Today’s rant we talk about email spam. As Hong Kong introduces laws to protect against unsolicited emails starting April 2013, marketing departments in companies were panicking adjusting their T&Cs to fit the criterial. While I see most are working according to the government, at least one is slacking off on this change of legislation.
I have an investment account with this company. Since day 1 they’ve been bombarding “daily stock picks” emails to all customers assuming a) they all love “tips” and b) they will buy more stocks from this tips. Apparently I’m a rare kind as I never read it nor appreciate the daily spam. I tried to ask for removal which they never reply. I then had my own solution of setting up a rule to put it to spam folder automatically.
So when the legislation starts I thought they finally realized the issue and offered an unsubscription option by sending them an email. That was great so I immediately sent my request. After few days of waiting nothing changed, I thought maybe my mail went spam folders so I sent once more. Still nothing changed. When I noticed the spam problem existed for 3rd time (I still check spam folder once awhile) it really hit my nerve. So I typed the following:
This is my 3rd time sending this termination notice to your company that I, owner of the email address myjunkmail@mail.com, do not wish to receive any of your company’s promotional emails. If I receive further emails from your company, I consider the action as a violation of your usage of my personal information according to latest policy of HKSAR, and shall file complaints or other legal actions towards your company.
Best regards,
Owner of myjunkmail@gmail.com
And hey, it works. No more spam the next day. I hope my complaint cases were all that smooth.



