Columbia House DVD..?? (1 Viewer)

[Bruce_S]

Hi,

My friend just joined and I'm thinking about about. However, I have some questions about the quality of the dvds. Are they the same ones we purchased from the retail/online outlets? Their prices on standard dvds are reasonably -- usually it's $5 - $10 more not including the shipping cost. But, the box sets are a bit pricey thou.

Any feedback would be helpful..

thanks,

bruce

 

[Jeff_A]

Are they the same ones we purchased from the retail/online outlets?

In a word...yes.

 

[Paul_Medenwaldt]

DVD Talk
This should help you out.
Also do a search for Columbia House, you should find a plethora of info regarding their DVD club.
Paul

 

[jacob w k]

Only problem I have had is that they did not have Terminator or Total Recall in stock when I ordered them. Still don't seem to have recall here in Canada. Stuff arrived in good condition though.

 

[JamieD]

Been a member twice now. Got great value for the effort. DEFINITELY check out DVDTalk's Clubs section. Getting 10 DVDs for about $160 Canadian with an average retail of about $30 Canadian is worth it! 8)

 

[Garrett Lundy]

Coulmbia House carries few Criterion titles :frowning:
But the do offer a "Buy one, get eveything else for $15" deal seamingly every other month. Thus if you have a few hundred bucks somewhere, you can easily fill many, many gaps in your collection in a short amount of time.

 

[Dan Hitchman]

In the long run their offers are too good to be true. They make the difference back with their "bait & hook" 6 for a Penny or 10 for a Dollar, etc. ad campaigns in spades once you get started. I should know as I tried their CD and LD clubs back in the day.

Don't do it!

Dan

 

[Robert Floto]

Don't do it!

Why not? I joined, got my five DVDs for $26.00 (shipping), and then bought my other three titles (I owed them to complete my membership obligations) for $19.95 each...when they offered their Buy Three, Get Free Shipping deal a few months back.
I can quit right now, and I will have gotten five (normally) expensive discs (I picked the most expensive ones I could want), along with three regularly priced DVDs for a grand total of $85.85! That's about $10.74 each!
I would probably quit now, but I want to spend my Fun Cash (that you accumulate whenever you make a purchase) next month and get a free movie...

 

[Jeff_A]

...They make the difference back with their "bait & hook" 6 for a Penny or 10 for a Dollar, etc. ad campaigns in spades once you get started...

Then take the bait, but don't swallow the hook. Their value is unsurpassed (less than $10.00 shipped for mainstream titles) if you follow one credo - GET IN and then GET OUT.

 

[Noah Kromaksian]

IMO CH is the best way to build your DVD collection, if as already mentioned, you get in and get out. Use the DVD Talk link above in Paul Medenwaldt's post to get the best value at CH. (There are better offers than the ones in magazines.)

I have joined/cancelled at least 10 memberships in the last year and a half.

 

[James Bergeron]

Yes you MUST get in an get out. But the average DVD price is around $10 more than your store pricing. I order a Knights Tale and Shrek from them and it was over $100 for the 2 dvd's after shipping!!! Lucky I got the first 4 dvd's for $30 or so. Everything averaged out but, I don't like the pricipal of paying $50 a dvd when I could pick it up for $20 or less at the store!

 

[Jalil]

Every dvd i get from colombia house costs me between 9.28-9.86 cents a dvd total, including shipping and everything.

it depends on what savings code i use.
as others have said, go to dvd talk, click on dvd clubs, and read the first 2 posts there, they are locked in that position.

the first post will explain EVERYTHING you need to know.

there is no other cheaper way i have seen to buy dvd's..
even when best buy runs sales etc.. colombia house in the end is cheaper.

 

[Jim-M]

Yes you MUST get in an get out. But the average DVD price is around $10 more than your store pricing. I order a Knights Tale and Shrek from them and it was over $100 for the 2 dvd's after shipping!!! Lucky I got the first 4 dvd's for $30 or so. Everything averaged out but, I don't like the pricipal of paying $50 a dvd when I could pick it up for $20 or less at the store!

Possibly since you appear to be in Canada it doesn't work out as well for you with the exchange rate. In the States we're certainly not paying $50 a dvd for the 2 fulfillments. If you do it right you're purchasing 2 $19.95 dvds as your fulfillments. Even if I can get those discs in the store cheaper than $19.95 I don't look at it as paying $19.95 for those. I look at the average price for the whole account and see those 2 fulfillments as costing me less than $9 each. I've only had 2 accounts this year and the average price on the first was $8.90/DVD and $8.65/DVD on the second account. Pretty tough to beat that anywhere else.

 

[James Bergeron]

Jim, I am ont ordering from the US, I'm ordering from Canada. Columbia House has the same deal in Canada as the US.

I am paid $50 CDN for each disc after I ordered my initial. $36.99 + $3.50 shipping each + 15%. Something like that. Now if I would have went to my local Future Shop Shrek would have been MAX $26 after tax! They try to catch you with the by 1 at full pop ($50) get the second at a savings. The savings price is usually inline with store pricing.

On average I paid $130 for 6 discs so about $21 after tax for each disc in the lot. So that isn't too bad. But with sales these days, movies like Beauty And the Beast and Monsters INC, are pushing $19 cdn about $12 USD If I could get $9USD dvd's then I would for sure join again.

My best way to grow my collection is pre-viewed dvd's at rental places I have found a few places that keep their discs in perfect shape. Just yesterday I got 4 movies for $50 after tax. So $8 USD each, not bad!

 

[Grant Degs]

James,

Believe me and some of the others in the thread when we say that Columbia House is by far the best way to buy new DVDs. I own over 550 DVDs, I have gotten in and out of Columbia House 9 times and each time have not spent over $9.50 per DVD. I work very hard to get good deals and went through the good ole days a few years back when I could get any DVD for an average of $5-$6 from the dot.coms. So believe me when I say that Columbia House is the best way, if...

1) Columbia House has enough DVDs that you want. The only way you can get taken at Columbia House is if you buy DVDs that you don't really want just to fill out your obligation. Make sure they have enough that you really want. They don't carry most Disney DVDs, Criterions and some back titles.

2) Sometimes you must wait. What I mean by this is that even though Columbia House carries most DVDs it usually takes 2-4 months for the DVD to get on the enrollment list after it has been released. You have to be able to wait this long to get the DVD. If you are not able to wait this long then you will get taken. Why? Because most of the new releases are not priced at $19.95 which is the price that you must pay for your 2 obligations in order to get a good average price per DVD. This harkens back to my point #1). Make sure there are a few $19.95 priced DVDs that you want because you have to buy 2 of these to make it worth while.

3) Look for their deals from month to month. The deal I use the most is the Buy 3 DVDs and get free shipping. How does this help? Well, after I enroll and get my first package, I use this deal to finish my obligation. I buy two at $19.95 and a 3rd DVD for $8.95 (which is usually a sale). I get free shipping and all it cost me was to buy a 9th DVD for $8.95. So, instead of getting 8 DVDs at $10.00 a piece, I get 9 DVDs at about $9.00 a piece due to the free shipping.

One more thing to always remember. If you use the right code (7CY) you get 5 DVDs for a $1, and if you buy a 6th DVD for $14.95 you only have to buy two fullfillments. This DVD that you buy for $14.95 does NOT need to be an enrollment. It can be anything! Even a new release that just came out.

So, you see. Columbia House is great if you want to build a collection. Hope this helps.

 

[Jim-M]

Are you sure about that? For example, I just tried adding The Rookie as the $14.95 disc and it wouldn't allow it since it's not available for enrollment yet. Are you by chance doing phone orders so that the 6th disc can be anything?

 

[Ted_Polzin]

Question. Is the Canadian selection just really poor, or are they having a problem with their site. I took a look and there is only 200 dvd's available for enrollment. Also are their any codes available in Canada or are we stuck with the generic package.

Thanks

Ted

 

[LukeB]

Are you sure about that? For example, I just tried adding The Rookie as the $14.95 disc and it wouldn't allow it since it's not available for enrollment yet. Are you by chance doing phone orders so that the 6th disc can be anything?

I'm pretty certain that the extra disc has to be available for enrollment, but maybe Grant knows something we don't.

 

[Mike Blais]

Question. Is the Canadian selection just really poor, or are they having a problem with their site. I took a look and there is only 200 dvd's available for enrollment. Also are their any codes available in Canada or are we stuck with the generic package.

I just signed up recently and when I contacted them I was told that they were planning to revamp the website in the near future (whenever that is). As far as I know there is only one sign up deal. The 4 DVD's for .49 each. I have been sent the catalogue and there are quite a few more DVD's then there are listed online. If you'd like I can send it off to you so you can have a better selection.
FYI, last month's deal was buy 1 get the rest for 40% off, this month's is buy 1 get the rest for 10$ off.

Cheers,

 

[Ted_Polzin]

Ok that would be great. I'll PM you with my address. The website does not have many DVD's I do not have, or want
Thanks a lot!!
Ted