BobO'Link

In another thread I mentioned that I observed you can now see *all* the CC/Debit cards used on your account and have the ability to individually delete them. I speculated that maybe you could now delete them all yourself and thus revert to a "Bill Me" account status.

Others have commented they've been able to log-in and access old accounts, so...

Today, using one of my old/closed(!?!) accounts I was able to verify that you can delete all old CC/Debit cards *except* one. The last card attached to the account can only be edited and not deleted. So if you want to change from CC to "Bill Me" you must still call.

CalebAndCo

If you're a Bill Me customer, check the CC online to see if they ticked the "bill everything to this card" checkbox. It looks like they did that to me and I emailed customer service to see if I can get it corrected. (The box is ticked but grayed out.)

I suspect this might work, too, but I'll wait a couple of days to see if they reply.

EDIT: Checked in just now and they rectified the situation (and dredged up two long-dead CCs for good measure). I was able to correct the card and maintain my Bill Me status. (At least it looks that way.)

BobO'Link

I just checked about 10 old accounts and was only able to log into the one I cancelled in February of this year. The "newest" one prior to that was cancelled in July '07 and I could not log in that account. It appears the ability to log into old accounts is limited to a degree... Fortunately the one to which I have access has an expired CC so I don't really have to worry too much about unwanted but sent out directors' selections... Even then, it should be a done deal as I have the cancellation confirmation email. I'm curious as to how this will all play out.

lizard

^Good observation. I checked some old accounts and only one that was canceled this year was re-activated. Older accounts remain closed.

smashthesymbols

I just went through all my old accounts. Of all the ones I've had since I started with Columbia House only 1 remains closed. The others have all reopened.

Has anyone talked to them about this yet? I'm still taking a wait and see approach. I'm not trying to open any new accounts right now, so as long as I don't get 20 copies of Jumper in my mailbox I'm not that worried about it.

Brent L

This is weird.

When it was first mentioned that some of the old closed accounts were now open once again, I went back and logged in with some of my old login information. At that time, I could get in just as I can with my two current open accounts.

Anyway, I just decided to go back to that closed account that was reopened and make sure I didn't need to decline a Director's Selection, and I can no longer get into the account, so it looks like they've closed it totally down finally. I can't even get in to the page where you tells you the account is closed. It's not accepting the username or password at all anymore.

Hopefully this is a good sign.

inksketcher

Hopefully this transition period is coming to an end and things will return to normal. Let's hope the codes start rolling in. Making purchases isn't as much fun without a helpful code.

dadaluholla

Personally, making purchases isn't even an option without a helpful code.

riotinmyskull

just to let you guys know, i've had 2 applications accepted since the new site went live and i can still log into about 10 closed accounts so i wouldn't worry about those old accounts and it seems to just be a glitch.

gimmepilotwings

Agreed. I won't even sign up again until I know codes start coming down the pipe.

Bobaray

Not that Fun Cash is worth as much as it used to be, but my account went from $36.00 to $76.00 worth of Fun Cash since yesterday, without me buying anything. My last purchase was in May, and my last shipment went out 6/4. All of my recent purchases were billed over a week ago. Anyone else notice an increase in their funcash?

Sandyk67

Not me, but I don't understand why that much funcash would be worthless, you just pay for the shipping.

Cheato

Bobaray didn't say "worthless." The words were "not worth as much."

Before the change, you could buy a 2-disc set for $17.97, use $10 in FC, and get the set for $7.97+2.99 = $10.96.

That would save you $7 in real cash, meaning you got an efficiency of 70% out of it. (Better than that--approaching 80%--if you ordered more than one item at a time.)

If you factor in the opportunity cost of losing the $4 in FC you would have earned through paying cash, and the $4.80 in value of a DVD lost by not using a B1G1 code when purchasing the set, then it was:

$7.97+2.99+4.80=$15.76, so you saved $2.21 by losing $14 in FC, meaning an opportunity-cost-adjusted value of 16% (or up to about 23% if you bought more than one thing at a time).

That's an extreme model, though, and it needs to be kept in mind that it's always easier to generate FC than spend it, so the o-c-a value is not completely accurate.


But now you can't do that, anyway. The only option you have now is:


If you spend $20 in FC for a $20 DVD, and pay $2.99 shipping, then it seems like a good deal, except that you can cycle accounts and get DVDs for about $4.80, anyway. So, you are really only saving $1.80 in real cash by spending $20 FC. That's an efficiency of only 9% (or up to 14% if you buy many of them at once).

So, FC is now worth 13% of what it used to be, at its old best usage (limited application to only those sub-fulfillment-priced 2-disc sets), or 57% (when comparing to the o-c-a value, an extreme lower limit that shouldn't really be considered), depending on how you look at it.

If people were using it before to purchase regular DVDs, then they were already throwing it away pretty easily, so the new changes won't matter. I made the mistake of using it on the Superman 14-disc set. If you consider that I could have cycled and fulfilled a 6:3 account with the single purchase of that set, it turns out with the FC purchase, I simply threw away my FC and paid slightly more for the set in cash than I could have if I cycled an account and gotten 7 other DVDs that I wanted. Live and learn.


I used to enjoy buying up a whole bunch of $9.95 or $12.95 titles during a B1+60%+FS code to get $40 or $80 in FC, and then use that to save on some 2-disc sets. I won't be doing that anymore, though.

There were also those $11.97 (or even less) sets that were the best to use it on because you couldn't use a B1G1 to get free regular $19.95 DVDs with those. Thanks to CH, I have all the Teen Titans and "The" Batman sets (except for the upcoming ones).



All that aside, bottom line in this situation, Bobaray seems to have gotten $40 in FC for free. Because Bobaray could have already gotten one DVD for $3, another $4 in shipping will use up the other $40, so it's like saving $6 in real cash.

I also seem to have $20 in FC sitting in an old previously-canceled account that I will try to use. Might as well, as it'll save me about $2, and I haven't been able to get a new account approved recently (lost apps).

CH WANTS to you think that you're getting a "free" DVD by using your $20 in FC. But you have to remember that you're only saving $2. Saving $2 is better than saving $0, but don't get suckered into the idea that "now I'm playing with THEIR money."


Of course, all of these calculations go out the window if the "new CH" doesn't let us use sale codes like before.

theflyingdutch

Now they make you write to them in hard copy to cancel an account. No more just making a click with the mouse.

riotinmyskull

^or you could pick up your phone and call them...it takes 5 minutes.

theflyingdutch

And with that will mark the end of ever buying from them again.

BobO'Link

You can still do this online...

Under "Help" - "Canceling Your Membership"

"Membership/Account Information: Canceling Your Membership

Now that you have fulfilled your purchase commitment, you can cancel your membership at any time. Please contact Customer Service online via Contact Us form."

So you go to "Help" - "Contact Customer Service" and click on the "click here" link. Once on that page, on the "Request Type" select "Membership/Account Information" and on the "Description" change "Subtopic" to "Cancelling Your Membership". In the "Questions/Comments" box simply put something like "Account fulfilled, please cancel" and submit it.

Bobaray

Columbia House was not being generous. I just figured out what happened. I did not receive a funcash shipment from April, and reported this to them last week. Apparently they will be issuing me a credit instead of re-shipping. I had ordered 4 cheap boxsets before the change in funcash rules. So essentially, I lost out on getting these four sets cheap.

Sex Fiend

Is anyone even able to get Fun Cash to work on the new site? It hasn't worked for me since the changeover.

I have $20 in FC, yet the drop down menu where you can "Apply Free DVD's to This Order" continually only shows "0" and the "Apply Funcash" option which pops up a dialog box with all of the items in my cart, where you can presumably apply individual amounts of Fun Cash, lists all of the items as "Not Available - You Cannot Use Funcash on This Item", even though the ten items in my cart are under $20 apiece and are just generic single disk DVD's.

The two different systems of applying FC seems redundant and poorly designed anyway, so I am assuming this is some kind of programming malfunction. But we are now three weeks into the new system and no fix for this.

So anyone know what's going on here?

dadaluholla

I don't think Funcash purchases are available until June 20th.

Sex Fiend

I hadn't heard that. I guess that would explain it then. Thanks...

Bobaray

Now they have decided to re-ship me the original order. They have subtracted the $40 in funcash and charged me $119.76 for the 4 cheap sets. This works out to zero discount on the sets ($26 to $30 per set instead of the funcash price of $6 to $10 per set!). All four sets are showing as back-ordered, so hopefully they haven't charged my credit card yet. Do I call them or e-mail them again or just wait and see what happens???

Cheato

Call, call, call. Whenever there's a problem, call. Don't waste your time with email, don't waste time getting overcharged for something, having it ship, having to get an adjustment, whatever. Just call and get it straightened out.

Bobaray

Was going to take your advice, but just received an e-mail from them saying that my order was shipped. Really strange.... at the bottom of the e-mail Columbia House stated that although my invoice would show $119.76, I should ignore this; the amount that I would be charged would be $35.44!!

Just checked my Columbia House account and I now have -$4.00 in funcash! It also shows that I owe $35.44 (even though I have a credit card on file). The new site doesn't seem to show a list of charges to my credit card like the old site did.

Cheato

As I mentioned in another post, the "new" CH reactivated some of my old accounts. I can find 4 that I can log into that were previously closed and inaccessible (other than the credit card payment page). I might have more, but I purged some of my old email a while back and no longer have records of ALL the accounts I have had over the past few years. Two others that I have records of won't let me in (username and password not recognized).

Side Note #1: When trying to log in, the site gives different error messages if the username is invalid or if the password is invalid. This seems like bad security. I prefer the "the username or password you entered is not recognized" kind of message.

Anyway, one of my accounts somehow had $20 FC in it that wasn't there when I closed it. I know it wasn't there, as I always made sure my FC was in increments of $10 and then applied it to low-priced 2-disc sets before closing my accounts. I would only abandon smaller amounts ($4/$6) in accounts I was just quickly cycling. It seems as though they didn't charge my FC account for the final purchase I made before I closed the account.

So, I decided, since FC is now active again, and the FC$20 seemed to be there, to try to order something. And it seems to have worked. So, for the $2.99 shipping, I'm getting a $19.95 DVD from a closed account. Thanks, CH!

Now of course I'll probably get charged $199.95 for it...

Side Note #2: none of the accounts have had any Director's Selections appear. They all just list the "...no outstanding..." message.

I think I'll call after I get the DVD to make sure they can make all these accounts truly closed and inaccessible.