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Anyone join the DISNEY MOVIE CLUB? (1 Viewer)

Ronald Epstein

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I have been rather sloppy with not buying all the major
classic animated titles from Disney.

I been holding off joining this club for a good 6 months
now as the Blu-ray of Cinderella was not available, but I
saw they put it back and I went ahead and ordered 6 Blu-ray
titles, mostly Disney animated classics, for $25.90 shipped.

I think I have to buy 4 movies in the next 2 years at the
outrageous price of $30 plus shipping. However, I get it...
that's how the club makes it money, and really, I think I
got a pretty damn good deal to begin with.

The problem now? Not a lot of stuff I want or like outside
of what I ordered. Probably going to use the club to preorder
new Disney titles as they are released. I know Jungle Book
is coming up soon.

Just wanted to find out if any other HTF members are in the
club and what they think of it?

Looks like I am going to have to stay on top of responding to
Featured Title requests or I will automatically be shipped and
charged product.

This so much feels like the old Magnetic Video and Columbia
House clubs.


BDC-CINDERELLA DIAMOND (W/DVD)
1
$9.95
$9.95
BDC-A BUG'S LIFE (W/DVD)
1
$0.25
$0.25
BDC-DUMBO 70TH ANN ED W/DVD
1
$14.95
$14.95
BDC-ALICE IN WNDRLND W/DVD
1
$0.25
$0.25
BDC-THE ARISTOCATS (W/DVD)
1
$0.25
$0.25
BDC-US-ROBIN HOOD 40 W/DVD+DC
1
$0.25
$0.25
WELCOME KIT FOR NEW MEMBERS
1
$0.00
$0.00
SHIPPING & PROCESSING NM
1
$0.00
$0.00




Item Subtotal:
$25.90
TOTAL:
$25.90
 

Charles Smith

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My two cents:

I joined in December 2008 specifically to be able to grab a copy of the Walt Disney Treasures Dr. Syn, just as inventories at stores had been depleted. That was a life saver (though as it turned out, someone also gifted me with one for Christmas, bless their little hearts!). I then acquired several other Treasures (eventually completing the collection) and several of the club-exclusive vintage live action titles. I felt it was well worth it for those things, and still do, in spite of old transfers, incorrect aspect ratios, etc., because some of those movies are still not available otherwise. Along the way I picked up a few pins that I liked, and maybe a couple of other pieces of merchandise including gifts for others.

Now skip ahead a few years, and you can see me watching carefully every month for the notice, and going online immediately to decline the monthly offer. Every single month for the past couple of years I ask myself why I don't discontinue the membership, since I'm now not going to buy anything at those prices, and I "surely" have the last of the unique things they're ever going to offer. Right? Well, who knows. I still check the "collectibles" occasionally, and there hasn't been anything of interest to me. And there's my sordid history.

And yes, it's EXACTLY like being a member of the Columbia Record Club and Book of the Month, etc., going as far back as the 1960s. Except now we pay $25.90 for our introductory package as opposed to, say, a dollar! :)
 

Ronald Epstein

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Thanks for the insight, Charles. I mean, you can't beat 6 Blu-rays for the price of one.

Just wanted to make certain people were happy with the club. You sound very positive.
 

Mark-P

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If you are ordering one movie at a time, then no, it's not a good deal. But if you are like me and order in big batches, then you save a lot. Every order has 1 title at regular price (which counts toward your club commitment) and additional movies are 50% to 60% off depending on the promotion of the month (discounted titles do not count towards your commitment) and sometimes the promotion includes free shipping.
 

rayman1701

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Haven't joined Disney's club, but have been with Columbia House for over 10 years. I had not ordered anything since completing my membership commitment probably 9 years ago. Faithfully refused my monthly shipments on time without fail, then at the 1st of December I get a package and it's 2 DVDs I didn't want or order. Checked my email and sure enough I had the confirmation that I had declined it. Talk about being pissed off, so I call, sit on hold forever finally get someone on the phone to send me a return label. That was it, my years of procrastination were over, as soon as they get that movie back I'm calling and canceling! Then it took forever to get the label, so it was after New Years before I could do it. Well I'm preparing to call to deal with that (since you can't cancel online) and I get an email, a sale, that actually applied to Blu-ray titles (too many times it would apply to a blu-ray as a qualifier but not as the sale item) $20.14 off the order total. So I checked it out on the site, realized they actually had some titles for 11.97, it was buy 1 get one free. Hmmm would it work with the discount, it just said $20.14 order total and had no fine print restrictions for a change. So I loaded "From Here To Eternity" and "The Taking Of Pelham 123" original version in the cart entered the code and it worked! So for a total of $9.48 I got those two movies. This is the first time in 9 years that the sale was a flat $$ off without fine print. So I continue on with Columbia House for now, wondering if that was a one time thing, a way to entice me to stay that will never happen again or will it be another 9 years, or maybe, just maybe next Jan. 1 I get an offer of $20.15 off my order. Now the chance of that happening, might get me to stay for another year.......what we will do for a bargain. :)One thing I have never done is give them my credit card info to have on file. I don't want to be automatically charged on one of those "whoops we missed your denial" shipments and the hassle of getting the charge off the card or returned. I don't trust them to not do that, so I used Pay-Pal for this order since it was an option.On a side note I miss the BMG Music club, I had been a member there for over 20 years when it shut down. Now there I got really good deals, always better than Columbia House Music ever offered. Even when CD prices were going up at bricks and mortars, I never paid more than between $6 & 7 per disc from BMG. Growing up in a small town in the middle of nowhere the BMG club was my primary music store for many years, just didn't have much selection and definitely not the prices to match locally. Those pre-internet days........Then there were some friends who would constantly churn, join quickly buy all the ones to meet the membership, then cancel wait for the "we really want you back" offer, re join and repeat. I did that a couple of times with Columbia House Music just because they were so much higher in price, but was just too much a pain to continually do. So I just eventually dropped them, but then came the DVD club and I had to try again, man are those intro offers enticing....Sorry Ron if that was a little TMI, but I wouldn't let them have my card on file to be auto charged. They usually make that a pain to get straightened out, at least Columbia House does.
 

Brian Dobbs

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I actually just joined myself. I only had a few Disney titles, and now that I have kids, I need to get caught up.I also didn't have Tron: Legacy, so it was an excuse to do it.As long as we stay on top of the Featured Title issue, we should be fine.Strange to go back to this way of selling, just like the good ol' Columbia CD club.
 

Richard Gallagher

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What everyone else has said. I stocked up on the animated Blu-rays that I really wanted (much like Ron's list) and I'm halfway to fulfilling my commitment (two more to buy this year). Overall it's a good deal, particularly if you buy when they are offering free shipping.

I'm not crazy about the website, though.
 

Charles Smith

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The website has been a sluggish and not too well designed one since I've known it. You just have to suck it up and slog through it.

I need to watch for those free shipping deals.
 

David Norman

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I done DMC several times over the years and know some folks that actually roll memberships -- order their Freebies, buy their required, cancel and repeat.
I usually repeat mine every year or two when enough things accumulate.

They're very good to work with, but their shipping isn't the fastest, they don't provide tracking numbers, and they often ship 6-7-8 items in those cardboard sandwiches instead of a box so sometimes things arrived dinged up. This can be expecially aggravating if you like your slipcovers mint.

They do run decent sales after you finish your commitments -- often rotating "B1 at Regular Price, get 60% off the additional items + S/H" and a "B1 at regular price, get 50% the additional items with free shipping:" Generally if you are into rolling memberships, it's much cheaper just to cancel and rejoin with a fresh Freebie. not only does DMC not seem to mind this behavior, they;ve been known suggest it and you can re-enroll almost immediately with the same email and CC.

Ron, I'd suggest maybe calling in the the Reps and see if they can change you to this promotion as it will save you a couple higher dollar purchases before you become a full member (VIP). i'm pretty sure other folks have had this applied retroactively if you are still in the Processing stage.

THE BEST WAY to join is by using one of their special promotions to get extra items and decrease the future commitments. The best Current Code is 10042B which entails:

1) You agree to purchase 3 commitment titles within the next 24 months ($29.95+)
2) You can select 5 Disney Blu-Rays for $1.00 (or 20¢ each) as part of the initial sign-up/enrollment offer.
3) PLus you can take an optional 6th Blu-Ray for an additional $11.95 (this title will go towards your commitment of 3 titles)
4) Plus you can take an optional 7th Blu-Ray for an additional $8.95 (this title will not go towards your commitment of 3 titles)
5) The 2 remaining commitments will be 29.95 +3.95 S/H (or a little less if you do both simultaneously). If you catch some of the "Featured Releases" for $24.95 they seem to still count as commitments despite being less the the required amount.

Essentially around $90 for 9 BD's ( a little less with some manipulations and a bit of luck).

In general the website lists a number of nice items, but almost any regular Disney release can be added to the enrollment package. Special Editions and 3D are most often excluded but some folks can even get the Reps to put those in the initial order. the best way is to call in you enrollment rather than go through the website and you can request which items you want -- sometimes the reps are quite accomodating, sometimes they are a bit stricter depending on who you get on the phone. Overall their phone people are well trained and very Disney-fied to work with. The last time I joined I ended up ordering 7 enrollment titles, and my 2 commitments (both double features) at the same time so I go everything in one big box and it shipped free saving even the extra S/H changes -- they won't always allow that however. I also piled up with the B1/G60% off on almost 15 of my lacking Disney 3D titles for around $17 each (still missed on Beauty and the Beast 3D though).


There is a huge thread and FAQ along with a spreadsheet of Disney Bluray catalog numbers, phone numbers to Cust Service, and numerous tricks over at another forum which I'd suggest anyone interested in DMC to read. I hate to pimp other websites, but there are certain threads that have earned a little latitude I think with their usefullness -- I'll understand if you want me to delete the link however. DMC Master Thread
 

Matt Hough

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I'm not a member but a dear friend is who sent me the otherwise unattainable So Dear to My Heart on DVD. There's another Disney classic which would make a stunning Blu-ray disc.
 

Mark-P

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People keep saying that you have to complete your commitment before you can take advantage of the sales. This is absolutely not true! Anyone who is a club member can take advantage of all promotions regardless of whether or not they have met their club commitment. Only the movies you purchase at full price (the highest priced selection per order) counts towards your commitment. You will automatically get whatever the current promotion that is running that month unless you specifically go to "other offers" and select "no discount" should you want to order all your commitment purchases in one shot.
 

Dick

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rayman1701 said:
One thing I have never done is give them my credit card info to have on file. I don't want to be automatically charged on one of those "whoops we missed your denial" shipments and the hassle of getting the charge off the card or returned. I don't trust them to not do that, so I used Pay-Pal for this order since it was an option.
I recently found out that the negative option business (being automatically sent a monthly selection if you neglect to refuse it) is only good for DVD'S, but Disney does not have the option for us to cancel this for Blu-rays, which is inexplicable and enough for me to want to cancel my membership. With DVD's, I only had to request cancellation of automatic shipments, and then I never received an unwanted movie. How is it any more difficult for them to cancel negative option for Blu-ray club members who have fulfilled their initial obligation than for DVD members? Big obstacle for me, in spite of the occasional good deals being offered.
 

Ronald Epstein

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David,

Wish I read about that coupon deal before I joined, but it's too late.

Ray,

Not worried about giving them my credit card. Chase is very good about crediting unwanted purchases.

Great reading these responses. Thanks.
 

David Norman

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Ron, if you haven't called and checked I'd suggest trying it. The DMC folks are really flexible and may be able to attach the code/change your requirements unless you've used a different signup promo (extra 500 DMR points or a Friend Referral).I've lost count of the number of times I've joined teh Club going back the Laserdisc era (don't think I ever did their VHS club or if they even had it), but it's s agreat way to get New Disneys at a much lower than Retail price. The main thing is you have to force yourself to not think of a $30 purchase the same way since you got the 1st 6 so cheap.
 

Charles Smith

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Several months ago I got an email from them, offering something to the effect of what David (I think) alluded to above; i.e., some kind of cancelling and renewing, or rejoining. I ignored it. Which was probably a silly thing to do. Right?
 

David Norman

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Don't know about silly, but it's a very nice way to get a lot of discs cheap. The rolling memberships is a nice way for new collectors to start quickly and $9 Disney's just don't come along very often. I'm shocked that they allow it, but many people report being able to cancel and rejoin all in phone call so it's certainly not frowned upon.I;ve rejoined every 12-18 months over the years once enough backlog builds up that I want to pick up a bunch at once. This is particularly helpful since the DMR coupons have dried up or become less lucrative.Disney is pretty strict on 1 account per mailing address adn will cancel accounts if they find duplicates which can be an issue if you have multiple people living in the same household who want to join.There is also some method of weeding out people who join to flip. There is a cumulative limit on how many copies of the same item you can buy even across time. Unfortunately some people have bought 4-5 copies over a few years of Cinderella or Toy Story to give as birthday gifts and have gotten banned so there are some limitations on what they will allow.
 

TonyD

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Ron that deal and similar ones have been avaialbe for years. There is a topic on a different bluray site that is perpetually growing
by the minute with discussion about it.

I have done it twice. you can essentually join, and buy all the titles you need to fulfill then cancel and do it again as many times as you want.
 

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