Ok. So this fat, digest-sized money saver's bible was easy to get ahold of, for a handsome deal, before Christmas. For $15, you could get this behemoth collection of coupons and discounts. Erin and I are aiming to use and abuse it until the expiration dates come-a-knockin'!
The problem: I ordered a couple of these for frugal friends as Xmas gifts and received them quickly, but when I ordered one for us, on January second (still for the bargain price of $15), I ran into a snag. I moved in January (paying $185 less in rent now) and the book was due to arrive at my old address, before I was out of there. Lo and behold, it got sent back!
After perplexedly tracking the shipment back to Michigan, I called customer service to see what was up. It was "undeliverable" and not forwarded to my new address either. I gave my new address and asked that a new one be sent, please and thank you. I was sure I'd have my own book by early February.
Another 10 days or more passed...no email received that the book had been shipped, no word from the "research department" I was advised i might hear from, no book. And a credit to my bank account appeared: $15 from "Entertainment Book".
I don't get irate very often. This was the scale-tipping moment: I called and was told the second book had also been sent to my old address. And also returned. And that I could re-order another book, but only at the current price: $16.25.
Consider as well: throughout this process I had to be the proactive consumer; never did the company make the first move to make things right. I had called them, tracked the package, placed the order, recommended the book to friends—and even bought it for some of them!
Now I was losing out on valuable time to use mine...more than a month had passed. And they wanted me to pay more for something I was going to get less use of, because they'd made a mistake?! (Appropriate moment for the interrobang.)
After pointing these things out to the hapless customer service rep, she decided—after another lengthy hold—that I did indeed deserve to get the book I'd ordered at the original price I'd paid for it. They'd have to bill me the $16.25 and credit the $1.25. To say I was pleased would be overstating it, but I had been pulled back from a ledge.
We received the third, charmed copy on February 21st. And used it that day for the first time. We will be tracking our savings throughout this blog. At the end of the year, we will tally what we saved through its use. We'd nearly saved that $15 in the first week, but we'll let you read other (shorter) posts to see how we're faring.
Lesson on this deal: Stick to your guns and be proactive.
If I hadn't, we'd most likely not have got our guide when we did, or for the price we should have!
Note to self: Don't order something time-sensitive when you're about to move. And, just pony-up the $15 early, with the other books, because it'll save you the 45 days lost in the long run.
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