Post Cereal, Please Stop Spamming Anthony
Anthony has tried every means possible to get Post to stop spamming him, but Post laughs in the face of reason. And at customer requests. The only thing Anthony feels he has left to try is contacting the FTC, but he adds "I get the feeling that won't help."
Look at all the hoops he's jumped through so far—for a cereal company! Anthony does not want your Fruity Pebbles, Post! He is not interested in your Grape Nuts! Go away!
On June 23rd of 2009 I contacted Post Foods, LLC using the phone number listed on the "contact us" portion of www.postcereals.com. I spoke to someone who would not provide me with a full name and informed him of my repeated attempts to stop receiving email advertisements from Post Cereal to my Gmail email address.
These attempts included using the link located at the bottom of the unwanted email. However that link leads to a page that displays an error stating
"The page you are attempting to access cannot be found. Please contact Post Customer support at customersfirst@postfoods.com".
I have sent an email address to "customersfirst@postfoods.com" informing them of the error and my desire to be removed from their mailing list. However the link still does not work and I continue to receive email advertisements from Post.
I have also tried replying to the originating address of the unwanted email but this results in an email message stating
"You cannot reply to this email. But we do want to hear from you. Please share ideas, comments and questions through our Talk to Us page. http://www.postcereals.com/honeybunchesofoats/TalkToUs.aspx
Want to Unsubscribe?
Just use the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of the original email."My previous attempts even included phone calls to Post Foods. I once received a call back from someone who asked me to verify certain aspects of the unwanted email and I eventually forwarded a copy of the email to this person. The caller said that someone would call me back, but as of July 30th 2009, this has not happened.
At the end of the June 23rd phone call I was told it would take 4 weeks for the email advertisements to stop. I agreed to this but still continue to receive unwanted advertisement emails from Post.
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Comments:
Forward all the other spam you get to *@post.com.
@katstermonster: Don't some companies send from different email addresses every time, to avoid junkmail filters? Some companies, no matter how many times I click "Add to junk senders list" still keep sending me junkmail. They use a slightly different email address every time to sneak by. Maybe there is a trick to it I'm missing, to stop them.
I feel for ya man, but can't you just tag them as Spam and then us the nifty "Delete all Spam Messages Now" button?
I gave up on stopping all spam a long time ago. I still think it's kinda funny how so many companies want to help me make my non-existent penis larger...
@Julia789: GMail also allows you to filter based on words in the email. I assume the (non-working) opt-out link is the same every time...as long as it's text-based instead of an image, the OP could try filtering based on that.
@katstermonster: That's actually a really good idea. I would have suggested filtering for "post cereal" or something similar.
@farcedude: Good call. It's tough, because a lot of these spam emails are made up of images, which you can't filter text out of. You can also sort by sender's ISP, I think...like filter all *@postcereal.com to the Trash.
@katstermonster: I got one the other day: "Meet your future wife." Um, that would make me a bigamist, which might piss my husband off, and it's illegal in my state for two women to marry, anyway. (Stupid Virginia with its stupid anti-gay marriage amendment in it constitution.)
For some reason this made me think of Honeycomb cereal (Post product). Now I've got that obnoxious Honeycomb commercial stuck in my head. "Honeycomb's big, Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!"
Ok, so who was the guy who mocked me by saying that he'd be enjoying his free 99 cent candy bar, because I said I wouldn't put myself on a list for a buck?
Spamcop them. Set up a free account with spamcop.net, submitting the messages with the full headers (instructions are on their site), and spamcop will do the rest.
4 weeks to remove you from their list? Wrong! By law they must comply within 10 days of your request.
I keep getting emails about buying ViGaRa. I wonder if their product works like the letters in the name: Big, small, Big, small, Big, small. This could be annoying after awhile. And at what point would I need to consult a doctor?
What about just blocking the e-mail? Unless they're sending from several different addresses this should stop it. I had to do this with Charter when they kept sending me $0 bills after I'd cancelled my account with them. Each time I was promised it'd stop, but a month later, there'd be another $0 bill. Blocking the e-mail was the only thing that worked for me.
If I depended on companies voluntarily taking me off their spam lists my inbox would be exploding.
With all due respect to the other posters who are talking about filter work-arounds, this isn't some Nigerian scammer, or a botnet in Moldova shilling Viagra that is un-reachable,this is a big American company that can and should be held to the law. Sure, filter 'em, but don't stop there. Under the provisions of the CANSPAM act,Post is liable for a fine of up to $16,000 for each violation--hold them to it.
[www.ftc.gov]
Additionbally, the original poster should pursue a private cause of action as well.
Like everyone else said, stop wasting time contacting people and just mark them as Spam. That's what it's there for and will make your life easier.
@Nighthawke: +1 on the SpamCop - that'll get their attention. SpamCop is not for casual unsubscribes, but since their unsubscribe is seriously broken...
Here's your EECB info. (Note: I do not advocate forwarding the spam to all the executives at Ralcorp.)
You can get the key executive names here:
[finance.aol.com]
You need to get in touch with Stephen Van Tassel Corporate VP; President, Post Foods
It looks like the email format is firstinitiallastname@ralcorp.com
from this link: [www.ralstonfoodservice.com]
Set up an auto reply (configured to forward all "spam" messages from only POST (including the text of the original message)) and send it to the entire executive staff at Post, including their board of directors and communications/marketing people and copy the FTC's AntiSpam box.
Include a brief explanation of how you have tried to unsubscribe from their promotional E-mails and you have run out of options.
As Xerloq suggested above, don't send them every bit of spam that you receive (as it will likely only get caught in their spam filters), only the ones that come from their company.
It is illegal for them to SPAM you with a broken unsubscribe link, they are a US company, so make sure they know it. Just click the link below and answer the questions.
Running whois postcereals.com leads to RalCorp Holdings.
[www.ralcorp.com]
I'd set a filter to forward all email to the contact
listed in the whois -> kdbrocca@RALCORP.COM
I've done this a few times with a few different companies.
I spend $8 / year for my domain to make it a bit
easier to catch. In this case the email address
they'd have would be postcereals.com@mydomain.com
Change the forwarder from my read address and done.
@Jesse: That's better than "This is Bernard, the boy who was raised by bees." Every time I see/hear that I want to throw a brick into the TV.
@farcedude: You could get a lot of false positives with that general filter.
Example1: Friend emails to ask OP how everything is going with his "post cereal spam shenanigans". Friend's email is trashed.
Example2: Post Cereal CEO emails to award $$$ for reporting flaw in email system.
Email trashed because of "Post Cereal" string identified in the email.
Check your junk folder man. I'm sure you are getting lots more spam than from your cereal company.
@katstermonster: I think Anthony should start complaining to Google, too--they have online forms that can be filled out for spam or abuse from other Gmail members. I figure that if Google sees the spam, too, and if Anthony makes it clear that he's kept trying to get Post to stop sending it to him, they might be able to do something.
@Roxie: Hmmm...and meanwhile, there's no mention of gmail in that actual article, is there? Jeez, this is what I get for responding to this stuff before I've had my morning coffee. XD
I think the basic advice still stands, though. I don't think Gmail's the only email provider that has forms that people can fill out if they're on the receiving end of spam/abuse. Maybe looking into this and showing the email provider what's going on will help?
@stlotaku: This will soon be on the consumerist.
Charter sent me to collections for owing $0.
Or else they will charge you for something and next thing you know you will owe $1000 to them.
I can just see this happening
I hate to be the one to suggest a work-around instead of holding the company to its word...but this is what filters are for. Add the sender to the filter, send it to the Trash every time. It sucks to have to resort to this, but it seems like the only option at this point.