TIME FOR A RANT.....

A couple of years ago, I had an issue with the corporate office at Dayrunner. At this point, I can't even tell you what the issue was but I remember they made it right by giving me the product that I needed at no charge. Great. Satisfied me. Perfect.

Now they've ticked me off again. Back in January, I did quite a bit of research to find the perfect refillable, zippered planner. I couldn't use my previous refillable planner because Dayrunner had stopped manufacturing that size. My research brought me to Office Depot where I purchased a red (yes!) zippered, refillable planner. It was $30, but I figured well, I can use it every year so it's worth it. Plus, I had a $10 coupon so $20 was fine by me.

The weekly pages in the planner are undated, which I actually like because you can just write in your own dates. Cuts down on waste. More affordable. Perfect. Well, recently, I was filling out the dates and realized, huh - there are only enough pages to get me through July 29, 2009. Let's see. July 29th is nowhere NEAR December so I knew there HAD to be a mistake.

I waited until after I had my baby to call the company. I figured it would be best, especially given my history with them, if I waited until my raging hormones were at a dull roar instead of the full-fledged roar there were at when I was with child. So I called today.

Guess what I was told???

"Yeah, we make it like that on purpose."

I said, "Can I ask why? Is it just so you can make more money off of your customers by not giving them the whole years' worth and force them to buy a refill??"

"Yeah, pretty much."

EXCUSE ME???

So I took a breath. After all, it's not this guy's fault. He's just the poor shlub answering the phone. I'm thinking, "I'm sooooo glad I waited until after I had the baby to make this call!"

Ok. Shake it off.

So I said, "Ok, how much are the pre-printed refills?

"$9.99"

I'm thinking, "Sheesh, I only paid $20 for the whole dang book!"

Then he goes, "Oh, but we're sold out of the 2009 pre-prints in that size."

SOLD OUT???!!!! In May????!!!! I don't get it.

I asked him if I had any options and he said, "No, not really. You're between a rock and a hard place."

I asked him to tell the uppity ups that this is a bad business practice and he said he will, but who knows. After all, I've been the poor shlub on that end of the phone and sometimes you just hang up and say, "I need a drink." Actually, I don't need a drink - I NEED SOME REFILL CALENDAR PAGES FOR A CALENDAR I BOUGHT IN JANUARY. IS IT SO UNREASONABLE TO THINK THERE WOULD BE ENOUGH PAGES FOR THE YEAR???

Take a breath. Hormones, assemble.