Okay, so a while back, Studio Whipping Boy did a charity drive. We picked the American Red Cross, because hey, everyone knows they're legit, right?
Well, maybe not.
My donation, submitted with a tagged address including "-nospam", got me added to a mailing list. I complained. No response. I kept getting spammed. I kept complaining. No response. I don't just mean they didn't take me off the list; they didn't respond in any way at all. I don't just mean they didn't send me a responsive email; they didn't take me off the list either. No response at all.
So I finally gave up and called in.
Yes, they can take me off their email list. It may take "up to four weeks" to process.
This is an email list. It is run on computers which are on a network. There is nothing in the process of opting someone out of a list that takes more than thirty seconds to process. There is no excuse for this crap. Wait, there's one; they want one more chance to pitch to me how important it is that I send them money.
Nope. No more. When the ARC is ready to behave more like an ethical charity, and less like any of the dozens of fraudulent charities that are always trying to find new ways to spam and telemarket to everything with a pulse, I might think about it. For now, though... Screw them.
They get the small box of cash we picked up for them at a con a while back, sent anonymously so they can't add anyone to any lists. But from now on, when we need a charity to donate to, we'll pick one that's run a little more competently and a little more ethically.
I'll say what can be said in their defense: It wasn't technically illegal.
I used to be a customer of Suncoast Motion Picture Company, a subsidiary of Musicland Group. They were once a small local chain that sold videos and anime in malls. They introduced a rewards program, where you get gift certificates for shopping there. I've been in it for a couple of years.
Then the prerecords started. Now, this is where I have to speak in their defense, a little. Technically, it's not illegal to hit your customers with prerecorded calls. It's not illegal, because there are many legitimate uses; late notices, order notification, things like that. However, among the reasons it's legal is NOT "so we can give you a prerecorded call in which we simply repeat the offers we have nearly every week".
But it gets worse.
The call gives an 800 number to opt out. That number leads to a voicemail system in which you can listen to their smug declaration that they are not breaking any laws, you can opt out, or you can hear the promotion again. There is no option for speaking to someone.
They know that, if you want to speak to someone, you're about to waste THEIR time, and that's not something they want. Your time is free to them; prerecords give them a huge advantage there. Their time would cost them money, so the whole name of the game, as is always the case with prerecords, is to get rid of the customer as fast as possible.
I called their main number, followed options on the voicemail system, and got routed to an empty number which simply rang and rang; not even hold music. I tried again, and got to someone who simply couldn't see why I'd be upset. I mean, you can opt out, right? She didn't apologize for anything until I mentioned that failure to apologize is itself a sign of ill intent from a corporation. (It is, too; any decent customer service sort would know to start with, at the very least, "I'm sorry this bothered you.") I eventually got routed to a "supervisor" who spoke poor English and explained at some length that they did this because they thought some of their customers would like it. The idea of, say, letting those customers express that interest... No, too advanced.
My guess is the company is failing. Whenever a company that's been cruising along fine suddenly starts spamming, or using prerecords, it's a sign that sales aren't holding up, and they need to boost the cash flow. Because spamming and prerecords alienate and annoy customers, though, they just turn the questionable future into a certain one.
If you have gift cards, use them now.