August 24, 2004

• I've done the BMG deal a few times. You do pay shipping and handling so it's not totally free, and the full-price CDs you must buy to complete your "commitment" end up costing around $20 each. So it averages out to maybe $5 or so per disc. BMG prints their own discs (they all say produced for BMG or some such on the back of the case) so that's probably how they make money. However, if you buy anything that normally has a special case, it will show up in a normal jewel case, so keep that in mind if you're a collector. They also expect you to forget to respond to your Featured Selection, then they send it to you and hope you'll just keep it and pay for it. If you want to do it, I suggest buying your required discs quickly and then cancelling your account so that you don't fall into that trap.
• As I have heard it explained, because they are given away for a penny, the disks are considered promotional items (or something like that, I may have the term incorrect) and as such Columbia House and BMG don't pay the artists royalties on those 12 for a penny disks. They used to be HUGE scams since you had to buy 6 or more cd's at their normal price (which was always more than the price in the store plus the shipping and handling) and that you had to keep sending back the card "no I don't want this" or they would automatically send you stuff. However, at least BMG now has email notifications and you don't even have to respond to those. I've been "in the club" for about 3 years now and haven't bought anything from them in over 2 years. They keep sending me emails about 70% off one day sales, but I never get around to taking them up on it.
• They fill you up with bread. THAT'S how they get you!
• When I joined 10 years ago, the group I had to choose my 12 cds from wasn't the greatest bunch of music. I remember settling for about 4 cds that I didn't really want.
• The shrimp is always gone by the time you get there and all that's left of the prime rib is a gnarled butt.
• Oh man, that DVD club they've got there looks mighty tempting but my gut keeps telling me it's too good to be true. Damned,innards.
• My husband loves these deals. He gets the nearly free CDs/books/DVDs/whatever, fulfills his commitment quickly, and quits. At which point the club desperately sends him special rejoin offers even better than the original almost free offer, and he completes the whole process again, endlessly. He feels that this process, overall, results in him saving a bunch of money, and I believe him, because he is OCDish about numbers. I, on the other hand, have learned through experience that I cannot respond to these offers without losing tons of money on junk I don't want, because I always forget to tell them not to send me the monthly crap. So, my conclusion is whether these clubs are a scam or a good deal depends on your personality.
• I used to work at Columbia House (in 1990). Both BMG and Columbia House have contracts with the regular record labels to manufacture CDs for club purchases. jccalhoun is right that no artist royalties are paid on these items - though some artists opt out of music clubs because of this. The upside is that the record clubs can sell an extra 100k CDs for the top albums and can give some medium sized bands extra exposure through being selections of the month.
• Note well: Once you're a member you can tell them NOT to ship you monthly selections. At least BMG let me, years ago. I've been a member of BMG for about 15 years, and every year they send me two free CDs of my choice, due to a promotion they had long ago, where if you bought 5 albums (tapes at the time) you'd get 2 free a year for life. They're still sending them! :)
• Here's the deal, you pay A LOT for shipping, you'd be surprised how fast it adds up. Also, they work with you for the first two shipments or so and then they start sending you the wrong cd's and you can't believe the hassle you have to go through to fix that. Plus, don't ever pay with a credit/debit card unless you want them to take payments without EVER notifying you that their doing it. It happened to me. If you don't care, go for it. Also, the quality of their cd's is sometimes very questionable. Especially on their dvd's. Plus, if you ever want to trade them in at a music store for other cd's, most places won't even accept BMG stuff. And their selection is really lacking. It's very difficult to get past the most basic stuff, most of which you wouldn't want (ie; Spears, Aguilera, boy bands, Beyonce', etc...). For instance, I want Tool's Aenema (mine was stolen) or anything by Ministry or old alternative stuff, etc... Forget about it. But that's just MHO.
• On av aguely related note, any British monkeys who'd like roughly 6 months worth of free dvd rentals should check out the suggestions here.
• Maaan...virtually everybody I know burned Columbia House at least once by signing up, getting the 12 for a penny deal, then moving and leaving no forwarding address. The mystery to us was how they ever made any money. I myself stuck to the Book Club promos. I'd get the deal, always going for cool reference books, and then actually mailing in the cards every month telling them not to send me the otherwise automatically-shipped 'Selection of the Month'. I think they made their money mostly on folks who couldn't keep track of the mailout cards and so got shipped a book every month, and paid for it rather than deal with it. They never seemed too concerned about whether you ever ponied up for the four or five more books you were supposed to buy as part of the original deal.
• I have also heard people tell me that they just kept marking the packages from Columbia House "return to sender" and eventually they sent him a letter saying they were going to cancel his membership. So, while I'm not sure what that might do to your credit rating, it is one way to screw them over.
• Years ago I joined one of them, I forget which and then not long after we moved. I never heard from them again.
• Columbia House was famous for either processing orders by computer or simply not caring, because in college people would sign up as Homer simpson, Jesus Christ, etc and get free CDs. then Homer or Jesus could sign up their friends for more bonus CDs... not sure if it changed but back then they didnt take a SS# or credit card so there was really no way for them to make you pay. You would get a serious of humorous collection letters and eventually they would stop...
• "series" humorous collection letters that is, not "serious"
• I'm in the DVD club. The deal is worth it only if you get very expensive DVDs for your intro offer and make sure to cancel the Selections of the Month every month and hunt for decent deals with which to fulfil your commitment.
• Maaan...virtually everybody I know burned Columbia House at least once by signing up, getting the 12 for a penny deal, then moving and leaving no forwarding address. Seems like rather an extreme step to get a few CDs.
• i always found that the "selection of the month" was so ubiquitous, if you didn't end up liking it, you were screwed, because every used place in the area already had a crate full of 'em. good luck trying to ever sell it. i was a member back in undergrad days (10 years ago) and i still have three cds i want to get rid of (sent to me without my asking, and i hate them), but nobody will buy them. ought to just leave them on the side of the road somewhere...
• No! I don't want the Best of the Doors! Do you hear me Columbia House!?!
• How long do you have to keep cancelling the selections of the month for before they give up? Is the postage free?
• I do it online. I'm pretty sure you have to pay postage if you go with snail mail. And either way, I'm pretty sure you have to keep at it every month.