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Choice is our common future

We received this email from a Catalog Choice Member in our customer support system. It was one of over 5,000 emails we received over the past week. Thanks to Ross and Paul, who read every message, this one was forwarded to me. After contacting the member personally, he gave me permission to reprinted the email.

If you are a merchant reading this, we hope you understand that Catalog Choice can save you money by eliminating the production and distribution of unwanted catalogs. Also, by honoring the request from Catalog Choice, you will enhance your customer relationships. This customer speaks for thousands.

If you are a consumer, please show your support for the Bravo Merchants who are leading the way to a future of respecting choice. Tell a friend, neighbor or colleague about any of the Bravo Merchants who are working with Catalog Choice. Before long, we hope that all the merchants will be celebrated.

Now, in the words of a customer

I thought that I would send you the following email message that I have sent to non-cooperative merchants:

I have been a customer for about 15 years but this may end soon. Your actions will determine the future of our business relationship.

Specifically, I am writing today because I recently requested - via the Catalog Choice website - that you stop sending catalogs to me. I understand that you have declined my request. I request that you reverse this decision and that you cooperate with Catalog Choice in the future.

The internet has changed the nature of your industry, and I am not sure that you fully recognize the extent of the changes. When your catalog arrives, I immediately put it in the recycling bin without even looking at it. After speaking with several friends, I am sure that I am representative of many of your customers. After all, I can shop much more efficiently using your website. Therefore, from my perspective, your catalog is nothing but a waste and places a burden on me - your customer - to dispose of the waste.

Given this, why would you choose to not honor my request? This leads to my statement that I will no longer shop at XXXX, if you send another catalog to me. After all, if you will not honor my requests as your customer, why should I continue to give you my business?

I wish you all the best but I truly hope that you reverse your decision with respect to my request and also hope that you cooperate with Catalog Choice in the future. No other decision makes sense. Why would you choose to squander money, create unnecessary waste, degrade our environment, and alienate customers all with a single action?

Sincerely,

Your Customer

This entry was posted on Friday, February 1st, 2008 at 11:54 pm and is filed under Customers, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

21 Responses to “Choice is our common future”

  1. I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.

    Jason Rakowski

    Jason Rakowski on February 2nd, 2008 at 12:05 am

  2. [...] Chuck wrote an interesting post today on Choice is our common futureHere’s a quick excerptWe received this email from a Catalog Choice Member in our customer support system this past week. It was one of over 5000 emails we have received over the past week. Thanks to Ross and Paul, who read every message, … [...]

    Blog » Blog Archive » Choice is our common future on February 2nd, 2008 at 12:58 am

  3. Hi,

    I tried to unsubscribe from the Fossil catalog. They refused my unsubscribe request, so I tried unsubscribing using their website. Surprise, you can’t unsubscribe from their catalog via their website (you can only unsubscribe from their emails). You can only unsubscribe by calling on a week day during EST–I live in Seattle (PST) and work during the day—I’d never be able to unsubscribe from them.

    Taking my inspiration from the above post and a post by your staff member below, I decided to call Fossil’s corporate number. Doing a quick web search for Fossil’s CEO, I found her name then used their corporate directory to leave a voicemail in her box. I politely requested to be removed from Fossil’s list and mentioned the flaws of not honoring Catalog Choice as well as not having a catalog unsubscribe area within Fossil’s website.

    …I’ll let you know if I hear anything back.

    Thanks for helping me unsubscribe from several other catalogs, and hopefully, we can add Fossil to that list soon.

    Sarah on February 2nd, 2008 at 3:02 pm

  4. (Wow, Sarah… you go girl. Contacting the CEO!)

    Thanks CatalogChoice for posting this great verbiage to write a letter. I was really irked to see Hanna Andersson declined my request. It was not until I entered my customer ID# (I enter them as my catalogs arrive now) that I see that they have agreed to stop sending me catalogs. Just a word to the wise…

    Julie on February 3rd, 2008 at 8:37 pm

  5. FANTASTIC LETTER - YOU NAILED IT!!!
    I have now asked 254!!!!companies to stop sending me their junk, and I have suggested seven or eight, which I have yet to see available. These 254 are catalogs I receive on a regular basis, whether I have bought from them or even heard of them.
    I, too, received a refusal from Fossil - as well as Speigal, Sierra Woman, the general Sierra home-type catalog, Cabela’s, and of all things, Frederick’s of Hollywood, which I have never bought anything from. I will be contacting them.
    I would like to see the suggested catalogs appear more quickly. After 10 or 12 catalogs a day, six days a week, I just can’t remember what is which; can we cut the time from suggestion to choice down to a week?
    I never realized just how dreadful the piles of catalogs had become until I was sent your site. POWER TO THE PEOPLE

    Catherine Johnson on February 4th, 2008 at 1:30 pm

  6. ~~~~~~~~~ ENTERING THE CUSTOMER # SEEMS TO BE IMPERATIVE ~~~~~~~~~~

    Just a thought… but they may be refusing to honor your request because they CANNOT FIND YOU. It’s not in their interest to find which “John Doe” you are and compare it to the address in their database, so I’m thinking they’re FAR MORE LIKELY to pull my address if I enter the CUSTOMER #. At least, that has been my (albeit limited) experience with this site, so far. (Sorry to use all caps, just wanted to get folks attention. :)

    Julie on February 4th, 2008 at 6:37 pm

  7. That is a very good letter to be shared with your customers who are part of your wonderful website. I am going to write to Pier 1 Imports, who, according to your site has refused to remove my brother (who never lived at my address and is dead since June 17, 2007) and hope they will re-consider the request. There is a Pier 1 store about three miles from my home and I will not shop there until his name is removed. The more consumers that have a part in eliminating unnecessary and unwanted catalogs will have a greater voice. Thank you.

    Roseanna on February 4th, 2008 at 8:58 pm

  8. I just contacted one of the merchants who had refused to stop sending me catalogs…VERY interesting…I get SO many mailings from them, so first I called, and they had a recording telling you to email your request to be removed….which I did ….and the email bounced, so then I called and they said they would now remove me…and they denied being difficult…a big raspberry to Title 9!!!

    Catherine on February 5th, 2008 at 10:19 am

  9. I was appalled when SAKS refused my “decline catalog” request via this website! I emailed AND called them to point out the obvious: their catalogs are large, glossy “magazines”, that cost a forture to produce and mail, and I take them out of my mailbox and immediately deposit them into the recycle bin! Unless/until they figure this out, I won’t shop there or anywhere else where a decline catalog request is not honored! So keep the information coming.

    NCN on February 5th, 2008 at 10:39 am

  10. Just to be clear: the customer number does NOT determine whether a merchant will accept your request.

    Requests are marked “refused” in our system when a merchant tells us that they will not accept your opt-out request registered at Catalog Choice.

    Thanks to everyone that has written or called a merchant asking them to work with Catalog Choice. We want you to know that we are making significant progress with merchants and industry associations. You have done your job by entering your requests. We are continuing to do ours to ensure that merchants honor your requests.

    Paul on February 5th, 2008 at 3:10 pm

  11. Entering a customer number would make it easy for a merchant to find my account and I do include it when the merchant identifies some part of the gibberish on the mailing label as the “customer number”. But, all the catalog companies have software that resolves duplicate names/addresses, so looking up a customer who wants to opt out is entirely doable without a customer number. The merchant just has to want to cooperate.

    Bill on February 6th, 2008 at 9:03 pm

  12. I have to say I have a real visceral reaction when I look at the bright red REFUSED next to a catalog name on my list of (152) opt-outs. I am buy just about everything but groceries online, and that bright red REFUSED is like a slap in the face from these companies — some of which I have purchased from for years. Starting now, I will no longer purchase items from any company that refuses my request because (in my opinion) their refusal shows in bright red letters what their true “customer service” philosophy is…that being “ignore the customer.” Bravo to the Bravo Merchants! When I’m looking to buy something online now, I’ll be checking the Bravo Merchants page FIRST, and Google second.

    Thanks CatalogChoice, for all you do!

    Kate on February 7th, 2008 at 4:35 pm

  13. I had seen a red Refused by Pier I so I called them the next day and spoke to a very nice customer service rep who said there was a problem with marketing. They had been receiving many calls from other customers who had signed up on Catalogchoice and were working to resolve the problem. She also said that they do not ask any questions if you want your name removed, no explanation necessary. In my case, it was a deceased brother who never lived at my address but his name was added when I had mail forwarded to my house. Now I see online that the Refused has been changed to unconfirmed, a step in the right direction.

    Roseanna on February 8th, 2008 at 6:43 am

  14. Although I risk “preaching to the choir”, the fact that some companies have the audacity to refuse requests to remove a person from their catalog databases is not a good business move on their part. If someone takes the time via Catalog Choice or any other means to tell them they no longer wish to receive their catalogs, they obviously are mean it. Therefore, when those specific catalogs continue to arrive, there is no doubt that they will go immediately to the recycling bin in these households. Additionally, these companies have spent unnecessary money sending catalogs to people who will absolutely no longer purchase from them due to their unwillingness to cooperate along with their arrogant attitude. To me, it should be an absolute a “no-brainer” to the companies on how to handle this. It offends me that a company would be so rude and shameless to refuse to cooperate with something that is obviously a win-win situation with everyone concerned. I do almost all my shopping online, and now I will go straight to the list of merchants who have complied with these removal requests on Catalog Choice and continue to support only those businesses in the future. If I do NOT see a catalog’s name on the complied list, and I DO see a flagrant, red “refused” beside their name, that merchant may rest assured that they have lost my business until that changes, and there is no way that I am the only person who feels that way. No one likes to be challenged. My father was in successful small-business retail sales for over 50 years, and knew that “the customer is always right”. Consumers want to shop at businesses with excellent customer service along with excellent products, so a word to the “refusers”: There are plenty of your competitors who are willing to supply both to their customers when you, at best, are only willing to supply one. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out which one of the two that customers will want to patronize!

    Liz on February 9th, 2008 at 10:31 am

  15. I too am going to adopt Liz’s and Kate’s decision to consult the Bravo Merchants page first before doing any online shopping. Also when I see a “confirmed” squib next to a request, I’m going to send a brief e-mail thanking that merchant - including a note NOT to add me to their e-mail list, of course. I’ll point out I’ve bookmarked their web site for easy shopping when I’m in the market for one of their quality products.

    Debra on February 9th, 2008 at 10:57 am

  16. I just wanted to share an e-mail I sent to Ross Simons via their “catalog unsubscribe” form. I’m getting a little sick of contacting all these “Refused” catalogs only to find out they have “unsubscribe” services ANYWAY. Why can’t they just honor Catalog Choice and make life easier for everyone?? Ugh.

    Anyway, here’s what I sent to Ross Simons:

    “I requested to be removed from your catalog mailing list via CatalogChoice.Com. You refused that request. Now I find that I need to come to your website to unsubcribe. I currently receive over 180 catalogs and have found CatalogChoice extremely helpful in cutting down on unwanted catalog mail and environmental waste. However, companies such as yours that do not honor CatalogChoice requests — yet provide an unsubscribe service on their website — are causing thousands of CatalogChoice patrons to do twice the work (not to mention waste their valuable time). Why not honor CatalogChoice in the first place? Your refusal to honor my request through CatalogChoice shows that marketing is your number one concern, not the customer, and I will not be purchasing from your company in the future.”

    Kate on February 12th, 2008 at 11:42 am

  17. I just called Garnet Hill. They say that they are NOT refusing but there is a software compatibility glitch. I wrote to CC to find out if this is true. My point is that this is all new and it is possible that the “refused” is not an accurate description of what is going on.

    Ellen on February 12th, 2008 at 3:19 pm

  18. Interesting, since I just called Garnet Hill and was told that they would be happy to remove my name from their mailing list but they are “not accepting removal requests from third parties” (i.e. Catalog Choice). I guess the excuse they give depends upon the person you speak with.

    Anita Hotchkiss on February 26th, 2008 at 8:01 pm

  19. I think the concept of Catalog Choices is wonderful and is a step in the right direction. However, I am very disappointed in the responses from the merchants to refuse my requests to decline receiving their catalogs. Any that are declining I will discontinue to do business with, it’s just that simple

    Deborah Smith on March 3rd, 2008 at 1:26 pm

  20. I just received a “refused” from “The Territory Ahead” even after I used my cust. # but I picked up the phone and called the 800 number on the catalog and they very nicely remove me. Why couldn’t they have just honored my CC request?
    Thanks cc for trying to help me get the piles of catalog under control without having to call each one.

    L Fisher on March 3rd, 2008 at 2:37 pm

  21. The frequency with which the same company mails catalogs has become intolerable. Opting out is NOT being respected even when shown as such on Catalog Choice. I now also send letters vowing not only NOT to buy but also to urge all my friends away from companies that will neither honor our requests for Opt Outs from Catalog Choice or from our own urgent letters. Shame on these merchants who are filling up our landfills in unconscionable ways.

    Barbara K, Los Angeles on March 29th, 2008 at 10:38 am
 

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