Estimated Arrival

Matt and I have decided to decorate the nursery with a pirate theme. The bedding set is just too cute, and we thought as the baby grows into a toddler it would be fun for him! What little boy wouldn't want to be a pirate?

So we have been looking around for decorating ideas for the room. We wanted to stay away from the scary stuff (i.e., skull and crossbones, etc.) and just stick with fun, sweet, and maybe educational. I went online and found this adorable poster! It was cheap and it completely matched the decor. I saved it in my virtual shopping cart for a little while until I was sure I wanted to order it.
I went online this morning to order it. As I went through the order process I was figuring it would be here in a week or so. I was a little disappointed, however, when I saw that it would take 5+ weeks to ship, and an additional 3-7 days in transit. YIKES! Well, what could I do? Either let it go, or order it and just scold myself for not ordering it earlier. After all, there are plenty of things that take 6-8 weeks for delivery. Ok, ok, I went ahead an ordered it. There, done.

Or so I thought!!

I received my confirmation email. I looked it over and was completely confused when I saw:

Estimated ship date: 3/30/2010 - 4/1/2010
Estimated arrival by: 4/2/2010 - 4/12/2010

At first I saw the month, what? Are you kidding me? APRIL? Don't you think that is taking advantage of adding the "+" to "ships in 5+ weeks?" That is 5 MONTHS away...

wait...did I see that right? does that say 2010?? YES IT DOES! Oh man, what have I done? This company now has my money and I won't get my poster for a year and half, until the baby is a toddler!?! What if I move? This isn't going to work for me.

I of course went back to the website for the customer service phone number. I called the customer service phone number, and it was disconnected! Yeah, this looks pretty good for me now right?

I called the corporate headquarters number, and it offered me a transfer to customer service. I thought to myself "Oh brother, ok well let's see where this gets me..." Needless to say, there was a wait to speak to a human. Finally, I got a hold of "Brooke." I told Brooke my scenario and when I said the estimated date of arrival she too couldn't believe it.

The rest of the story isn't that fascinating. I get to wait 4-5 weeks to see if it shows up (because she says that it is in stock) and if it doesn't show I up, I get to call back. I hope it does, because I don't want to kick myself for not asking for my money back today, and more importantly...I don't know how easy it will be to remember to call back when I have a newborn baby. Maybe I can put a friend or family member on "poster watch." HA! How is that for delegating!

Sheesh.