Dear Sarah Miller / Axis PR – Pretty please, stop spamming me. Please?
Dearest Sarah,
It’s really no secret that I hate unsolicited e-mail from PR firms. Hate really isn’t a strong enough word but you get the idea, I’m not a fan. I have the term “For Immediate Release” in my autodelete filter so that I’ll never see an e-mail with that included. That helps, but it doesn’t stop everything. Like e-mails from you and your company Axis PR.
I’ve been getting mail from you for over a year now. Looking at my archives I see that I first started getting e-mails from you about some VIP night at the House of Blues, and later for Mobile Monday & Mobile Excellence Awards events. Since I have no interest in the HOB VIP stuff, and I already know about MM stuff, I asked you to be taken off the list. That was in mid 2007. I asked nicely, and got no reply. Unless you count getting the same announcement e-mails from you the following month a reply.
Since then I’ve replied countless times asking, always nicely and patiently to be removed from your lists. I don’t know who you are or where you got my e-mail from, but I don’t want, and never wanted, the junk you send me all the time. Sometimes you respond, sometimes you don’t. But I still get the e-mails from you. A quick scan of a few replies from you over the last year shows that sometimes you apologize for the mistake and say I’ll be removed, sometimes you say you aren’t sending me anything, and sometimes you say you’ll look into it. No matter what, I still get the e-mails. It’s frustrating really, but somehow just adding your e-mail to my autodelete list seems like letting you win. You added me to your lists without my permission, you should find me and remove me.
Today when I e-mailed again, asking to be removed you changed your story and said you only run opt in lists and it’s my fault I am getting your e-mails. Emails I might add that do not have any kind of unsubscribe link or option anywhere. Not only is that clearly a lie since you’ve told me previously that I must have been added by mistake, but 3 months ago you told me you were removing me from all of the lists you run with no suggestion that I happened to opt into all of them (including ones I have no interest in at all).
When I pointed this out to you you resorted to calling me names, saying I was an abusive asshole, and that I wasn’t the kind of person who should be invited to your VIP events to begin with. Is name calling really necessary? I do agree with you that I’m not the kind of person who should be at your events which is why I keep asking you to stop inviting me. You keep telling me I’m not on your list and yet I keep getting invites.
Blaming people isn’t a good thing to do, and clearly you have people on your lists that you don’t want. I think it’s in the best interest for you and your clients for you to take a look at your lists and remove anyone who you don’t know is personally interested. Calling people assholes and telling them to just block your e-mail doesn’t seem like the best way to work with media.
This is my public plea. Since e-mailing you directly hasn’t worked, I’m trying this. From now on everytime you send me something rather than replying to you, I’m going to post again asking you to take me off your list. Maybe that will have better results.
Now, I will say good day to you,
-s
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How about you give us Sara’s email address and we all write her filling her mail box?
Or…if you have norton or other virus protection with anti-spam properties everytime you "spam" her mail that ISP and domain go into a data base of known spammers.
Well, if we’re keeping lists, I can’t get Adriana at ID Public Relations to stop emailing me about Crumbs. Seriously, I don’t like cupcakes, I don’t buy cupcakes and I don’t write about cupcakes. I certainly don’t need four press releases in five months about frelling cupcakes.
Seems to me that you could make a reasonable argument that a paid press release constitutes a commercial email, and may be illegal under the terms of the 2003 CAN-SPAM Act. CAN-SPAN requires that commercial emails include a viable opt-out mechanism, and provides for a fine of up to $11,000 for each violation.
Whether or not this is actually a violation in debatable; however, if it were me, I’d file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and let them sort it out — the mere threat of an FTC investigation should be enough to get you off the list forever.
Learn more at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/ecommerce/bus61.shtm
I like those tips from bikingla. I think those insidious Grouply messages from so-called "enthusiastic members" that Yahoo! and other group members keep receiving are clearly spam as well (repeated messages based on a template). I’m dubious that the FTC would do much about stopping emails based on an individual complaint, but I’m all for making the threat of filing an FTC complaint as a deterrent at least, and following through with the complaint if necessary.
I finally got around to unsubscribing from the email list put out by Materials & Applications (the folks that build those art projects on Silver Lake Boulevard), and as a fucking reward, now I get on average an email a day telling me "You have been unsubscribed from the Emanate1 mailing list." Fuckerz.
Sadly, Axis PR gives the profession of Public Relations a BAD name. But, in checking the credentials of the three folk involved with the company, not one has a degree in PR or journalism. SO, it’s obvious that they never learned about the ethics involved in the profession. I’d follow the advice of others above — report them and block them. Further communiques will do no good! (IMHO)
One other thought, if you really want to play hardball. Just contact the client Axis is representing, and remind them that they are ultimately responsible for any actions their PR agency carries out on their behalf. And that they can be held responsible for any violations, as well as suffer from any negative publicity that may result.
Once Axis starts getting calls from angry clients — or loses an account — I guarantee you’ll be taken off their lists permanently.