(This was included on a Director's Selection email I just got)

Notice of Changes to the FunCash™ Program

Changes effective May 2, 2008:

Redeeming FunCash™ for discounted DVDs will no longer be available.
In order to redeem FunCash for a $19.95 item, you must have at least $20.00 in your FunCash account.

FunCash redemption for DVD or TV-on-DVD Sets & Collections will no longer be available.

Please note that how you earn FunCash will not change. You will still earn FunCash on every DVD you buy that you can redeem for FREE DVDs. Plus, redeeming your FunCash online is now easier than ever—just use the same shopping cart for FunCash redemption that you use for regular shopping at columbiahouse.com.

FunCash redemption will be briefly suspended from May 2 to June 20, 2008 while we update our site features. During this time, you will continue to earn FunCash on every DVD you buy and we will be adding great new features to enhance your shopping experience at columbiahouse.com.

Cant complain too much. Yes it'll suck that I wont be able to get stuff like The Sarah Silverman show for $5 shipped now but oh well. As long as we get the occasional Buy 1 get 4 free code my lips will be sealed and with no bitching.

amen to that chris....ill gladly make that trade

ditto.

Same here. When they quit letting Funcash cover the whole amount on box sets it just wasn't as fun to use on those. I'll take the B1G4FREE deals any day. riotinmyskull - thanks for the reminder about the Sarah Silverman Show. I bought that with FC but forgot about having it. Time to watch it.

funcash has been basically worthless since then. the new code makes up for it.

Well, that should officially be the final nail in funcash's coffin. It was basically worthless to begin with, now I don't see how it could have any use.

Wow, I got like $160 I have to spend first.

Yeah, my too. Post what you buy, as I'll be needed some suggestions!

Certain sets make it a good deal, they have to have a low disc count...

Reno:911 - Season 4 comes out under 10 when the maximum funcash is applied, for example.

Wow, glad I don't have much Funcash left. I don't care all that much, since Funcash was never an important reason for my ordering. As long as the bargains keep coming, I'm good...

I have $4 in one account and $0 in another. Guess I'll just be letting it go. I usually used mine for TV-on-DVD sets. Not always a stellar deal but I could still usually pick up something a bit cheaper than DD's 20% off sale.

It's funny that you mention this as an example. That's the exact title that I used my FC on a few months ago.

How am I going to get those damn special priced 17.95 titles now?

^Buy 'em somewhere else. Without FC, almost anywhere else will have a better price on the vast majority of those type titles.

Sometimes the b1g1 free codes work on the sets as low as $11.97. You can get a free $19.95 movie with them sometimes.

^After looking over the text of the notice again it appears that the CH FC program has truly fallen victim to the BMG way of "rewarding" members. It now sounds almost exactly like the "Music Points" program in the CD club right down to the way it is going to be redeemed. The BMG MP program was never as good as the bonus point program in the CH CD Club and over the years they have taken away bits and pieces to almost completely devalue it. Much like FC.

That's my take on it, too. Of course, BMG Music Club runs some pretty good regular sales that (sorta) make up for the lame rewards program, so I don't complain too much.

Now I'm hoping that CH will start doing some similar types of regular sales to compensate for (essentially) killing off all the value of Funcash. The B1G4 sale is a good place to start - and hopefully we'll get a lot more of those on a regular basis.

I would really like to see some better sales promotions on box sets especially, since that is mostly what is left on my wish list for CH. Maybe (at the very least) some B1G1 deals for sets would be a nice way to make up for taking box sets out of the FC redemption.

I planned on using my funcash soon anyway. Got about 40 bucks worth

That's true. I can't really complain about the per selection average cost from BMG. Of course, now that you can no longer sponsor a new member it's not quite as good...

Yes, but the "official" terms of that sale are total crap! It makes me wonder if this is why so many of us are starting to see problems getting new accounts opened. i.e. System sees we have an open account with a new application, waits for 2-3 to fail, sends the crappy offer hoping we are brain dead and will truly think an extended B4G4 w/o free shipping is a good deal.

That would be awesome! But I'm not getting my hopes up. I just opened a ch.com account to check out the prices. I knew before hand the prices/deals had gotten worse there, but the average cost to purchase the minimum is still good enough for a "look-see" account. The prices are simply terrible! Almost every box set I looked at can be purchased for less at columbiahouse even with shipping added in! This actually goes for just about every selection on the site! I'm still hoping though...

The funcash might mean very little to us here; but to the average consumer who doesn't any better it still has some value.

Where are you guys reading this? I got no such letter in my director's selection e-mail today.

^I've not seen this verified anywhere either, and looking at the original post date it smacks suspiciously of an early April Fool's post.

I got this notice in last months envelope too.

So yours was an insert in a mailing? Thought maybe this is why I hadn't heard of the FunCash changes since I get my notices via e-mail, but the OP specified he learned of the changes through an e-mail. For what it's worth, I just got the director's selection e-mails today on 2 accounts and saw nothing about the proposed changes.