Friday, March 23, 2012

Big Backyard

Last fall, in an effort to encourage the boys to both read and learn, I got a subscription to a kid's nature magazine called The Big Backyard. And now, every month, the boys get a magazine about birds and chipmunks and all sorts of animals. They enjoy it. And untile recently, I thought this was a good thing.

But then The Big Backyard got dirty.

No, not with actual dirt.

See, when I was away they sent us a DVD. It was a cute DVD, with nature shows and stuff. The boys probably wouldn't have just watched it, but they would have let me play it in the background as they played video games or colored.

The dirty part was, The Big Backyard sent us this DVD, and then told us if we wanted to keep it, we had to pay them $13. OK, $12.99, but it may as well be $13. If we didn't want to keep it, we had to send it back. What's more, if we kept it, they would KEEP ON SENDING US DVD'S! And charging us $13 for each.

How rude.

I have to be perfectly clear, I don't sign up for stuff like this. I was part of a CD club once and it was not a good experience.

In this case, I signed up and paid for a magazine. I didn't request DVD's or anything else.

To be fair, returning the DVD was simple. They requested you take it out of the case and enclose it in a special envelope for returning unwanted DVD's. This way they would know you didn't want it. I'm sure they don't even open the darn things, they just toss them out. In which case they may as well let you keep the DVD in the first place, and then request that you sign up for additional DVD's you would like to get. That would be acceptable. But this whole business of giving you something you didn't ask for and then telling you it costs $13?

Just lowdown and dirty.

1 comment:

Lindax0x0x0x0x said...

Oooooo, BOOOOO! How rude! Burn it first & then send it back along with a cancellation notice for the magazine. I will buy the boys a copy of The Boy's Book of Adventure & they will learn all they need for life, including how to stave off a werewolf! Look for it in the mail!!