Good if you buy in bulk, a hassle otherwise
Written: Jun 28 '04
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If you were worried about joining Columbia House because you think it might be a scam, don't worry, it isn't. However, they are tricky so you have to pay attention. They will hook you in with a great offer. I personally only used the DVD Club. If you get a good offer, such as "5 DVDs for 49c each and free shipping" and you do the math, you will come out ahead in the long run. You will enter into a commitment to buy more DVDs from them (I think 3 or 4). They will not show you their prices until you join. Obviously this is intentional. They do have very high DVD prices. The average popular DVD is between 19.95 and 24.95 usually. The trick is that you have to buy one at regular price and then you get the rest at like 50% off or with free shipping or sometimes both. The offers will change all the time. You can save money if you buy a lot of DVDs. If you are only being suckered in by the initial advertisement and you don't really purchase many DVDs, this club is not for you.
There are a few things you have to be aware of when you sign up. They will automatically assign you a "Director's Selection" every few weeks. If you don't log in every so often an decline it, they will charge your card and send it to you automatically. Their shipping charges are a little expensive (at least 2.95 per DVD), and the shipping is extremely slow. They use the slowest medium but charge you as if you were getting the Priority Mail. You have to be very vigilant about checking to make sure you decline all of the director's selections you don't want. Also, human customer service is almost nonexistent. You will not find a telephone number anywhere on their website. If you search Google or you look in your mailings you can find an 800 number somewhere but it's difficult to get to talk to someone and they are not very helpful or friendly. They also do not have every DVD. You should search their site to make sure they have the ones you like. Certain movies that are popular but not distributed by one of the major distributors may not be available through them.
Overall, unless you are a big time DVD purchaser, I would say the hassle is not worth it. I saved some money on all the DVDs I bought but I probably wouldn't have bought them had I not been sucked in by the low price advertisement.
Recommended:
No
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? DVD Club
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Epinions.com ID:
pddolan
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Reviews written: 5
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