I ordered a B1G1 deal about three weeks ago containing one pre-order and one new release. The new release never showed up so I shot them an email wondering what happened to it. I got this reply:

So my bank refused charges on the free item (how do you get charged for a free item?) but will but will now happily accept charges for anything? Really?
What a load of bullshit.

always call. i find that the email replies usually never make any sense.

back when they had the b2g3 sale they only shipped 2 of my 6 free ones - the others i was told were declined by my CC. Had to call and email a few times before they shipped them out to me.

Then like 2 months later, they shipped them to me again.....works for me.

I found the title of this thread very amusing. Sick sense of humor.

Update: I got this email.

Fine. It appears free selections will not be sent before pre-orders. I know for a fact they have sent me free selections before pre-orders in the past but that may have been done in error.
Why didn't they just say that to begin with instead of all that mumbo jumbo about my credit card? Columbia House

Free selections arriving before the paid selection is very YMMV. Some have reported getting the free titles first, but others, myself included, have always had to wait until the paid selection shipped.

^ normally if you pay for shipping they'll ship the free selection out but if you have free shipping you'll have to wait until the pre-order is released.

I have rarely had an account where they wait to send me the free selection on a B1G1 purchase, no matter if I had paid for shipping or not. For example, I just recently pre-ordered 30 Days of Night (scheduled for late February release) and took Resident Evil: Extinction free. Shipping was free, and it only took about 5 days to receive the Resident Evil dvd.

So it definitely varies from person to person (and even accounts within the same household).