Pissed at PullUps

My son CJ is thin and tiny and at 9 years old only weighs 49 pounds. I have used PullUps since CJ started potty training. (Actually, I also used them for TJ.) I’ve tried a couple of other pull up training pants but always come back to the real PullUps. They have the velcro sides, which I think are great. This past week I went to the PullUps site to look for coupons. Hubby’s been out of work for a while now and things are really tight. While I was on the site I saw they had a newsletter and decided to sign up for it.

My understanding of newsletters is that they’re free and their purpose is to share information and even occasionally specials in an inexpensive way. To signup for the PullUps monthly newsletter you just type in your name, email and child’s birthday and you’re good to go. Or so I thought.  I typed in my info, expecting to get a little confirmation message on the screen or something. This is what I got.

I honestly couldn’t believe what I was seeing, nor could I understand it. I tried again and got the same message. I wanted to understand why they were purposely stopping people that actually wanted their newsletter from receiving it. I mean, I’d been trying to sign up because I wanted to spend my money on their product. My money is just as green as the next girls. I sent the following email, trying to understand.

“I have used PullUps for quite some time. I tried signing up for your newsletter and it won’t allow me because my child is over 7. May I ask the reason you’re excluding parents from receiving your newsletter? Sure, I could lie about his age on the sign up form but why should I have to?”

I was surprised to receive a reply quickly, later the same day.

“Dear Valerie,
Thanks for your e-mail about the age limit for the PULL-UPS® newsletter.We are sorry that you are disappointed in the terms of this offer and have forwarded your comments to those involved with our promotions for consideration in future promotional offers.
For older children we have information on our GOODNITES® web-site (http://www.goodnites.com) that you might find helpful.
Thanks again for your interest and for visiting our web site.”

As you see, they didn’t answer my question. Some people might confuse their reply with an answer but I’m not one of them. To me that reply just blows me off and tells me that they found my question insignificant. So I sent the following response.

“Thanks for the reply. Goodnites aren’t what we use. That site is about bed wetting, which isn’t relevant to us, so no it isn’t helpful. Goodnites have fewer to a package, are more expensive, aren’t designed the same and are not what I need. We’re potty training and have always used PullUps. We’ve used PullUps even when EasyUps throws good coupons at us like crazy and PullUps hardly ever offers any. I wasn’t as disappointed that I couldn’t receive the newsletter as I am to see that your company assumes all children have the same needs.”

Of course I have received no further communication. I am so mad at PullUps. I actually see this as a form of age discrimination. I don’t understand it at all. It’s a shame they don’t value their customers enough to at least offer an explanation. From what I’ve read from other Mom bloggers they’ve had good experiences with Pampers. Maybe it’s time for me to try EasyUps again. I was able to sign up for their newsletter with no problem, and able to tell the truth about my son’s age when I did it. I’m not ashamed of my son, which is why I won’t lie about his age.

Filed Under: Family

Tags: cj, potty training, pullups