I am in the Columbia House DVD Club. Who can resist? I have been in the BMG Music Club for years and have never been treated so badly.
I got friggin' tired of having to log into their web site to cancel the stupid "Director's Selection" every month. Which is a lot nicer then having to send in the stupid cards or calling them. But still, it is annoying.
At least 6 months ago I call them and ask if there is any way that I do not need to cancel the automatic horse manure they send out, the CD club allows you to do this, I know this to be fact. At the time I was told no.
About 3 months ago I have had enough and I am about to cancel my account. I call to do so, and when I tell them why I am so pissed off about it, the person I talked to tells me that, yes, indeed they can set my account up so I do not have to deny the automatic horse manure every month. Wow! Imagine that. Ass Holes!
Fine. I make the poor worker bee happy and tell him I will keep my account.
A few days ago I get an email from Columbia House:
Subject: RE: Open immediately - important account information inside (VMVSCD3)
Gee, that doesn't look like SPAM now does it? Note to Columbia House, use better subject lines in your correspondence to customers. It got through POPFile, so I will look at it. Yep, its actually from Columbia House and is regarding my account.
DON'T LOSE YOUR NEW CLUB STATUS - ORDER TODAY!
Dear KEN EDWARDS,
You currently enjoy a special Club benefit: You don't have to respond
to your Director's Selection or return your Order Card except to place
an order. To maintain this benefit, you agreed to buy at least one DVD
every three months from the Club. However, your initial three-month
period has expired, and we haven't received your order.Continued on the next page Page 1 — Page 2
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - TDavid
Nice "feature" ... it's this kind of customer service that ruins companies like this. We had a bad experience at Blockbuster and went to their website to file a complaint. We never heard back from anybody about it. Not even a form reply email.
I was in the Columbia Record and Tape Club eons ago. Haven't gone back because of the hassle of returning those cards this article describes. Once you buy the often over-priced material, the deal doesn't work out so good.
2 - Kim
Ken~
Columbia House just charged my debit card almost $27 for a director's selection when I declined director's selections on 11/14, 12/5, 12/15/03 and 1/5/04. When I call the 800 number you listed in your post, it does not put me in touch with a live person. You mentioned that you spoke to someone. What number did you call to do that. I am so frustrated right now.
Thanks so much ~ Kim
3 - Ken Edwards
I would call that number and go to option 1, 5, 5, they make it so hard to talk to a human don't they. You will be able to talk to a human that way, and hopefully they will be able to help. If they cannot I am sure they will put you on hold and transfer you to someone "more" qualified. Good luck with that!
I didn't actually know they could take money out of your account, to be honest.
4 - Andrea
The same thing happened to me and my husband, they charged his credit card for about $27 even though he thought he had cancelled the "selection". I am so fed up with this company! and good luck trying to get a live person to answer, we've had to leave countless emails and messaged that of course are never replied to... I don't recommend this "club" deals to anyone!!
5 - Dani
Columbia House is the biggest rip off in the world!!!! I'm not a succer anymore... Canceled all the b-s with them.
6 - Phillip Winn
I'm glad I resisted the DVD club. I've been a member, off and on, of both the BMG CD club and the Columbia House CD club, and have been delighted with both.
Here's an interesting fact: If you don't send in the cards, they mail the stuff to your house. You can then leave it sealed, write "Return To Sender" on the outside of the package, and they'll get it back. They can't charge you unless you specifically requested that particular package. After a couple or three times, they quit auto-sending anything, no problem.
At least, that has been my experience with both BMG and Columbia House. Right now I'm only with Columbia House, but maybe later in the year I'll switch back.
7 - Ken Edwards
I am still a BMG customer, and am very happy with them.
I have heard of the "return to sender" trick, but I was just too fed up with Columbia House to even deal with sending them back.
8 - Shirley
I HATE COLUMBIA HOUSE!!!!! We have made absolutely sure to decline on all the directors selections but lo and behold I check our bank account today(I used our Debit Card for the CH account) and we've been charged 24.95 for a selection and to top it off, this caused my account to be overdrawn for two items so I've got another $59 gone too. Finally got in touch with someone and first they said they couldn't talk to ME because I'm not the member(my husband is), so I had to wake my husband up after just a half hour of sleep to tell the stupid witch to give us our money back. We were told there was nothing they could do about the other charges....no wonder they have to lure you in with $.49 DVDs!!! Their CSRs are so full of bs you can smell them over the phone and they cause more problems that they do give service!!!!!!!!!
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!
Ok, my ranting is done now, thank you for your patience.
9 - trace
You should try to get money back from these people: it is a nightmare. I closed my account, pending a move overseas, and made a billpayment error--I was supposed to pay 19.38, and paid 1938.00. I was told I'd get a refund, didn't get it. I phoned back, was apologized to, told the refund would be expedited and got a letter in the mail saying we owe you XXXXX, this will be applied to your next purchase. Give me a break!! I have been trying to get this money refunded for MONTHS. I have no idea what to do except perhaps sue them.....
10 - Ginny Parsons
I will mail the check with the attachments - oh, except for the Gorilla Dates - this is for your boss. Your website is too complicated and un-user friendly - and has been since from the inception of my original membership. Your mail to Hawaii sucks. It is 5th class mail and takes several months to receive the monthly pouch (I think I received the Christmas mailing last week) and several more months to get an order. Its not worth the membership. It's a wonder you can get your collection letters out so timely.
I can buy movies cheaper at Costco and order them faster on Dish. Maybe I should publish this on the Internet or in a national magazine. You want to sell to Hawaii - then you better make the effort. As for me - I am tired of your sorry ass of a company. Your are quite disappointing and I would advise anyone even thinking about joining your club, to think twice - because you just can't get it timely to Hawaii - nor do you care to.
A - lo - ha!
Gorilla Dates:
Picture this:
A big, young, healthy hardheaded 400 lb. Gorilla (named Wally) spies a jar full of dates (figs) on a windowsill. He knows that these dates are delicious and he craves the taste. Carefully and cautiously the big gorilla circles in front of the dates building his appetite ever so high with expectation. In one grand moment the big gorilla lunges for the jar of dates and wanting to eat them all to satisfy his desire, ol' Wally sticks his entire huge, muscular hand into the narrow rim of the jar. He methodically gathers all of the dates into fist at once and tries desperately to pull out his fist from the jar. Too stubborn to take less than all at once, the big gorilla struggles for days to pull out his tightly gripped fist. Finally, in starvation the gorilla dies - found later with his hand in the jar still gripping the dates.
11 - TOM HADFIELD
I'm feeling a bit "ripped off ! the problem is this. I'm a big NORTHERN EXPOSURE fan. I ordered Season one,Season two, and Season three.
Season one is 6 hrs. 34 mins. long
This does not cover the complete First Season !
Season two: 5 hrs. 34 mins. Again , does not cover ther complete Second Season .
Season three seems to be More Like It!! It's 17 hrs and 37ins
What Happined to Season One and Two ?
12 - stacey
If you want a thing that has a pulse @ columbia house call 1-888-467-7404 you will be placed on ignore for 15 plus minutes to have a thing that can't even speak the language tell you that you were billed for a movie because you did not fulfill you contract obligation when you ask where the movie you ordered almost 4 MONTHS ago is( that would be the final movie needed to fulfill your contract) you will get the stupid WHAT ORDER reply.if you are polite they will state that you MUST be mistaken. when you offer to forward the order confirmation email from that movie purchase order. they will then amazing state thet they do see the order. but then state that when the order was obviously not processed it is YOUR responsibility to contact them to let then know. when you then offer to send the cell phone bill that confirms that you contacted them on 3 seperate occasions totaling 87 minutes of airtime. they then tell you that yes they DO SEE that you called them. When you state that they need to send the previously ordered but not received selection. Mind you they have already received payment for this when they charged the checking account for the "DUE ON CONTRACT" movie requirement they state that they can not ship your selection because the due on contract order form is not for new releases. YET had the fulfilled your new release as requested 4 times PRIOR to the end of your contract time this would be a non issue when you demand a supervisor at this point in there crap they will tell you they do not have supervisors BULLSHIT I work in an inbound call center there is always a supervisor on the floor. you are told to tell the caller they are not avail. Columbia House is full of shit they outsource there customer care to= SITEL Corporation has been awarded a three-year contract with Columbia House to provide its North American customers with a suite of customer care services.
This agreement enables Columbia House to provide higher quality customer service and further enhances SITEL's position as a leader in the execution of cost-effective offshore service strategies for U.S.-based companies.
Under the terms of the agreement, SITEL will utilize English-speaking Customer Service Professionals at its state-of-the-art contact center in Panama City, Panama to provide Columbia House's North American customers with customer care, billing and information services. they screw you as a customer then screw you again by not keeping the jobs in this country to service the cliants in north america.
13 - jasonhatch
columbia house sent me an e-mail stating my application had not been processed and that if i wished to become i member i would need to reapply. i sent them a nice e-mail which stated simply, 'no thanks' since then they have billed me almost 70 dollars and are threatening to take me to collections for another 40 i won't pay. i originally offered to send the items back when they said they would send me one box to put them in. the box never arrived, but some shipping labels did. what bothers me about the situation is their assumption that they can create a contract unilaterally...i asked carrie reed, andy jamie, and andrea way if they thought it was fair if i parked a car they didn't want in their driveway and later billed them for it, even though we didn't actually have a contract. while they could see how unfair this practice was if it was done to them, they had no problem doing it to others. lovely to see the new corporate attitude has seeped all the way to the bottom where even the humans sound like dumb machines.
14 - Insider of BMG Columbia House
As for the Director Selection all you have to do is call them and tell them you travel A LOT and can not return the card and they will put in with the group that does not get director selection EVER. As for sending an old item back you don't need their permission just send it back unopened and it will go to the system to auto credit your account.As far as the contract when you sigh up on the internet and click agree to terms you agree to everthing director selections and all (you have to click it for you can place the order for the free movie or intro pack). You can get out of if be saying your kid signed you up (UNDER AGE)or someone took your credit card and signed you up. As far as the out of the US people you talk to, if you are a BAD member or you call before hours or after hours you will get the non US reps. So keep you account out of collections and don't do to many returns and you will get a US rep or just Don't put your account number in to the computer system when you place a call. You also can claim you did not get a movie once after that you have to return a card stating did not get the movie and you have to send it back in before you claim you did not get a movie (if you do this to many time they will cancel you accout) but that first time they write off the charges and everytime you trun that card back in the write off the charges. Also if you are calling to talk to a supervisor about your credit card being charged for a shippment you did not order (dirctor slection) GOOD LUCK!! It is their job to NOT transfor you. So give them some other reason to be tranfered. If you want to really get the GOOD deals call in on Thursdays!! And if you call into cancel and they offer you the no more directors selection it is ONLY for a limited time if you don't buy movies that offten so go with the travel a lot if you never want to get them again! If you have any question let me know!!
15 - Insider of BMG Columbia House
OO Also their system only hole so much of your account info so if you did place and order a long time ago 9 time out of 10 they will NOT see that information on their computer and they can NOT look it up. So don't be so hard on them when they say they can't see a movie that was order several weeks back they really can't. Now for "Due on cantract" you can re-enroll that day you call in and keep the same account and you don't have to pay it all at once they give you an extention on the contract, you can also lower your comit by one if you say that was not the comit you agreed to but ONLY by one! Remimber if you call in the screem you will not get a supervisor (the supervisor are reps that have been their the longest amount of time, they are not really supervisors) Be nice you are calling to give a rep an "that a boy" when you are transofed let them have it. Also with your credit cards and the auto charge when you sign up with a credit card you agree to charge ALL movies including director slections to read the fine print people!! You can get out of if (BE NICE) and tell them you no longer want you card charged and they take it off. What I have givin you is the rules if does not matter what rep you talk to they have to do these this! Have a good one!
16 - Ken Edwards
"several weeks back?" Huh? Look, I am a database programmer, not an idiot. That information is stored, calculated, and has reports run on it from here until eternity. I might be inclined to think that records from say 1999 would be harder to pull up, but not anything in the last year.
I also signed up before the Interweb thing happened, and before BMG and Columbia House were one entity -- a scary thing.
17 - geoff mclaughlin
I signed a contract for Columbia House, or BMG(can't remember), sometime in the late 90's. The contract explicitly said that there was no time limit for me to make my purchase of ~10 cds. I found this to mean that I could make the purchases the next day or 100 years from now.
Now it seems they want me to fulfil my obligation immediately. They have now put a date on my contract, which I have refused. I tried calling them and got hung up on.
The other day I recieved a letter from a collection agency stating I owe $42.40. I WILL FIGHT.
Has anyone else signed this same contract and delt with the same problems. I know it's not much money, but I am disscusted.
Someone please respond if you've encountered my problem. thank you
18 - Rick
I had 2 accounts with CH and cancled both. I have been trying to reapply and i am getting nothing. I dont even get an email saying they are have recieved my info and are processing my info. should i keep trying to reapply or what. I dont know. Any help would be appreciated.
thanks
rick
By the way i have had no problems with CH.They always send my selections on time and i have always cancled my directors selection and had no problem with that
19 - Siti
Innocents of the world, please do not agree to engage Columbia House or any affiliate of Columbia House, in any agreements. You will be taken for a Ride that will hurt you and only you.
No customer service is allowed, the reps promise not to listen, and promise not to follow any of your directions. Go to a discount store and get the latest and the greatest DVDs. They are cheaper and you have less trouble.
Lesson learned.
Siti
20 - DUDE
I can just imagine the CEO's of Columbia House rigtht now. Sitting on an island in paradise letting the two website programers and automatic telephone system do all the work. Any actual mass labor they need, they outsource it to other countries. Which I am happy for those countries, because maybe they will become as spoiled as us Americans, who just want good service. And when they (I) don't get it, become very angery and post thngs on blogs. Anyways, they cancel your membership if you have "excessive returns". I did not ask for them so I return them. Its kind of like communism. They tell you what you want then punish you for not wanting it. Again, anyways, getting back on track. I am usually a very patient person and my Columbia House membership has tested and made my patience fail. I will however recommend them to anyone with too much time and money to spend.
P.S. I whish this blog could spell check.
21 - DUDE
Oh, yea! Thanks for whoever posted that phone number with a pulse. Thats the only reason I know what I know. And the man did not speak very good english. How did you get it?
22 - Alex
Wow! I'm thrilled to be able to add to this long-lasting list of fellow disaffected CH customers.
First off, I could SWEAR that the form I originally filled out said I only had to buy 2 DVDs...but then one day a year later my account on the website said 4. (???) Can't be sure, yadda-yadda, so I just suck it up and buy them. Yes, I've also gotten the spiel about not being able to stop auto director's selections. I was given the actual reason: they cannot turn that feature off until you fulfill your initial requirement. After that you can apply to be a VIP or something and they'll cancel it. Who in their right mind would want to keep buying from them after the initial obligation? As if I want to spend $30 on a new release I can get for $14 at Wal-Mart?
Okay so anyway, fast forward to my latest run-in. I, as I see many of you guys have experienced, got a DS mailed to me even though I expressly make sure to go on the website every 2 weeks to cancel the constant barrage of DSs. They charged me $27. I wrote "return to sender" on it and waited. Two months later I had not gotten my $ refunded, so I called the #.
The ordeal began. I fiddled around with every possible permutation of options, wasting 45 minutes listening to that obnoxious Southern accented lady on the recording. I even tried the customer complaint #...which says to please hold for a special rep...and then transfers you right back to the regular menu! I even did the tried and true 1-5-5 combo that Ken mentions above, though the first few times I did this it only gave me an automated menu for cancellation. Finally, after I had screamed my lungs out in utter rage, I get a rep. This was John or Mike or something...Hispanic (-gasp- not Indian? I see someone here mentioned they outsourced to Panama so that explains that) The first thing I did, in as calm a voice as possible, was tell him that his company stinks and makes it impossible to reach anyone. His reply was "OK sir, very good, how can I help you."
My blood reached 212 degrees F. I HATE being patronized. So I rephrased: "I SAID, Columbia House..." to which he comes back "Thank you sir, how can I help you?" Barely maintaining sanity, I asked him for an address to lodge a formal complaint against the company, and he gave it to me. He was more receptive after that, and promised to refund my $27 within 48 hours.
Avoid this company like the plague!
23 - James
My wife Gina clicked by mistake a box for Columbia house DVD to receive free software. She never signed a contract or gave a credit card. Charlies Angeles arrived in a giant box with a bill for $11.70 which we never ordered. After a few weeks we got another annoying bill getting huffy for us to pay. I told my wife what is this shit you've ordered she said she didn't. I said cancel it. We called the 1-800 number and you can't talk to anyone. We paid the $11.70 and cancelled the account. Just got a bill for $47.06 for breaking the contract. What contract? Prove it? This is like a bad movie you can never get away from. These people know that if you can't talk to a human. Never click any survey or free on the internet it will ruin your bank account, your credit and waste your time. Did I say never click the box signing up for DVD Club it will never, never, never, never end! I'm doing a forwarding address change to get ride of htese insane people.
24 - Jeff
My situation is a little different from the one's above. I signed up for the DVD club, and never received the movies. I initially just figured that the shipping was slow, but then I got billed for a late fee on my enrollment charge. I called them up (416) 299-8181 to ask about this, and told them that I still hadn't received the movies. They treated me like I was lying to them, but said they would mail out a form to track down the shipment through Canada Post. I waited for this (and continued getting billed the late fees), but the form never came. Finally, I got sent a 'Due on Contract' charge of $121.72 and a threatening collections letter. Still, I have not received any merchandise from this company. I called them back, and the first girl I spoke with, while sounding very pleasant, kept insisting that I had been mailed this form TWICE (I only asked for it once), and that there was nothing she could do until I returned it. She offered to email it to me, but said this email would take 48 hours to receive. Apparently there are a lot of other people ahead of me that aren't getting their merchandise. I didn't really find this satisfactory, so I asked for her Supervisor. Again, she told me that it would take 48 hours for me to speak with a Supervisor, as there were many people ahead of me that had to talk to one (not a good sign). I tried getting her to find me one right away, but she persisted in saying that I would have to wait. She did say though, that once I had returned the form, that I would be able to opt out of Columbia House completey without having to pay for anything (I'll wait and see if that happens).
I decided to call back, because from experience working in a Call Center before, I know that typically the Supervisors do not want to take escalation calls unless they have to, and some agents simply refuse to get one. I called back, and got the absolute rudest company representitive I have ever spoken to on the phone. Will (employee #4046). I started by asking for a Supervisor. A move I know would put anyone's guard up, but nothing that this guy should take personally. He did though. He refused, stating that there was not a single Supervisor in the building, and proceeded to be completely condescending towards me. I asked if he could check the notes on my account so he could see what my situation was. He responded by saying that he didn't have 'any sentences' to read, and I'd only wait around longer if I didn't just tell him what the problem was. When I mentioned that I didn't appreciate his attitude, he told me that 'he only gives what he gets'. (at this point, I hadn't been giving him attitude personally, but he wanted to make it personal). We sparred back and forth, he refused to assist me with anything, and continued to insist that he was working unsupervised (I actually believe that now too, as I cannot see how anyone who was supervised would be able to keep their job after the way he had treated me). I asked to be called back (of course in 48 hours) by a Supervisor, but I'm not holding my breath that someone will.
Stay away from this company. They are an absolute nightmare to deal with. Columbia House is not worth it, and to prove that point, they are insisting that I pay them $142.73 in return for nothing but harrassment and abuse.
25 - PH
I had a very difficult time contacting columbia house. Spent hours calling and re calling going through press one for english and all the other options to try to cancel. Then I found a # to call and got a live person right away. The # is (812)466-8565. Hope this helps!