To help tracking of all the savings I mentioned in the previous entry, I wanted to buy the latest version of Microsoft Money. I’ve used it for years and I’ve upgrading every other version or so. Since I’m running Vista now, I thought it was time to upgrade again. I checked my local Future Shop and they seem to have stopped carrying the entire Microsoft Money product line.

Finding this hard to believe, I wrote the customer service e‑mail address provided on their site. Let me paraphrase my messages and quote their responses for your amusement.

Rick to Future Shop:

Have you stopped carrying Microsoft Money? I’ve bought upgrades from you for many years now, and I couldn’t locate any Money titles listed in your web store, or any copies in my local Future Shop location.

Anonymous Future Shop employee to Rick:

After further review we have discovered that we are unable to locate the product on our website. We recommend that you contact one of our Future Shop store locations for more information regarding this product.

Rick to Future Shop:

Contact a store? I mentioned in my initial message that I already checked a local store and the web store. I’ve also since checked Best Buy’s web store and they don’t have it listed. Given you both have the same parent company, it looks like you don’t the title any longer. Is this true?

Anonymous Future Shop employee to Rick:

Thank you for your e‑mail in regards to Microsoft Money and presently, we do not carry the product you are looking for in our web store. You may contact one of our retail locations to inquire about the product as to whether or not they carry the item in store or, if unavailable, contact the manufacturer for the release date.

Rick’s interpretation of the message from the Anonymous Future Shop employee:

So when are you going to get the hint and fuck off? Do you think we’re really going to lift a finger to find the answer to your question? Leave us alone.

But there’s a silver lining. Because Future Shop’s on-line customer service has their heads up their asses, more savings are in order. No $40 for Microsoft Money. I’ll use the spreadsheet program I already have and enjoy the flexibility of setting things up in exactly the way I want. The data will also be far more portable. The only disadvantage is I can’t download transaction information from my bank and have the software automatically import it. No big deal, it’s not much of an inconvenience.