Anyone here remember the Colombia Records and Tapes Club scam?

[Yavin4]

Anyone get scammed by it?

[walkingman]

1. I subscribed several times in my late teens and early 20's (67-71) and

got a lot of really good albums. I would play the game for a few months and then stop. I know it was cheating but I didn't care. Rock and Roll!!

[Haggard Celine]

2. Not me.

I got the 11 albums and never bought anything else. Got all kinds of threatening letters.

[Effete Snob]

6. That was all they could do

I'm puzzled by the OP's use of scam, since there are few things as dangerous as a minor who understands the consequences of being able to revoke contracts because they are a minor.

Like, you know that little "Columbia House Jail" where they'd haul off the kids that didn't pay?

[Haggard Celine]

8. Lol!

“Columbia House jail.”

[Earth-shine]

3. Well, I remember acquiring a lot of LP records ...

and having to occasionally return the record-of-the-month because I didn't send a reply card on time.

On balance, I think I came out way ahead.

Oh, look at that in the picture -- Kiss Alive II. Yup, got that one. (I fucking loved it as a 14 year old.)

[AZSkiffyGeek]

11. I got a copy of Kiss's Destroyer because my parents forgot to send in the card

Made my 7-year-old self so happy!

[Earth-shine]

16. One clear way to ruin a 14-yr-old's day is to tell him that a 7-yr-old likes the same music.

Or worse, tell him his parents like the music.

[RobinA]

20. This Was Me

I got a bunch of good records for free and then bought the bare minimum. I think I made out pretty well.

[Frasier Balzov]

5. The Coen Brothers remember!

[50 Shades Of Blue]

7. Yes but I must have joined under a different deal - I remember getting Crosby Stills & Nash's first

album for $1 but not having to buy any other albums.

My parents joined in the very early 60's. That's how I grew up listening to musicals!

I also belonged to the Record Club of America. They had some really good deals.

[Brother Buzz]

9. Theodore Cleaver joined a record club for...

only 87 cents a week. Bow howdy, we just knew it was going to go sideways

[Harker]

21. Sure thing...his allowance was probably shy of a dime. n/t

[Mr.Bill]

10. I did one of those deals with CDs.

I can't remember the name of the company or the details but a good friend showed me basically how to scam them. Really more like some loopholes in their rules. I bought dozens of CDs for next to nothing.

[moniss]

12. I never went for it

but I knew people who did. LPs usually arrived all warped like mad leading me to believe they were taking rejects etc. and shipping them out. I'm talking back in the day before 8-tracks. There was one thing I did join that turned out fabulous and it was for classical music on Deutsche Grammophon. These were thicker vinyl and shipped in very stiff cardboard boxes that looked specially designed for the size of an LP. Some of the things I got were collections etc. Like all of the Beethoven Violin Concertos. It was all pretty much the Berlin Philharmonic apparently in some sort of arrangement through DG. Never had a bad batch. As I recall you got a card each month with a list of a few selections and you could mark off what you wanted or indicate if you wanted none that month. I think there was a monthly featured item but I don't remember if that came automatically if you didn't send in the card. They only required like a few purchases to be made over the course of like 3 years or so. It was very up and up and I built a very nice high quality classical collection. Tons of Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, etc. I wasn't (still not) a big Mozart person. Strauss waltzes etc. were also in the mix. I had probably a hundred or so LPs. Lost in the shuffle of life.

[keithbvadu2]

13. Now it's late-night infomercials where you get the magic product 'free' plus S&H.

Now it's late-night infomercials where you get the magic product 'free' plus S&H.

Then, it comes every month at an inflated price and it's hell to cancel.

Now, they have your credit card.

[Cadfael]

14. I remember trying to cancel them

Back in the 1970’s

[cilla4progress]

15. I think

I did!

[relayerbob]

17. Wasn't a scam at all

I got lots of great CDs for a fraction of what I would have paid at the store. The key to the lowest prices was buy the whole amount in one shot, cancel, and do it again.

[Fiendish Thingy]

18. Not a scam if you knew how to work it

Although the BMG club was a much better deal- you got fewer (8 IIRC) records up front, but only had to buy 1 or 2 to fulfill your obligation, and you could buy 1 title for half price with your 8 free selections to fulfill your obligation.

The trick to those clubs was 1) make sure you mailed back your monthly selection card the day you received it if there was nothing you wanted (otherwise they automatically send the selection of the month), and 2) fulfill you obligation asap and then cancel your membership.

I only participated in the Columbia club a couple of times, because you had to find 19+ titles you liked between your free selections and your obligations, and I was already buying several titles monthly from local record stores.

I joined/fulfilled/canceled membership in the BMG club annually (you could join once a year) for probably 10-12 years. In addition to adding to my collection (still have tons of BMG branded CD’s in my collection) with individual CD’s, BMG had fantastic sales on box sets- over the years, I got boxes by the Beach Boys, Dylan, The Byrds, The Who, Led Zeppelin and others for half price ($20-30 instead of $40-60), aaannnnddd, if you bought more CD’s after your obligation was fulfilled, you earned more free CD’s!

So, buy 1 CD for half price when you join and get your 8 free titles, then buy another at full price to meet your obligation, then buy a four cd box set for half price, and earn another free disc! Then cancel your membership, and do it all again the following year!

[UTUSN]

19. My older sister joined in her first teaching job & let me have the freebee after each 2 paid ones