Complaint Review: Columbia House Company - Terre Haute Indiana

Well, well, well.... I am sure glad I found this website. I do not feel nearly as alone as I did before! I've been reading everyone's reports, and they all sound alarmingly familiar to my own situation!

First off, to the guy who called Christina from Pennsylvania "ignorant" and claimed that he "LOVES the prices Columbia House offers"....GET A CLUE MAN! Sure, the pretty ads show prices of $12.99, but that's not including taxes or those hefty shipping and handling charges. You'd be a lot wiser to buy your CDs and movies else where Unless of course, you enjoy paying $20 a pop for ONE CD! Who's ignorant?

Now, here's my story. I joined the club in 2002 so I could get the "buy one get 12 free" deal. A mistake I never intend to make again, rest assured. My membership dues were coming up, so I got a letter stating I needed to buy 5 CDs at "regular club price" to fulfill my membership. So I flipped through the enclosed flyer and picked 5 CDs that were all $13.99 & higher, and none of them were in the "special price" or "promotional offer" areas of the flyers. I filled out that little order card and wrote a note on the side saying these would be my 5 regularly priced CDs and I wish to cancel my membership after my order is processed.

Few weeks later I receive the first two CDs and a note saying the other 3 will be mailed after my payment is received. So I sent a check and weeks later the last 3 came. I sent another check with a note asking for a confirmation letter that my membership was now cancelled.

The next thing I got was a letter saying I still owed $68.10 in order to fulfill my membership dues. I couldn't find a customer service number ANYWHERE on the letter, flyer, or website (sound familiar?!), and finally found a number in the national yellow pages online. I called a long distance number to Indiana and sat on hold for over 45 minutes before hanging up. I wrote a letter after that and got no response. So I called back and spoke to Marisa Bell, a horrid woman who claimed to be a "customer service representative". She told me that 3 CDs I chose did not count because they were "specially priced" at $13.99. I explained that there was no notation of this in the flyer, and no one notified me of this, even after I sent a letter about it to them. She was rude, belittling, and insulting and offered no help whatsoever. I finally asked for her supervisor's name and number and she refused to give it me claiming that all of the supervisors were "unavailable". She then gave me the Terre Haute address to write to, even though I told her I'd already written and gotten no response.

I complained to the BBB of Central Indiana and got a letter from Columbia House saying it was my fault that I picked the wrong Cds and they would do nothing. BBB was no help. I wrote them back saying I was not satisfied with the outcome of my complaint and to this day have heard nothing. It's been 5 months since this started and still nothing.

I will not pay the $68.10 they say I owe them. I have already paid $97 for 5 Cds (which is absurd) and they should take the fake "balance" off of my account. I am dismayed and appalled that this company can do business the way they do. What a sad sad shame it is.

Good to see that another complainer got somewhere by writing the office of the attorney general. I'll be doing that next-thanks for the info!

DO NOT JOIN COLUMBIA HOUSE COMPANY! YOU WILL BE FACED WITH ENDLESS HASSLES AND COUNTLESS FRUSTRATIONS!

Amy

Dallas, Texas
U.S.A.

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