Tag: Bar Exam

Like so many others, Sarah and I studied for the bar via BAR/BRI, though we used the iPod home study course because Chicago’s academic year ran halfway through the BAR/BRI Texas course. So, we got our iPods, diligently studied, and hopefully passed the Texas bar. Then we sent our iPods back for refunds of our $600 deposits (yes, you pay $600 for the iPod course on top of the $$$$ for the regular course, then a $600 deposit, all for a $179.48 iPod nano), which, predictably, is where things got really stupid.

We hadn’t heard from BAR/BRI, at all, despite the fact that UPS delivered our packages some time ago. You see, we very carefully sent them in two separate packages addressed one by each of us, because of the likelihood that somebody would get confused, only record one, and try to stiff us $600. Of course, come to find out, somebody got confused, anyway, by the arrival of two iPods from people with the same address and last name. So, he recorded one of them, put me down for a refund, and put Sarah down for $600 of incompetence fees. When I called to figure out what was going on, the lovely young lady on the other end – after misspelling my name repeatedly, refusing to believe my name is Ed, refusing to listen to which way Sarah spells her name, getting confused, crashing a computer, putting me on hold, dropping my call, and explaining that the status on her computer was irrelevant because all refunds are processed promptly and without fail – insisted to me repeatedly that it was all my fault for sending them in one box and, thanks to the intrepid warehouse staff of BAR/BRI Texas, my incompetence has now been rectified, restoring the perfect record of BAR/BRI’s database.

Sigh.