On Friday May 6 2005 10:55 am, Stewart, John wrote: > So, I was taking a shower this morning and was thinking I might send out a > confessional email to this list... and then something else happened that > has changed my outlook. > > The story is this... in my town, I've not been able for the longest time to > find a reliable person to cut my hair. The choices have always been > Supercuts/Costcutters where for very cheap you can have a blind person > suffering from seizures cut your hair, or you can pay out the nose for a > decent haircut at a snooty salon. > > A year or so ago, I found a salon where not only could you make an > appointment online (through a very kludgy web interface, mind you), but the > cut was very cheap in comparison to a normal "salon" cut (not Costcutters > price, but also no worries about coming out looking like an escaped convict > who cut his own hair with a sharpened spoon). > > Well, a couple of weeks ago, I got a spam from this salon about frickin' > pedicure specials or some garbage. There was no link to opt out, and so I > replied to the sender address saying please take me off, etc. > > The very next day I get another spam from them. At this point, I was > *livid*, enraged, off my rocker pissed. I emailed them again and to every > possible alias I could think of (postmaster, webmaster, etc...) saying how > totally unacceptable it was, etc. I also called them, and made a couple of > fake appointments to get their attention. > > I did get a voice mail back from the owner of the salon apologizing and > saying "we were trying out some stuff". It's all very obviously very > amateurish and low tech, by the way. > > I even got into a big argument with my wife about this. She said she didn't > mind the spams, since Apple and every other vendor she deals with also > sends them out. I blew up over this; I think I may have even compared the > salon to the Nazis in the resulting conflagration. > > In the past couple of weeks, though, my ire has faded and I have grown > increasingly in bad need of a haircut (and my sister's wedding is coming > up, so I really kind of need to get one). So I made an appointment > yesterday online, where suspiciously I had to create a new account. I also > thought this morning about confessing all of this to y'all. > > I do feel it is immoral to do business with any company which sends spam, > and especially so ones where you can't get off. > > Well, guess what was in my inbox this morning? Another one... apparently > their method of opting me out was to simply nuke my account; their spam > seems to go out to everyone they have an address for, every time. > > Why I signed up with a valid email address, I'm not sure (tempting them?). > I did put down "Please Don't Spam Me; Thank you!" for my snail mail > address, though apparently no one sees these before the spam goes out. > > So I've replied again to this spam (I'm not sure anyone actually reads > them, though, as the only response I have received over this was over the > phone, and she might have just been responding to my call). > > So I have a 1pm haircut appointment today with the owner of the salon. I've > also emailed her (don't know if it will be read) and left a voice mail for > her (she is not in until noon). > > Do I: > > - Never go there again, as I said would be the case in my previous email? > > - Show up and try to convince her what a horrible thing she is doing? > > - Just screw with their (horribly insecure) online site, signing up for > appointments all day for Elmer Fudd, etc? > > - Simply ban their domain from my mailserver and report them to the RBLs? > > johnS
John, Not to add insult to your injury, but you said this is a "budget" salon. Well, it's just another example of "you get what you pay for" :-) Dimitri
