She Was Erika, A Mighty Consumer, Forged In The Heat of Battle

I think maybe I should change the name of this blog to The Angry Consumer, because I often find myself fighting the good fight in the name of not spending money on goods and services that were not up to par.

I see myself sort of like Xena, Warrior Princess, except with a pen instead of a sword (and we all know which of those is mightier) battling stores and services providers instead of Greek gods (or whatever it is Xena battled). I know I'm more like the annoying old lady people refund just to get her to shut up, but hey, whatever gets results is fine with me.

Here's a little about my current battle: Earlier this spring, my husband and I signed up for a dog park in our area. It cost $60 -- which seemed steep for the right to enter a fenced-in patch of grass, but whatever -- but we didn't mind paying it because we were really excited to have a safe place to let Stella run off-leash. We really enjoyed taking her there, and she seemed to enjoy going...until we took a good look around and noticed how badly the place is kept.

The problem, in a word, is poop. There are signs posted at the entrance telling dog owners to pick up after their pets, but never once have I actually seen someone doing so; most of the owners are too busy socializing with each other to notice what their dogs are leaving behind. The park district doesn't seem to care much either; I'm sure they would clean up whatever a picnicking family left behind at one of the people parks, but the keep-parks-clean rule apparently doesn't apply when it comes to dogs. Most of the times we've been there, we've spent more time chasing Stel away from droppings than actually playing with her.

I e-mailed the park district and very politely explained that a grassy patch full of dog poop and vomit (yes, vomit) was not what I was expecting for my sixty bucks and nicely asked for a refund, even if it was a partial one. Today (eight days later), they sent a curt reply telling me that the dog park is clean and we will not be refunded.

Well then. Thanks for the kind explanation, park district. I'm glad to know that the huge piles of poo were all in my imagination. I'm so embarrassed to have told you the park was poorly kept when it very clearly was not. I guess I'll just let the thing drop.

I don't know who these people think they're dealing with, but I've won battles against UPS and Sam's Club; I can certainly take down a park district. Yes, yes, it's sixty bucks, not a million, but I am so offended by their response to my (very polite) e-mail message that I'm even angrier than I was before.

Stay tuned for the next installment in this enthralling story.