What the….? Must check calendar. Is it April 1? April Fool’s Day? No. It is clearly November.
Why should I be surprised by what I’m holding in my hand? This is just in keeping with the creepy feeling that came over me the first time I showed up at the “Fertility” clinic. And it’s a reminder of why I deep-sixed the “Fertility” clinic route and opted instead for the reproductive endocrinology team at a leading research hospital.
Direct mail — seven years after the fact? Hello!? Doesn’t anyone there at that “Fertility” clinic use their brains? I had one IUI, requested a medical file transfer to a prestigious hospital and never showed up on your doorstep again. Wouldn’t that indicate that I was unhappy with the services being offered or the people delivering it?
Don’t think you can try to disguise your marketing efforts through a tie to the National Infertility Awareness Week. That’s not only bad form, it’s just plain twisted. Do you really think I need to know “The Truth About Biological Clocks?” If you had taken a moment to check out my records (since you clearly have data on where I live!), you’d realize that endometriosis and male factor prevented conception. The biological clock had nothing to do with our infertility.
If there was any doubt, let me be perfectly clear you insensitive idiots in search of village: I’m not interested in your “Fertility” services any longer. Remove me once and for all from your customer list.
Ah, wait, perhaps I need to couch this in financial terms since that’s your primary motivation: Your marketing dollars are wasted on me.
November 6, 2007 6:05 pm
That’s awful. And tacky. It would make me mad. Or maybe cry. (I’m prone to that at the moment.)
And I bitch about all the “kids” catalogues I get. They are wasting that paper too, but I guess I can’t expect LL*Bean and P*tteryBarn to know that I am childless.
November 6, 2007 7:45 pm
You should call and set up an appointment…then of course not show up.
November 6, 2007 7:58 pm
Oh noooo….want me to come help those idiots find their village?!
November 6, 2007 8:17 pm
That is truly disgusting. You would think that a group that bills itself as a “Fertility Clinic” would know better. But, then again, how many people who should know better (former patients) don’t? Too many.
I sometimes think I was raised on another planet with some of the attitudes I see displayed by so many people. I may not be good at it all the time, but I was taught some manners. I was also taught that there were certain things you just did not do – the “fertility clinic” did one of them.
Pax,
MLO
November 6, 2007 10:41 pm
Geez, they should know better. What a slap in the face, nothing like being blindsided when you least expect it
November 6, 2007 11:29 pm
LOVEly…just LOVEly.
November 7, 2007 12:54 am
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr……that “biological clock” bullshit has me gnashing my teeth….As if that isn’t already falsely believed to be The #1 Cause of Infertility, they have to go and throw it out there from a position of “authority” to uninformed masses?!!! So irresponsible………
November 7, 2007 1:11 am
They really need to update their records. As a media buyer, I will say that direct mail is inexpensive and doesn’t take much effort. They just use an internal database and whoever is in it probably gets mail, regardless of the criteria. Pretty stupid on their part to send it to people who are not current patients.
The whole biological clock thing? Yeah, thanks for that nugget of information – like I haven’t read about how age affects infertility by the time I see an RE…DER DA DER!
November 7, 2007 2:12 am
Burn it. Seriously.
November 7, 2007 2:15 am
Yeah, I understand that people need to be informed about their biological clocks – men, too – but it is not “the reason” most of us are on IVF etc! I like DD’s suggestion – make that appointment, then no-show. Heck, make me one, too.
Bea
November 7, 2007 4:00 am
Holy crap, 7 years later, 1 procedure? Those people are crazy! Crazy!
November 7, 2007 4:07 am
What is this biological clock everyone keeps talking about? My God, I have never heard of this! Where have I been?! Tell me more, O Commercial Clinic! Reel me in!
November 7, 2007 3:34 pm
Wow. Just wow.
I’m with dmarie. Burn it (but consider roasting marshmallows over it…).
November 7, 2007 11:24 pm
PJ, I would write them a letter. Seriously. Not only tell them how ridiculous it is to receive their marketing crap, but how unimpressed you were when you went there.
November 11, 2007 3:59 pm
Sheez. The person who thought up that marketing idea is a serious sicko. How COULD they thought that it would actually go down well??