I had already placed a few orders this month before I saw this thread, and now I've ordered so much, I think I'm in shock! :D
I took the opportunity to get a few boxsets and some higher priced titles that are not available for enrollment. Also got some $4.99 titles and started on some Xmas shopping too.
When all these dvds start coming in, I am going to be swamped for over a month.

Damn, what have I picked up so far...
# Tales From The Crypt (The Complete Third Season)
# Tales From The Crypt (The Complete Fourth Season)
# James Bond (The Ultimate Edition Volume 3)
# James Bond (The Ultimate Edition Volume 4)
# Alfred Hitchcock Presents (Season 3)
# CSI (Complete Fourth Season) [Xmas gift]
# Steven Spielberg's Taken
# Ben-Hur (Collector's Edition)
# Hustle & Flow
# Knocked Up (Unrated Collector's Edition)
# Mission: Impossible 3 (Collector's Edition)
# Flash Gordon (Savior Of The Universe Edition)
# Mississippi Burning
# Harvey
# Easy Money
# Stir Crazy
# V: The Original Miniseries
# Bram Stoker's Dracula (Collector's Edition)
# Babel (Collector's Edition)
# Transformers (Special Edition)
# See No Evil, Hear No Evil
# The Conformist (Extended Edition)
# Whale Rider (Special Edition)
# Reign Over Me (Widescreen)
# The 40 Year Old Virgin (Double Your Pleasure Edition)
# Ghost Rider (Extended Cut)
# This Boy's Life
# Midway (Collector's Edition)
# Spider-man 3 (Widescreen) [Xmas gift]
# A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints
# Auto Focus
# Rio Bravo (Two-Disc Special Edition)
# Saw III (Director's Cut)
# Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (Special Edition)
# Back To School (Extra-Curricular Edition)
# Serenity (Collector's Edition)
# Wag The Dog
# The Purple Rose Of Cairo
# Nighthawks
# Fahrenheit 451
# The Karate Kid (Special Edition)

Holy smokes. 8 Boxsets and 33 other titles! -eek-

Thanks OP.

just recieved another order (1 disturbia, because i already had tried it once, and 2 dream girls) all 3 dropped and i was left with just s/h... excellent - trying lawrence now....

I think anyone doing this multiple times knows there is a chance of being blacklisted.

I'd rather have access to CH deals forever, than try this "deal" more than once.

I agree. That's why it's nice to find other titles that this glitch(not "deal") will work with. I'm not going to risk another Disturbia or Dreamgirls order, but I might try a Lawrence of Arabia order.

agreed - 2 of each glitch title for me.... so far disturbia, dreamgirls orders shipped , just placed my lawrence order

The recent posts have me curious since I've seen the term 'blacklist' thrown around before.

Have any forum members reported this happening to them?

What gets a person blacklisted?

I understand the thinking that at some point in the past ordering too many copies of the same movie could cause it...anything else?

And the process itself--is there any kind of warning?

Are you immediately cut off permanently from all columbia house sites (ch.com, tv club, etc)?

Do they ban you by address, name or credit card number?


Sorry for all the questions...finished watching Urban Legend for the Horror Challenge earlier. The whole 'blacklist' concept has an urban legend feel to it... "I know someone who was blacklisted once...my brother-in-law's cousin had a hairdresser whose mom..." ;)

(Mostly off-topic, sorry....)

I'm blacklisted not at CH but at Time Life. Once upon a time there was a Muppets dvd deal of the century.......and there were others who benefited waaaaay more than me, but that's another story.

The blacklist is real. I can't get anything from them anymore, although I've tried using multiple emails, credit cards, and 2 addresses I can use.

I stated before be careful as you do not want to get blacklisted, but others have confirmed they have used it more then three times, but you do so at your own risk.

What I was also wondering is can they blacklist you if you have say $300 in funcash in your account or do they have to let you use it before being blacklisted?

I know people who have been blacklisted with having funcash ( 120 ) in their account and they were told apon calling that funcash is an incentive and can be revoked at anytime, such as if you have funcash in your account you may not use it if your account goes over limit. So yes from the exp. I know of you can be BL with funcash in account and they do not have to let you use the funcash.

I've tried to stay away from posting in this thread because I have ethical problems with this "deal". But in answer to your questions, Columbia House will blacklist people that they think are violating the membership agreement. One of the most common reasons for being blacklisted is if Columbia House suspects the member of selling DVDs, a violation of the membership agreement that DVDs are for "personal use only" or some such thing. CH will also blacklist someone for enrolling numerous times and never fulfilling, although in recent years they seem to keep better control of the number of open accounts they allow.

When a person is blacklisted they get a letter to the effect that Columbia House has made a "business decision" to close their accounts (whether fulfilled or not; any accumulated funcash is lost). I believe that names, addresses, and credit cards are all blacklisted, but don't know that for certain. Trying to open a new account after being blacklisted can be very difficult; there have been reports of people working their way up through supervisors, explaining the situation, and getting membership status reinstated. But you really don't want to go there. The only really effective way around being blacklisted is to use a new name, address, and credit card. Do you really want to hassle with that?

The reason we recommend the purchase of no more than two copies of a DVD over all one's accounts is because in the past people would order the same set of high value DVDs over and over with the clear intent of selling them. This is a red flag to CH and leads to the blacklist. That said, if one orders multiple copies of a DVD in December, CH knows perfectly well that they are likely being used as gifts and there shouldn't be a problem with this. Anyway, one can only order two copies of any DVD in any one enrollment and few would probably want to order more than two as fulfillments. Yes, there are people who have purchased many copies of a DVD over multiple accounts and CH hasn't caught up with them. Yet. But blacklisting does happen and has been reported in this forum from time to time.

As to the scam in this thread. Yes, it is entirely possible that Columbia House will catch on and blacklist those doing it. More likely, in my opinion, is that most of the free DVDs will just never ship. Another possibility is that they will adjust billing to reflect the cost of the "freebies", causing howls of protest here.

But maybe everyone will get away with it. CH runs a pretty loose ship, as many of us have found out over the years.

I'm with Trevor. I'd rather continue to be a customer in good standing with Columbia House than abuse this glitch in their system. Others may do as they please.

I agree with Lizard on this one. I'm not placing an order with this glitch. There's good deals without this and you could risk getting blacklisted if you place multiple orders. The DVD could actually be shipped and i'm not interested in paying $30 for an HD or Blu-ray when I don't have a player for it. Most of the "free" dvd's could have been purchased for $7.95 last week with the codes. Just not worth the trouble for me.

Whatever are you talking about? I'm simply trying to get the Dreamgirls Blu-ray they keep promising me-- and I find myself more and more disappointed every time they remove it from my order. :D

Ex purchased his PS3 just for Dreamgirls and Disturbia.

Indeed. And Columbia House keeps letting me down...

ex I know the feeling, I to would love to watch dreamgirls and disturbia, more importantly Lawrence of Arabia I would like to know they have a copy for me.

I have been blacklisted for over a year and a half.What happened?
I already had at least 2 CH DVD accounts and 2 TVonDVD accounts.I got greedy and enrolled again.No "welcome email"so I tried again.This time it worked and I later found out that the previous one did as well and than a 3rd new account.So in 1-2 weeks time,I received 3 enrollment packages.
Now maybe had I chosen all different titles as my enrollment selections,they would not have minded,but I doubt it.They noticed that I had ordered more than 2 copies of at least 3 different Tartan Asia Extreme titles.
I could no longer log in to any of my accounts.I later received a letter explaining that it was a "business decision".
I tried enrolling numereous times(online,phone and even those paper applications).I tried different email addresses,etc.I did not give them a different CC.I even tried with my brothers address,CC and name.Not sure why that didn't work.
A couple of weeks ago I decided to enroll with my name but use my aunts address and instead of CC,i selected "bill me".
That did the trick.
I did order at least 3 Disturbia and 2 Dreamgirls,but no more.

Lawrence and Dreamgirls dropped off my last order, but on the Pre-Order Reminder sidebar on the front page when I log in to my account, Lawrence is listed as shipping 1/29/08.

Disturbia and dreamgirls dissapeared from my order this morning leaving me with 3 criterions still "pending". Fingers crossed.

Disturbia & Dreamgirls dropped from my first order (got billed $4.99 today) so I placed another order on my other account.

Coach: The Second Season $19.95
Mr. Brooks FREE
Disturbia - Blu-ray $29.96
Bridge on the River Kwai Limited Edition FREE
Dreamgirls Showstopper Edition - Blu-ray $29.96
Lawrence of Arabia Limited Edition (Older one) FREE

Subtotal $79.87
Shipping & Processing FREE
Tax FREE
Total $79.87
I'll be happy with these 4 DVDs for $19.95 and $5.95 for the 3 below. ;)

<HR>
Plus one more on the account that dropped Disturbia and Dreamgirls already.
Kids in America $5.95
Georgia Rule FREE
Disturbia - Blu-ray 47333 $29.96
Dreamgirls Showstopper Edition - Blu-ray $29.96
The Condemned 47408 Pending FREE

Subtotal $65.87
Shipping & Processing $0.00
Tax $0.00
Total $65.87

bigjim25, I don't think the "real" Limited Edition of Bridge on the River Kwai can be a free pick, so I assume you picked the other one, the non-LE that also has LE in the title. If so, and you think you'll get the LE, that wont happen. I tried to get it once and they sent me the other version, the non-LE.

If I'm wrong, please let me know. I've been wanting the real LE for a long, long time.

I seen both on there and got the one that the Reg price was $39.95.
Did you get that one or the cheaper one that time?

The one I tried for wasn't that one, so I guess you finally figured out what I've never been able to do. I've never had the real LE, the more expensive one, to ever show up free for me. Did you use the code that just recently expired?

I used code 802331 (multiple BOGO code with Free shipping - 5th dvd promotion does not work on this offer). It's supposed to expire today, according to the email I got. I hope this helps.

Using the multiple BOGO code, you can get the $39 Kwai to show up free if you pay for 2 others. Of course you'd get a second freebie too.