVD: 11% vs 89%

The numbers are from the latest digital edition of Home Media Magazine (September 14-20 Issue). This is with 2 of the top 20 getting a Blu only release.

Cheato

Not to derail this topic, but isn't that kind of what BobO'Link presented? The "Top 20 selling titles," not ALL DVDs and Blu-rays. The Top 20 selling titles, and two of them were only available as Blu-rays. These were not "no choice" sales EXCEPT for those two Blu-ray-only titles. In addition, top sellers are almost always new releases, not bargain bin titles. All those bargain bin sales were sales on top of that 89%. By total volume, as you said, the numbers were probably even higher in favor of DVD.

BTW, "scured" numbers? I'm looking at my keyboard and trying to figure out how "skewed" became "scured." Maybe you were going for "cursed?" Or maybe "scured" is a word I don't know...

SMART-ASS

Looks like you're right. I didn't read it very carefully did I.
Of course that's sales and not rentals too, but that's a different topic.

My spell check didn't like "scured" either, but it felt good at the time so I went with it. The English language is the most complicated language in the world. There is always an exception to the rule, and more often than not, slang terminology is implemented in conversation in lieu of proper English.
This is the world we live in. Get used to it.

lizard

While I realize that none of this really regards "questions" being answered, I put my response to jkzahn's statement from the sale offer codes thread here because I didn't want to clutter up a stickied resource thread. I view this as a general discussion thread and all of the above speculation about Columbia House and Blu-ray Disc sales certainly qualifies, IMO.


[And, no, I didn't know what "scured" was supposed to mean either!]

SMART-ASS

scured: The act of skewing obscure numbers together to create advantageous results for any given party or source.

Cheato

Awesome definition. I'm adding that to my dictionaries in Word and Thunderbird right now. Can't wait to use it in the global warming discussion thread in the Politics forum. "Man, those results are just scured."

twa2

I joined at the beginning of this month with the $2.99 deal. I figured it was a great way to get a good deal without any commitments and keep an account open for any deals that might come along. It has been years since I've been a member. Anyway, what I'm wondering is if they still have good deals on sets now and then, because I haven't seen any this month. And, no, 40% isn't a good deal in my book. It tickles me that they exclude sets from everything because they already have "special pricing." Apparently, their defintion of "special pricing" is as much or more than everyone else.

Now, I did get the 2nd and 3rd season of Batman Beyond in the recent clearance sale plus some clearance/bargain dvd's with free shipping and the $10 off coupon, but I'm wondering about sets deals in general, not certain titles on clearance or whatever.

BobO'Link

I thought it was "frightened beyond belief"... as in:

Wen 'at dawg jumped out it scured me so bad I peed muh pants.

BobO'Link

There generally aren't sets deals at CH. After shipping is added even the sets that really look to have "good" prices are no better than "regular prices" at most online vendors. You have to be patient, track prices at other vendors, wait for a B1G1 that has some type of free shipping attached, or wait for "clearance" or "special sales" on sets. As far as "free shipping" it's best to wait for free shipping on sets as this will garner the best overall deal. Even then it's best to use sets only to fulfill an account. The other way to get good average prices for sets is to open a TVonDVD account using HDL to get 2 TV sets for $9.95 with a 2 DVD purchase commitment. If you can fulfill one of those with a B1G1 w/free shipping on sets you will have sets for less than $15 each average. Even if you fulfill with regular DVDs on a TVonDVD account using a B1G1 w/free shipping the sets will cost you ~$15 each. This is using "standard" calculations for individual DVD prices from optimized accounts at CH.

smashthesymbols

I guess this is a good place for this...

I got an email today about CH adding Summit Entertainment titles to the catalog. That means Twilight, Push, Knowing, Sex Drive and others are now available. Looks like they have DVD and BD for the titles that had both. It means very little to me, but I know people had been asking about Twilight back when it came out.

lizard

^ I figured that Columbia House would try to work something out with Summit to be able to carry Twilight, a very popular title even if it doesn't match the DVD Talk demographic very well.

I've got a friend who would like to get the Twilight BD if I can spot a way to get it for a good price. But B1G1F + free shipping for BDs doesn't appear to be coming back anytime soon. Perhaps in November when other stores are doing their Black Friday sales...

BobO'Link

Moved from the "codes" thread:
For your continued problems with unwanted selections try some of these hints/suggestions:

Login every other day for no other reason than to check whether or not a selection is being offered. If it is, decline it as soon as you see it.

If logging in to decline a selection of the month *do NOT enter a code*! This can potentially cause issues as typically the codes we use are not truly on your account.

Call CS and ask to be put on a "no automatic shipment" account. Considering the trouble you've been having this might be the best solution. This can only be done over the phone. The latest reported "good" number is: 1-800-262-2001

From the post with the number:

"The key is, you press 1 to continue in english. then the lady will blah blah about movies. Press 5. option 5 is for "non members that have received a dvd in the mail" but oddly enough, when you pick that option, you go straight to a rep, and they ask you for your account number.

So call 1-800-262-2001, press 1, then press 5."

Good luck!

and welcome!

leximae

Thanks for the answer.

I have another question.

I just noticed the new account codes thread....and I'm *SHOCKED* at what a bad deal we got.

So essentially we are committed to purchasing 5 additional DVDs within the next two years (well less than that now, obviously)....

So I guess my question is, is there anyway around that or am I stuck with that crappy commitment?

leximae

Wow, so I tried this out with no luck.

The phone rep simply said "we Can't do that" and I asked why and she said "because we just can't do that"... this went on for several minutes of me asking why is it that others can be placed on these types of accounts and she said "we just can't do it" and I said basically what can be done so this stops happening and she said she'll cancel my mailings but I'll still have directors selections.

I told her she can't give me an explanation so clearly she doesn't know very much about the business and she got defensive and immature with me.

What the hell kind of business are they running? I am BEYOND frustrated at this.