Create Your Own Opt-Out When A Company Ignores Your Requests
Mark started getting promotional emails from Hilton over a year ago, and he's tried all sorts of opt-out strategies:
I've gone through the website unsubscribe process at least a couple of times, I've sent ‘UNSUBSCRIBE' emails twice to the address they've listed, and I've even spoken on the phone with a Hilton CSR whom assured me that it would be ‘taken care of'.
I'm at my wits end here, Consumerist. How do I make it stop???
You could always send them a written letter with your request, and point out that they're in violation of the law—"When you receive an opt-out request, the law gives you 10 business days to stop sending email to the requestor's email address"—and that they can be subject to "fines of up to $11,000" per violation. We have zero faith that the FTC will actually pursue Hilton, of course, but maybe by including this information, you can get their attention and prove to them that you're serious about wanting them to stop.
But the faster, more permanent solution is to take the power away from Hilton and make it so that you never see another communication from them unless you want to.
If you don't already have a free Gmail account, set up one, then log into your Hilton account and change your email address to a "Gmail + alias" like so:
If
my.name@gmail.com
is your regular default gmail address, on your Hilton account page replace your real email with
my.name+hiltonsux@gmail.com
Now you can set up a custom filter in Gmail to immediately trash all future Hilton spam, and it's entirely under your control, and to hell with Hilton's broken spam compliance implementation.
Mark is probably rolling his eyes at this point, because he already knows this, but we're sharing it with the rest of our readers too. Just add a plus sign and whatever you want after your real email handle and it will still be routed to your default Gmail inbox, where you can then filter it out using regular old filter rules.
If you use a + alias for each commercial entity where you have an account, you can easily route annoying businesses to the trash folder without needing their cooperation at all—and you can turn on access again whenever you want.
Note: Several readers w/more tech experience than I have pointed out that the + alias trick isn't unique to Gmail; lots of email providers allow for this.
(Photo: SDCDeaCerte)
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Comments:
woah that's pretty effing brilliant, don't know how I missed this
Hilton probably isn't evil enough to strip the +part of the address and sell it for spam. But what about outfits that are?
someone explain to me why he wouldn't be able to just login to his hilton account page and list his new email as iamnothere@poop.com and never get an email again?
Me complain time.
Just filter on the source.
One problem with this suggestion is that this is likely where Hilton would email him his reservation confirmations. It would seem that one would want to get those.
@Nick1693: I know! Me either. Granted, my gmail's spam filter catches most of the spam that gets sent to me, but sometimes a sneaky Viagra or male enhancment e-mail gets through. A new tool in fighting my own personal war on spam!
@donjumpsuit: they may require him to "verify" by clicking a link in an email that his account email address has changed. that's to prevent people from willy-nilly altering email addresses if a cookied login is left open.
@legwork: That's actually what I do -- in Gmail you can add new domains to an existing filter by including a couple of pipes between each domain, like so:
sears.com || orbitz.com || livenation.com
and the filter will watch for all of them.
However, I can see how a + alias might provide more precise control, because you can create ad hoc addresses to meet any need and control it from your end.
@Nolarchy:
One problem with this suggestion is that this is likely where Hilton would email him his reservation confirmations. It would seem that one would want to get those.
Two things: They get filted to the Trash folder so all is not lost (yet) unless the timing for when the trash folder get purged is bad. Also, if he's making a reservation, he can always disable the rule until he receives the confirmation.
@Randa the Panda: The + trick actually works on any domain, for any email address. I've created countless "throwaway" addresses under my work and school email addresses.
I do something similar. Except it is businessname@mydomain.com ... When they start sending me junk and ignoring my unsubscribe request I use whois (see a web based version at [www.betterwhois.com] ) and just forward everything to the domain owner.
He could try bouncing the email which should remove him (possibly after a few tries) from the list automatically, but still allow him to receive his reservation confirmations at his actual address
The '+' notation is standard for most sendmail installations.
Another point about gmail is that the "." is ignored in the username, thus
the addresses "uncle.sam@gmail.com", "un.clesam@gmail.com", "unclesam@gmail.com"" and "u.n.c.l.e.s.a.m@gmail.com" are equivalent
@Kenneth Heafield: Only ever give out your email address with a +, then ignore everything that goes to your address that doesn't have a + sign.
The + thing will only work if the place where you are using it does not see it as an "illegal" character. I.e. /? etc. I tried to use it at some site and was unable to sign up with a + in my address. Additionally, you have to remember that you used it. I have signed up a couple places with + in the address to only forget that I put it there and have to have it resent to me.
he could also just set up a rule for it to automatically delete the email when it gets it, which bypasses the inbox all together...
If you could change the email address it's going to, why not just send it to a mailinator throw-away address? That way you could change the address, then check the mailinator address to confirm if necessary. Once changed, you are home free.
@donjumpsuit: or better yet, just change the e-mail address to to: firstname.lastname@hilton.com of any of their corporate VPs and the customer service representative that you spoke to.
Sorry to rain on the parade, but the more notorious spammers know this, and strip everything after the +.
@Kenneth Heafield: A period also works, i.e. john.s.mith@gmail.com is the same as john.smith@gmail.com. And since a period is normal in an email, that is probably more effective.
I would just find Hilton's president's e-mail (or VP) and set up a filter to automatically forward the spam to him.
You could always hit Hilton's servers with a DoS attack. The downside it that it's illegal and can probably get you into lots of trouble. But at least you'll be spam-free from them for awhile!
Having dealt with this several times, I can say that a lot of the time the issue is with the receiver's email setup.
People will have aliases set up so that email comes to their mailbox (sales@, marketing@, etc. all dumps to fred@) and then they'll sign up for stuff using an alias. But when they get an email and want to unsubscribe, they'll try to unsubscribe their real email (fred@) which is unknown to the sender. Then of course they blame the sender when it is some alias they should be unsubscribing.
Not saying that's the case here but it happens a lot and causes a lot of problems for companies who legitimately aren't trying to spam.
I've noticed lately that a bunch of companies have gotten very lazy with their opt-out procedures.
FTC?
Um, if you can log into your account and change your email address why not just change it to tips@consumerist.com and let Ben deal with it? (assuming you don't need the account ever again)
@HogwartsAlum: I take that back -- it works on most domains, depending on the mail server. Looks like a dash ('-') sometimes works too.
It's definitely pretty handy for routing my Facebook spam.
just threaten to contact the Better business bureau. I had to order a CD from a website for a class in college. I started getting spam mails for other products. I unsubscribed again and again and again. I finally sent an email saying that i am contacting the better business bureau if i get another email. although I did get another email, it was by someone at the company apologizing and saying my name is removed from all lists now.
I work in email marketing for a large company (legitimate, NOT spamming, I swear -- newsletters to our existing customers) and the BEST way to unsubscribe is through the mechanism/link in the actual email. In the header or the footer should be a link to unsubscribe, and this usually taps automatically in to the Email Service Provider the company is using AND is usually instantaneous.
Calling customer service may not be effective because at large companies they may have absolutely no idea what emails you're getting, who's in charge of sending them, or how to get them to stop. (believe me, I am frustrated with this as well. Everything gets so "silo-ed" that one part of the company doesn't know what another part is doing.) Responding to the email or using an unsub mechanism on the website may not be as effective or as fast because it may not tap directly in to the system that's used to build and launch the emails -- it may instead get sent to an actual inbox at the company where someone has to sift through all the replies and manually unsub you in the system.
I'm not at all saying the OP didn't follow the process correctly or that it absolves the sender from unsubscribing when requested. (and, from my department's perspective, if you don't want the newsletter, we don't want to send it to you, because it's pointless. Continuing to send only pissed you off and wastes money and resources for us.) Just wanted to let you know that unsubbing through the email they sent you is usually the best way to go. (And do remember that companies have 10 business days to comply. So if you unsub and then get another email a few days later, hopefully that means they just haven't processed the request yet.
I have a question for all you email geniuses... I receive a lot of emails that are not technically spam, but are misdirected. Apparently there are people who either don't remember their own email accounts, give out fake ones, or don't realize that they have to actually sign up before it's active.
I have a fairly uniquely spelled first name, so I thought nothing of just using my first name @ gmail.com. Apparently, it's not as unique as I thought. I get emails from an entire crew (dozens) of college kids in Brazil; I get emails from Hong Kong or Singapore about someone who's involved in a nasty condo legal dispute and his friend told him that I know a local lawyer. I get signed up for Continuing Education notifications for a doctor in Chicago, and I get her Frequent Flyer mile statements. For a while I was getting her credit card statements. I've gotten birth announcements, "Please come to the reunion you know daddy's going to be upset if you're not there and he promises not to drink" emails, photos of the new baby, invitations to bridal showers/birthday parties/anniversaries, and at least two death notices.
The best by far was then I got a request from the Accounting Manager to TheOtherMe, asking her to transfer $26,000 from the General fund into the Expenses fund, and she could do it online at [bank click], sign in with [user name] and [password], the secret question is [answer], account numbers are [number/balance, number/balance, and number/balance] and the authorization number for that department is [number.]
I cc'd EVERYONE on that one and explained that i'd gotten many of that particular OtherMe's emails - for shopping and family affairs and internet self-help courses - but this one really takes the cake, and perhaps someone could talk to OtherMe about being more careful what email she gives out... and by the way, you're probably going to want to change your password to something other than your company name. Pretty obvious. I'm in west Texas and they were in ?Indiana? but I could hear them shitting themselves all the way over here.
ANYWAY, For the first two or three years, I tried to be polite - would drop an email back, "Hey, you've got the wrong email address, I know your grandma would hate for your OtherMe to miss her surprise birthday" or whatever. The emails come in for the same people, though, so I started getting snarky and finally downright nasty. The last one was a person that I've been nice to at least half a dozen times, suggesting she get in touch with her OtherMe, and finally after three emails in a row increasing in "Why aren't you replying??!" angst, I emailed back a fairly rude comment.
I've filtered all the ones that I can, but these people STILL give out my email address as their own, either by intent or accident or misinformation, and it's really getting on my nerves. One or two a month - hell, even one or two a WEEK I could handle, but I'm getting at least 12-15 a week. I mark them spam, but Gmail's spam learning curve is slllllloooooooooow, as it usually takes at least 10-15 flaggings for an unwanted sender's mail to eventually shot showing up in my inbox.
Other than dropping my (much beloved and well-entrenched) eponymous email address, does anyone have any suggestions? Is there a specific type of filter or tool I'm missing (like the + - I've been with Gmail since they started, and I did not know that!)
(I had fun on April 1st... got an email confirmation that an OtherMe in Chicago had booked a three hour session at a very tony spa for that afternoon. I was "sorry" to let them know that someone must be pulling and April Fool's prank on them, because it certainly wasn't me! I'm sure they were able to get in touch with their OtherMe, and if not, I very much doubt they'd have been able to fill up a three-hour slot on a 90-min-prior cancellation, so I don't feel bad about it at all. Haven't had any emails from the Chicago Me since then, so that worked.)
@bibliophibian: Ugh, should not type while buzzed.
SHOULD BE:
I get emails from an entire crew (dozens) of college kids in Brazil, because a Brazilian OtherMe is in a lot of study groups;
I get emails from Hong Kong or Singapore about someone who's involved in a nasty condo legal dispute and his friend told him that the Asian OtherMe knows a local lawyer.
... "Hey, you've got the wrong email address, I know your grandma would hate for your OtherMe to miss her surprise birthday so please call your OtherMe and get her correct email address" or whatever.
... finally after three emails in a row increasing in "Why aren't you replying??!" angst, I emailed back a fairly rude comment telling her that if she didn't remember what I was angry about, that just proved to me that it wasn't worth my time even trying to talk to her.
... it usually takes at least 10-15 flaggings for an unwanted sender's mail to eventually shot showing up in my inbox. And there are new "contestants" every week.
Other than dropping my (much beloved and well-entrenched) eponymous email address, WHICH I DO NOT WANT TO DO, does anyone have any suggestions?
@Rachacha: Even better, I like listing my email address as 'root@localhost.localdomain'. Then their sysadmin can figure out how to make the spam stop.
@easy2panic: He could sign up his state attorney general's e-mail and then maybe they would file a lawsuit.
@supercereal: It's a handy trick, because then you can easily track exactly who's selling your email addresses. When you start to get male enhancement ads addressed to myname+amazon@gmail.com, then you know something's fishy.
On the other hand, a lot of web forms where you create accounts limit the characters you can enter into an email address, and automatically eat the + sign, making the address invalid.
I really like the name + alias technique, except that a lot of website forms for entering your email have very limited logic, and don't recognize "+" as a valid character. Many of the companies I want to filter the most won't let me put the custom email address in their forms.
The armadillo I recognize, but what the hell is that other thing? It looks like a badger-rat-squirrel with a stripe on its head. Bizarre!
@amandakerik: with MAIL on a Mac you highlight the message and then choose BOUNCE from the Message Menu.
you will get a Confirmation message:
"Are you sure you want to return each selected message to its sender? It will appear that the message was sent to an incorrect address. This might help reduce unwanted email, provided that the sender's return address is correct."
The bounced email has the subject:RETURNED MAIL :USER UNKNOWN
and a nice fake error message in it for the body.
Most email systems take notice of bounced emails and will remove them automatically.
Someone else can provide details for bouncing emails from other email programs and OS.
I use www.sneakemail.com, The free service is really nice but I pay ($12 a YEAR) for their premium service and it's worth every penny.
It allows me to generate as many unique email addresses as I want without having to set them up first and at my choice block, suspend or trash them. It fwds to my regular mail account with the given address in the header for easy filtering.
Email address um, that would be wgboarders-foobar.sneakemail.com and the boarders clerk says "Wow, that's a coincidence" and I say, "Ya that happens a lot".
@mbouchard: also some badly coded sites will accept + during sign up, but not in their login form.
i have a few sites where i can't login now because of this very problem.
@cabalagent1: i think gmail uses a rolling trash emptying deadline - something like checking once a day, and anything older than 30 days gets purged. so you still have your 30 days of trash
@amandakerik: Well, it looks like you can't do it via Gmail's interface, but if you are using Mail.app (or Outlook or Thunderbird or Eudora or whatever), there is a way to "bounce" the email back to the server (saying, in essence, that your email address is invalid- Hilton's server should be auto-programmed to remove bounced / invalid email addresses).
In Mail.app, simply ctrl / right-click an email and select 'Bounce'. You can also go to View -> Customize Toolbar and drag a Bounce button onto your toolbar.
Thunderbird, Outlook, and all others should be very similar with the right-click -> Bounce option, but I can't say for sure
Watch out with the +alias trick. Lots of websites will flag the email as invalid with a + in it. Assholes. :)
It's really unfortunate that so many businesses don't let you opt out of the multiple e-mails. Sometimes they're even required to get a particular service. I guess at the end of the day, everyone has to remember that giving out an e-mail address for anything is going to lead to e-mails at some point. We've reached that point of saturation now.
@supercereal: No it doesn't. It only works on domains served by a mail server that implements that feature. Many do. Many do not. Many of those that do not actually do the same thing but with a different character other than '+' (which can be a good thing since spammers are wise to the trick and strip addresses down to just what is before the '+'). I happen to run mail server software that by default does this. But a simple configuration change can turn it off, or change the character used. I changed the character used.
I love this! I've had Gmail for 3 years and never knew about Gmail + alias.