Thank you, Bob, for sharing this information! I just sent in my order for
the 2nd ed. (at $285/copy!!) and will be canceling it now that I know there will
be a December supplement for it for which I will be charged. I will wait until
January to order it when the supplement will be included for free. If it takes
another month or two, that's okay. I have to do things like that to save every
dollar I can when my library budget is in the process of being cut 20% this year
(and that may just be the beginning!). Since this item is a treatise and
therefore, just a starting point for research, we can update it using other
means.
Nanna Frye
Court of Appeal
San Diego, CA
____________________Reply Separator____________________
Subject: BNA Books Rant: New Edition/Supplement Extra $$
Author: "Robert S. Ryan" <SMTP:RRyan@hillfarrer.com>
Date: 9/10/2003 12:37 PM
Not having ranted in quite a while, I may be rusty, so please bear with me (as
my old friend Smoky used to say)...
...so I get a flier, dated August 2003, from BNA Books for a new, Second Edition
of Privacy in Employment Law. We've got the first ediiton, so I call Customer
Service to make sure that they don't already have us down for a standing order.
Customer Service finds no listing for the title on our account, so I order the
new edition. (I realize that, my luck being what it is with publishers, this
probably means I'm going to receive two copies, the one I just ordered and the
one that's on standing order that she couldn't find, but I'll deal with that
some other day.) As we're discussing shipping, billing, etc, she (Customer
Service) mentions in passing that there will be an annual supplement to the new
Second Edition (which came out in August) and the first one will be coming out
in December. (No mention of this in the flier.) I ask (in my PollyAnna-ish way)
"Of course, there will be no charge for the supplement, since it's coming out a
mere 4 months after the new ediiton."
Surprisingly enough, there WILL be a charge. After going back and forth a bit
about this (in fairly civil tones - the doctor says yelling at the Customer
Service people only serves to stoke my paranoia. But what does he know? He's
just out to get me anyway...) she gives me a number at BNABooks to speak to
someone higher up the chain, yclept Paul. I call, leave a message, he returns my
call quite promptly. I explain things, he tells me, yes, there is a supplement
currently scheduled to come out in December. I ask if the 3 month rule applies -
if I wait a month to buy the book, will I get the supp for free? He says no (it
took me quite awhile to follow this), if I bought a book with a supplement and a
new supplement came out withing three months it would be free, but since the
book I'm buying doesn't have a supplement the fact that I order it within three
months of a supplement coming out is meaningless...unless I order the book and
supplement in a "pre-pack"(?), in which case I'll get a discount on the price.
I point out that there is no mention of this "pre-pack" provision in the flier.
He says that's because they don't yet know when the supplement will come out. I
point out that both Customer Service and he have told me there will be a
supplement in December. He says that, yes, there is one scheduled for December,
but that doesn't actually mean it will come out in December, so it isn't
mentioned in the flier. I point out (I do a lot of pointing out) that this means
the only way I can get a "pre-pack" discount would be by being psychically aware
of the existence of a) the policy and b) the scheduled but not sure when
supplement, since none of that information is included in the flier for the book
that should have been on standing order in our account anyway (and which, as I
said, probably is & I'll wind up with two...)...
...I'm going back to hiding under my desk and quietly moaning now. If anyone
else is dealing with this title and has better results, please let me know.
Bob Ryan
Librarian
Hill, Farrer & Burrill LLP
Los Angeles
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