Boo On These Bad Websites and Marketing Emails, Part 2

My first post on this subject, "Boo On These Bad Websites and Marketing Emails", has had over 1000 hits.  Maybe more folks out there than just me are sick and tired of this kind of stuff.

Anthem Blue Cross sent me a particularly duplicitous email today.  Here it is:

This is classic corporate doublespeak, falsehoods masquerading as do-gooding.  I am sick of all the lies that I encounter every day, and this type of corporate lying is insulting.

"We want to make things easier for you, so...we're upgrading  you to paperless communications."  What a fabrication!  This company wants to save money -- that's the only reason they and other companies constantly exhort us customers to go paperless.

Don't agree to this stuff.  I ask for paper copies in every instance possible, and I've taken my business elsewhere when a company refuses to supply paper copies.  I like having my files on the computer as much as anyone else, but when I need to verify a document six years later, having paper files has proven to be essential many, many times.

I went to their website and opted out of paperless communication.  I don't believe that Anthem really has my best interests at heart here, despite what they say. 


Target Stores is pretty bad.  I placed an order on their website a few weeks ago.  I started getting a request to complete a survey, and it is IMPOSSIBLE to unsubscribe.  BAD, Target, BAD!  Even worse, they continue to send requests for customers to complete surveys if they ignore the first notices.  This is enough to convince me never to shop on Target online.

So, one email asking for a survey -- and every time I buy something now, I am asked to complete a survey?  These surveys are ridiculous -- a company should know if it is doing a good job or not.  Then I get a reminder email to complete the f***ing survey again?  I filtered out these emails, which is a task I don't like doing, but otherwise I'd be getting Target's survey requests every day or so.  Terrible.

I checked Target's website to see if there was any way to unsubscribe.  I checked their privacy policy also.  Here's what Target says:

If you do not wish to receive promotional e-mails from us, email guest.relations@target.com or call 800-440-0680 to opt-out. You also have the ability to unsubscribe from promotional e-mails via the unsubscribe link included in each promotional e-mail. You may continue to receive program-specific marketing emails through a program such as, but not limited to, A Bullseye View, or Target Photo. You can unsubscribe from program-specific emails via the unsubscribe link located at the bottom of those program-specific emails.

This opt-out does not apply to operational emails (e.g., surveys, product reviews).

****
Hey Target -- surveys and product review emails ARE NOT operational emails!  They are marketing emails.  They do nothing for your or your customers' operations. This is the kind of stuff that ruins email for most people. 

I strive mightily to keep my email inbox clean, using filters and unsubscribing.  I do understand that most people just hit delete and move on.  However, I conduct most of my business via email, so companies that abuse emails waste my time and affect my business dealings negatively.  Time is everyone's most valuable asset -- and with all the electronic gadgets that we carry around these days, most of us have to read and delete multiple copies of every email sent to us, every day. 

Costco Sucks So Badly Sometimes, and It is Surprising

I've been a longtime Costco member, and in general, I value the membership.  Sometimes the warehouses have great deals.  I've stopped looking at any of their online deals, because every time I see a deal that I am interested in, I discover that Costco has scoped out the competition and made the deal just a bit less of a deal than what's out there.  They will add a shipping and handling charge at costco.com, for instance.

Another bummer about Costco is that they don't really look out for their members.  I'd expect as a member, for instance, that Costco would stand behind all the products in their warehouse.  I found to my surprise that if you buy a phone or phone plan in a Costco warehouse, that Costco has nothing to do with the phone vendors.  The phone vendors are entirely separate, and they will make promises (that they will then renege on) and Costco is of no help.  I bought a phone and 2-year-phone plan a few years back at the phone booth in Costco, and the vendor told me that I could return the phone and cancel the plan within two weeks with no fee or penalty whatsoever.  I tried to do so, and the phone vendor said that I'd have to pay something like $70 as a penalty.  I took my situation up with the Costco front desk, and they were no help.  I was and remain disturbed that Costco would allow outside vendors in all of their stores that do not offer the best phones and phone plans for their members.  The phones and phone plans do not represent very good deals at all, and Costco could not care less. 

For instance, check out the phone plans at puppy wireless, which sells plans on the Verizon network.  I have a phone plan from there, that works on the Verizon network, and costs me $80 per year -- only $6.67 per month!  I use it only for voice calls, but I could use the plan for data also.  For my smartphone, I use a Freedompop phone that costs me nothing for 1Gb of data per month.  I've written about this plan in the past. 

Still -- getting gas at Costco is a great deal, and their returns policy (for their Costco items, not outside vendors) is generally great.

But sometimes, Costco's really crappy attention to customer service -- which is respect for their customers -- is surprising.  I have not encountered such poor customer service at Amazon, for instance, which seems totally dedicated to good customer service.  

A few months ago, I suddenly began getting emails telling me about the lame Costco Connection magazine (ad-zine).  I tried to unsubscribe.  It was impossible to do so.  I wrote them and got a response, from "connection+canned.response@costco.com"...yes, really. Here's the email that I got in reply:

 

Well, yesterday I got another email -- obviously my request to unsubscribe was not honored. I guess that the person who sends out the emails from "connection+canned.response@costco.com" only sends out canned responses!  I am not surprised.  

Here's the email I received, and here are the utterly useless unsubscribe links in the email:

 

If you click unsubscribe -- or Update Email Preferences, here's the useless web page that you are taken to.  Yes, it is basically a blank page: 

If you click Update on that page, you will get the following utterly unhelpful email: 

Clicking the link does nothing.  

And here's perhaps the most irritating aspect of this unwanted email of all -- showing that the Costco web folks clearly don't give a crap about customer service and preferences.  If you click on "Manage your Costco Connection subscription" in the original Costco Connection email, here's the page you get: 

Note that you are not given an option to unsubscribe ANYWHERE.  The above only gives you an option to subscribe to this crappy "ad-zine."  

Hey Costco -- how about letting me unsubscribe from your crappy "magazine"?  

How about respecting your customers enough to allow them to remove themselves from spam marketing from Costco?  

How about firing the person in charge of these crappy email marketing tactics and terrible web practices?