A recent BMG Record Club catalogue contained some enticing choices.  They
were selling boxed sets including a 9-CD set of Stravinsky conducting his
own works (priced at $44.98) and a 7-CD set of David Moroney playing the
complete keyboard works of Byrd, priced at $36.98.  They also finally had
Volume 8 of Koopman's conducting Bach Cantatas, a 3-CD set, for $50.98
(cheaper then and later if one bought some other stuff at BMG's regular
price).  My intention was to use up 51 of my accumulated Music Points,
then over 60 in number, to obtain the Bach for just the shipping and
handling costs.

I tried to place the order on the Web and could not get the shopping list
to show the above sale prices.  I understand, the sales prices appeared
if you entered a certain code in a specified field but I could not find
the code either on my notification card or in the catalogue.  Nor could I
get the Web site to accept my order for the Bach to be paid for in Music
Points.

I sent an e-mail to BMG describing my predicament.  They replied graciously
enough advising me that they were sending me the Byrd and Stravinsky at the
boxed sale prices but that the Bach was not obtainable for Music Points, as
was explained in the catalogue.

I e-mailed a reply, thanking BMG for processing my order for the Byrd and
Stravinsky but inquiring where in the catalogue the Bach was identified as
not available for Music Points, quoting to them what was written about the
Bach selection and also the general instructions about the use of Music
Points, none of which indicated that the Bach would be excluded.  (Certain
items in the catalogue are identified as unexchangeable, usually because of
the low price at which they are offered.  The Bach was not one of those.)

I received another e-mail, advising me that the Bach was not available for
Music Points and that they were aware that this was not clear from their
Web site.

I replied, explaining that the matter was not only not clear on their Web
site but not clear in the catalogue either and that the latter appeared
clearly to indicate that the Bach selection was available for Music Points.
I asked for a specific reference in the catalogue to where that recording
was shown not to be so available.

I finally got a new reply from BMG saying that they would send me the Bach
in exchange for the Music Points.

My next question is, are there any Koopman recordings of the contemplated
complete cantatas after volume 8? They're issued by Erato, which I believe
I heard is no more and so, if there are any contemplated volumes not yet
recorded, they probably won't be.  But if collections after volume 8 have
been recorded, is the total collection complete or will my collection
remain truncated?

Walter Meyer