I was wondering if anybody here has used the Columbia House DVD club to purchase DVD's? The offer sounds like a decent deal, and I plan to build a rather large DVD collection over the next year or two. I was just wondering if anyone has done this, and if so is the selection wide enough, do they offer anamorhic DVD's, etc.? Or are there better retailers that are preferred by the majority of members of these forums? Thanks.
CH is the best way to build a DVD library at a low cost. You can easily get a large variety of titles for an average cost as low as $8 or so, by using the best offer codes available and following this sequence: enroll, fulfill, quit, repeat. You don't make out too well by staying in the club after fulfilling your obligation - it's always better to quit and rejoin to get another enrollment offer. You can have 2 memberships simultaneously and there seems to be no limit to how many times you can rejoin. The DVDs are the exact same ones you would buy in retail stores. New releases aren't available as an enrollment selection until 2, 3, or more months after street date, depending on the studio. CH certainly doesn't carry every DVD title, but the selection is pretty good. To learn everything you need to know about playing this game check out the DVD Clubs section of dvdtalk.com forum. Start with this thread.
I suggest the enroll, fullfil, quit, then wait for them to send you an offer to join. I have found that if you wait for them to come to you to rejoin, you well get a better offer than the standard mail ins / internet order forms.
I don't know Russell, using the codes, CVX is one of the best right now, you can get 8 DVD's for $7.80 per. I have started getting DVD's via CH since early Feb. I much prefer it due to the low price and have drastically curtailed my purchases elsewhere, and have been saving a lot of money.
I have had 4 memberships with Columbia House DVD club -- not counting 2 with their TV Greats club! Me likey.
In the end, I didn't feel that the hassle was worth the minimal savings that I received from the ordeal. Not to mention they keep sending you shit for about 2 months after you quit. You DO save some cash by going the Columbia House route, but whether it is worth the hassle (not to mention that it takes them about a week and a half to ship everything) is really your decision to make.
In the USA club, I just finished a membership and got nine movies for $7.25 each. It did take a long time to get them shipped to me (about 1 1/2 weeks), but you know what? I have nine new movies sitting on my shelves right now and they were only $7.25 each. So while I hated the wait, it was totally worth it in the end. As for the hassle, it's not as simple as driving the two miles to Best Buy. But it's no harder than ordering from any other online store either. Unless you call going online to cancel your membership a hassle. Beyond that, it's about equal in hassle to any other online store. As someone else mentioned, enroll, fulfill, quit. Don't stay in the club long enough to have to mess with the directors selections every month. I've never had to decline any monthly offer except for the initial offering. And I've never had any unwanted discs sent to me.
The DVDClubs forum is absolutely invaluable. I just got approval on a CVX order today. The best way to get some PSNs (account numbers from previous accounts) is to enroll in the TV Greats Club. You pay $4 for the first in a series, then cancel the account. You get a DVD (The movie lines include 2001, The Shining, The Outlaw Josey Whales, Pretty Woman, etc.) and a PSN for very little hassle.
Just thought I'd mention, for those in Canada at least, you can call CH and tell them you want to be taken off the "negative option" plan. That means you don't have to respond to each mailing, unless you want something. For CD's too. Also, it is in some ways best not to quit, because if you do you lose general access to the web site, aren't aware of recent additions, and have a much more limited selection to choose from when you re-enroll Unless of course you pre-choose (remember the #'s) before quitting, or have at least one active DVD account... Edit: When I said "not to quit", I mean wait for them to quit you, as Russ mentioned, then re-enroll. It takes around 6 months of account inactivity for them to send you another offer. No need to feel guilty either, no matter what you do, taking advantage etc., everything is done by computer unless you want to deal with a human...nobody will ever even know what you're doing. Or care, they're still making money.
There are some DVDs that are exclusive to Columbia House. For example, an ongoing collection of Woody Woodpecker cartoons. Selection of prints seems variable - some are edited TV versions, but often they're the full theatrical releases, uncut and complete with original logos. Reports are that the good stuff is very, very good. This one alone is making me think about taking the CH plunge. Again.
I was speaking for the Canadian version of the club...they fairly recently started restricting web access to just members. Different title availability than the U.S. And you need the web access or the magazines to know when newer titles are available as an "enrollment" selection. Just for the info I suggest keeping an account open somehow. I must say that for recent title availability the DVD club is far far superior to the CD club.
Almost all of the DVDs that I bought and want to buy are DVDs of classic films (US and foreign). How good is CH's classic selection? Thanks...
I think it's pretty good. Go to that site, download the latest .csv file and open it in Excel. You can then sort the list by Genre and look at the ones listed as CLASSICS. Or sort by title and browse alphabetically. Thing is, one cycle, enroll, fulfil, cancel, is 8 DVD's right now, at an average of $7.79 each. Surely you'll se at least 8 there you want.
