| |
Welcome
to
CD MUSIC
CLUB CD MUSIC CLUB
Declining the Selection
of the Month
You will generally not want the selection-of-the-month.
There are several ways to decline the selection of the month:
- Return the monthly selection card
- + Go to the club's web site and use the decline option
- + Contact the club's customer service center by email
or telephone.
- Use the club's automated order line
If contacting the customer service center by email, please
include your name, complete address, club account number and
one of the following: monthly selection's title, monthly selection's
selection number, or the monthly flyer's sale cycle identification
code (e.g. n/nn/n).
If you receive a selection of the month that you don't want
you have two options:
- If the mailer has not been opened, write "Refused:
Return to Sender" on the mailer and return it, postage
free, via US Mail.
- If you have opened it, contact the club's customer
service center and request a pre-paid return mailing label.
If you return too many discs without cause, the club may cancel
your membership.
+ If you have fulfilled the membership purchase requirements
and you don't want to worry about receiving another unwanted
selection of the month, contact the club's customer service
center and request that you be placed on the plan where they
don't automatically assume you want the selection of the month.
This is called a "positive option" plan: you will continue
to receive the monthly mailings, but will not receive a CD
unless you order it.
CH and CDHQ call this the "on order only list". I am not sure
what BMG calls this but if you explain it to the customer
service agent, he/she should understand. This does not apply
to PLAY as all PLAY memberships are "positive option" from
the start.
If you follow the "join-fulfill-quit-repeat" algorithm, you
will not be in the club long enough to need this plan.
Like BMG, you will receive print catalog every three weeks
that include sales offer to entice you to buy more than
the minimum. To get the best deal and if you have the patience,
wait a few months before you make your full-price purchase.
You should start receiving offers such as the 'Buy 1, get
1 free' or 'Buy 1, get 2 free' within the first six months
of membership.
Use this offer to fulfill your membership purchase requirement.
Unlike BMG, you don't have to return any of those annoying
cards and so you won't receive CDs you didn't order. Columbia
House allows more than one membership per address, so you
can always sign-up anyone living at the same address with
you to get more free CDs.
Remember, you are joining to save money, get more CDs for
less. To avoid unnecessary cost, quit your membership after
you have fufilled your purchase requirements. If you want
more free CDs, you can always rejoin later as long as your
account is in good standing when you cancelled your membership.
Getting The Most CD's For Your $$$
-
The Golden Rule
Join, Fulfill, Quit, Repeat. Do not use their
so-called "special member deals", like buy-one-at-half-price.
Want more CD's? Quit and rejoin!
BMG allows only one membership, per person, per year
restriction. As the restriction is per person, per year,
each person at an address should be able to have one
membership per year. One suggestion: while a member,
use the 'join a friend' offer to sign someone else up
at the same address. The current member, after fulfilling
the membership, quits and uses the 'friend's' membership.
Repeat.
Please keep in mind the above BMG membership restriction
when reading the next two paragraphs.
+ The stated policy of BMG and CH/CDHQ/PLAY is that
they reserve the right to refuse any application. I
have been a member of BMG and CH many times, a member
of CDHQ once, had a CDx membership converted to BMG,
and had my old CH and CDHQ memberships converted to
PLAY memberships. As the clubs usually offer preferred
memberships to members who have quit or allow past members
to rejoin on their own, the clubs' policy evidently
is to allow former members in good standing to join,
fulfill, quit (repeat) at will.
After quitting, the club might ask you to rejoin by
mail and/or by phone. Be forewarned: the offers to return
may not be the best offers then available from the clubs.
-
+ Wait for a 'buy 1, get 2 free' offer or even a 'buy
1, get 3 free' offer (BMG only) to fulfill the membership
purchase requirements.
This should happen within the first six months of membership.
In each 'buy 1, get X free' offer, the 'free' selections
must be of equal or lesser value than the purchased
selection. If a CD of greater value is chosen as a free
selection, the club will designate it as the purchased
CD - and bill you for the higher amount - and designate
the other CD's in the offer as the free selections.
-
+ In the past, the clubs have come out with their best
offers around the New Year.
This has not held true the past couple of years.
-
+ When joining a club, considering joining as a friend
of a current member.
This usually results in a better deal when joining BMG
and might result in a better deal when joining CH, CDHQ
or PLAY. It is important to compare the current new
member offers to the current 'join a friend' offers.
If the new member offer only requires the purchase of
1 CD at full price to fulfill the membership purchase
requirement and the 'join a friend' offer requires the
purchase of 6 CD's at full price to fulfill the membership
purchase requirement, do not use the 'join a friend'
offer.
+ BMG calls their 'join a friend' offer "Member-Get-A-Member".
BMG's standard 'join a friend' offer is '12 CD's for
the price of 1 CD, nothing more to buy' for the joining
member and 4 free CD's for the sponsoring member. This
is a good deal for the joining member if the sponsoring
member is willing to 'give' at least one of his/her
free CD's to the joining member. BMG's best 'join a
friend' offer is '12 CD's for the price of 1 CD, nothing
more to buy' to the joining member and 5 free CD's to
the existing member (catalog n/94/O). This is a good
deal for the joining member if the sponsoring member
is willing to 'give' at least one of his/her free CD's
to the joining member.
+ The 'join a friend' offers from CH/CDHQ/PLAY usually
require the purchase of 6 CD's at full price to fulfill
the membership purchase requirement. When these clubs
are advertising new member offers that only require
the purchase of 1 CD at full price to fulfill the membership
purchase requirement, the 'join a friend' offers from
these clubs are NOT recommended.
-
+ If you can map out all the CD selections required
to fulfill the membership when joining, you can save
a couple of dollars by choosing the more expensive CD's
as the free selections and the less expensive CD's as
the purchase/fulfillment selections.
CD's that fulfill the membership purchase requirements
are regular priced CD's over $12.98 for CH, CDHQ and
PLAY; and over $14.98 for BMG.
-
As all the clubs allow more than one membership per
address, each spouse, sibling, roommate, etc., can have
his/her own membership.
BMG allows up to five memberships under different names
per address.
-
Getting good deals on multiple-CD sets.
BMG allows most multiple-CD sets as free or sale selections:
introductory, buy-1-get-X-free, 60% off, etc. The searchable
catalog at BMG's web site has most multiple-CD sets
marked as "unavailable as free selection". In contrast,
the printed paper catalogs have almost every multiple-CD
set of 5 CD's and less unmarked (and thus available
as free or bonus selections). My advice: follow the
more generous printed catalogs markings and join/order
via US Mail.
+ CH/CDHQ/PLAY only allow some two-CD sets as free or
sale selections.
For introductory offers, place the selection number
of the N-CD set in one of the entry blocks and leave
(N-1) of the entries blank. For example, ordering a
three-CD set would require leaving two selection entry
boxes blank.
In non-introductory offers, multiple-CD sets are treated
similarly to single CD titles: the free or discounted
CD sets must be of equal or lesser value than the purchased
CD set. For example, in the 'buy 1 CD, get unlimited
CD's at 80% off' offer, the most expensive CD or CD
set in the order will be designated by the club as the
"purchased" selection and charged at full price regardless
of the selection's position on the order form.
BMG
12 CD's for the price of 1 CD, nothing more to buy, ever
[get 7 free, buy 1, get 4 more free]
COLUMBIA
HOUSE
+ 12 CD's for the price of 1 CD, nothing more to buy, ever
[get 7 free, buy 1, get 4 more free] * (Sound&Vision,
Feb/Mar '99)
11 CD's for one red cent [get 11 for $.01 + $1.49 fee,
buy 6 more] * (Rolling Stone, 11 Jun 98)
OTHER
SPECIAL OFFERS
Some offers include an option to purchase "bonus" CD's.
These are usually good deals. The test is whether the bonus
CD's would lower the average CD cost of the total membership.
In the advertisements with most offers, there is an address
to write to if the reply card is missing. If it is a particularly
good offer, it might be worthwhile to write a letter to
the listed address stating that the reply card is missing
(even if it isn't) and requesting a copy of the reply card.
In the letter, include the name of the offer, the source
of the ad and a return address. You could try contacting
the club's customer service center for a copy of the offer
but this does not always succeed.
|
THE
FACE OFF
