If you get a catalog mailed to the same name and address but there is a new customer number, the system now allows you to enter this as a new opt-out request.
We have also made the Still Receiving area much easier to use. If you get a catalog in the mail that you have already opted-out of (sorry, this will happen in the short term until we get better merchant compliance), you can find the catalog title in your My Choice page and select Still Receiving. We then show you all the name address combinations that you have entered for that catalog. If you can match the name address combination with the catalog you just got, select This One to report the infraction. If you don’t see the name address combination, you can add a new entry at the bottom of the page where it says Create a new opt-out.
So, why do we need your help reporting infractions? Well, as it stands honoring mail order catalog opt-out requests is a voluntary process. We need your help to let us know who is not honoring the consumer’s choices. We are working on a process where the industry can self-police rather than having the consumers do the work. You will be the first to know when we get this in place. In the meantime, thanks for your help.
Thank you! I did it today & it worked. I have only two catalogs doing this to me, but it’s amazing that they’re stooping to this level in the first place. Keep it up!
It doesn’t make sense that a merchant would change customer numbers with the sole intent of vexing mailing recipients who’d prefer to opt out. That’d be hideously bad and juvenile business practice.
I’ve seen it happen with only one of my catalogs, which is not enough for me to detect a pattern. That one catalog was from a company with whom I’ve never done business. I wonder if the numbers are providing some kind of tracking code, perhaps indicating where they’ve rented my name from, or other information that’s potentially helpful to them?
Maybe someone who knows more about this could comment? I’m just curious to learn what’s really going on with that.
Here is a response I recently received in response to my frustrations!!
For your records, the following is a copy of the correspondence
you recently sent us from the Catalog Choice website. Given the volume
of mail we are presently experiencing, we may not be able to
respond to each mail. However, rest assured that every message we
receive is read. Thanks again so much for using our service,
and we appreciate your feedback.
The Catalog Choice Team
http://catalogchoice.org
======= Your Message Below =======
You’ve had me on board since November. I remember the low number of reported particpants at that time and my excitement to see that number grow almost daily.
Unfortunately, I am getting disheartened–I was so pleased to see a confirmed by LLBean; however, I now realize the merchants are playing games by sending catalogs to the same address with name variations and newly-generated customer numbers.
When will the madness end! I am diligent about checking my received catalogs and their status but am getting really weary.
Bonnie Murphy
Bonnie A. Murphy
Mrs. Bonnie Murphy
Mrs. B. Murphy
Mrs. Bonnie A. Murphy
Mrs. Murphy
Ms. Bonnie A. Murphy
Ms. Bonnie Murphy
Ms. B. Murphy
Ms. Murphy
Current Resident!
Two words for any catalogers reading this thread: list hygiene.
I think I understand how all the name and address variations accrue. (But shame on the two merchants who mailed to my maiden name this past Christmas—more than 12 years after my wedding day. Seriously, guys, digging back that far in your house lists is just sad. It makes you look desperate.)
I’d still love to know why some of the *customer numbers* change. I can’t believe any direct marketer would do that just to be malicious. It’s not impossible, I suppose, but implausible. It’s simply not in a company’s best interest—i.e., their bottom line—to deliberately sabotage opt-out requests.
If I don’t get an answer here, then the next time I see it happen, I’ll contact the cataloger to see if I can find out why it’s happening. That’s assuming I can reach a real person on the phone. I had no luck when I tried calling one of the “refused” companies in my opt-outs. They haven’t responded to my e-mail, either, even though I worded it pretty politely.
Dear Bonnie:
I understand your disappointment. We work everyday, speaking with top executives at the companies listed on our site and the Associations that represent them to have them honor your requests.
We did not anticipate that on November 30th, the Direct Marketing Association would instruct their membership to “Just Say No” to Catalog Choice.
Despite the resistance from some in the industry, many companies are working with us to honor your requests. They know that it makes good business sense to honor the wishes of the customer and not waste money sending unwanted catalogs.
With the continued support of the Catalog Choice community, we are adding more merchants who want to honor the wishes of their customers.
It took decades for the current direct marketing systems to develop and it is taking several months for it to adapt to what consumers want regarding unwanted catalogs. With your continued patience and support, I trust that the “madness will end”, using your words.
Hang in there with us. We are not stopping in the name of the Lorax and the 600,000 other Catalog Choice members!
Chuck
I noticed that “The Territory Ahead” has refused to honor my request to discontinue mailings.
With that unprofessional response, I can assure that company that I refuse to give them any business now or in the future.
I will not patronize, support, nor endorse any company that responds in such a negative manner.
The same holds true for “Sahalie”, which switched customer numbers since my original request.
Alan, don’t know whether you know that The Territory Ahead is owned by Cornerstone Brands Inc., which also owns Ballard Designs, Frontgate, Garnet Hill, Improvements, Smith+Noble, and TravelSmith. When Garnet Hill refused my request I called them, then e-mailed both them and Cornerstone Brands, explaining that since Garnet Hill refused my opt-out request, I would be refusing to buy from any of their companies in future. Customer service people from both Garnet Hill and Cornerstone Brands then fell all over themselves to promise I wouldn’t receive any further Garnet Hill catalogs after 10 weeks (my opt-outs for the other CSB companies are still showing uncomfirmed in my profile). I’ll be taking a close look at any future refusals to find additional brand aggregations, and make my shopping decisions accordingly.
This service (i.e., adding a new customer number) doesn’t work for me — I have to go back in and do it the “normal” way.
I have to say I am a bit disappointed with this entire process. I’ve entered over 100 catalogs. More than 75% of them are, after a period of over 3 months, still “unconfirmed” by the merchant. Some others have been refused. Still others have been acknowledged but are now showing up under new customer numbers.
The bottom line is that the effect of all my entering and updating is barely noticable — I started this process in late October and I’m still getting a vast majority of these catalogs. Every time I contact Catalog choice, I’m encouraged to tell others about this service. Well I’m willing to do that — when it actually works. I’m wondering if that will ever happen.
Why not start a “shame on…” list of the merchants and companies who refuse our opt-outs, so we can ALL boycott those offenders. Spiegel, Isabella Bird, Territory Ahead, to name but a few.
Like Mary, I’m discouraged with this process so far as it does not seem to be having the desired effect.
I’m personally quite happy with the progress Catalog Choice has made in only four months, especially in the face of initial skepticism and sometimes outright recalcitrance from several direct marketers.
The quantity of confirmed requests at my account has climbed more than 50 percent over the past month: from 13 to 21 (the total number of opt-out requests has risen from 65 to 68 in that same time period). All but one of those requests were entered between October 24 and December 1 of last year. I’m pleased to say that among those confirmed merchants, I’ve had to report only a single infraction, and that was for a catalog lacking a customer number and addressed to “current resident.” That company is actually a very good one, and I predict they will honor my request, but they might need a little extra time.
Like everyone else, I am still receiving mailings from various merchants who have not yet confirmed. But really, that leaves me in a situation no worse than before. I’ve been trying to eliminate our unwanted mail for over a decade. I’m willing to be patient a bit longer. I believe Catalog Choice has begun to make a difference, and that it will be a huge difference in the end.
Catalog Choice website doesnt have NEARLY as many removal options as Catalogend.com does. They have the option of doing 200 per page of different catalog names…Pretty much 3rd party mail removals dont work unless they’ve been aroudn forever like DMA, but catalogend has more options so if you’re into that you might try there instead. From the looks of their website vs Catalog Choice it seems easier to do too.
Ariajana:
Thank you for yet another extortion service link :-)
Please spent your time and energy to convince your company IT to accept CSV file from Catalog Choice instead. In this case your actions will benefit everybody.
In my town we have an ordinance that allows us to post that we do not want advertising (restaurant menus etc) left at the door. If a restaurant does, you can hand in the material with a note about when and where and the town environmental department fines the establishment. Is anyone pursuing this type of legislation at a federal level? (As it is US Mail)
Ruth:
That’s a really good idea. I posted a note on my mailbox that says NO RESIDENT OR OCCUPANT MAIL ACCEPTED. NO FLYERS ACCEPTED. The post service does not leave these things in my mailbox anymore. :-) So far, my town doesnt fine people though. To Eugene: You’re welcome. :-)
I have found CatalogChoice invaluable. My mother passed away last year and she use to do all her shopping via catalogs. I have opted out on 69 different catalogs since October 18th and the majority have stopped coming.
There are just a few that refuse to give up. I like being able to now include the reason for wishing the catalogs to stop as Address is deceased. It is a waste of resources to continue to send catalogs to someone who is no longer living.
Now if I could find a similar website to get the offers for credit and insurance to stop coming to her, I’d be very happy.
After having opted out of over 70 catalogs since early November, we are still getting most of them, and the number seems to be increasing. Several have changed customer number. I am suspecting other companies sell our names when we opt out, just perpetuating the junk mail.
Kathleen:
You could try http://optoutprescreen.com – official opt-out site for pre-approved
credit solicitations (credit cards offers) maintained by Consumer
Credit Reporting companies. At least it works for me (opted out ~ 5 years ago).
I have been using CatalogChoice.com since November. I have registered 137 catalogs. I too am disapointed at the poor response rate by the catalog companies. I am now finding besides a new customer number, that they are sending the catalogs I have declined first to my husband, then when I decline him, to my son. They are just ruthless. I called The Territory Ahead to cancel them. I asked if I would get catalogs again if I ordered something online. They said yes if I used a different variation of my name from the one I used to cancel the catalog. For example if I cancelled Susan Smith, but when I ordered online I used Susan A Smith as is on the credit card – they would start re-sending the catalog to Susan A Smith even though it is to the same address I already cancelled. I feel so inundated with all of these useless catalogs. What a waste of our earth’s resources.
Sturbridge Yankee Workshop is notorious for this. Each catlog I receive from them has a different customer #. Interestingly I received two catalogs from them today one addressed to my wife and one to me but they had the same Account #. Sensational Beginnings does this as well I’ve noticed. Basically I’m calling catalogs who have either refused my request or who continue sending catalogs after several months of opting out. Unfortunately I think that is what it is going to take (hundreds of thousands of phone calls from us) for more catalog companies to wake up and join th Catalog Choice community.
I’m pretty demoralized at this stage having declined 361 catalogs since Nov 8th – recorded every new one, probably upwards of 1,500, dealt with duplicates, sent infractions when applicable and still they keep coming…..yesterday, Feb 27th I could hardly get my mail out the box. I have them coming to 16 versions (with initials, with middle name, without etc.) believe it or not, of my name. And before canonizing some of the companies, I want it to go on record that they are “confirming” that they won’t send any more catalogs & getting mentioned in blogs. And they don’t send them to name & address you entered. They just send them to a new version of your name – your name that is bought & sold by them like a piece of meat without regard to your request.
I’ve never purchased from Spiegel, but after making a small purchase from Newport News, I started receiving Spiegel (same company). Once I entered an opt-out request for Spiegel, I started receiving many more Spiegel catalogs, each with a new customer number. I noticed today that the catalog contains a ‘Dear Reader’ letter inside the front cover signed by President & CEO Geralynn Madonna. Wahoo! Now I know who to write to.
I’m not sure what to think about this process. It’s been many weeks since I first registered with Catalog Choice, and only 6 of more than 50+ catalogs I’ve entered has shown as confirmed. I got so disgusted by the waste in my mailbox this weekend that I simply went from website to website, manually asking each merchant to take me off their lists. Nearly to the last one, I received responses within a few minutes to only a few hours, confirming that I was off their lists. And more than one referred me to the DMA’s total opt-out service, of which I will also avail.
What does this say that one quick, direct email gets an instantaneous response but Catalog Choice goes unnoticed? I’m leaving my information up here, in the hope that my voice, among many others, will convince retailers that there ought to be other options besides (a) individual contacts via phone or email or (b) the monopoly that the DMA seems to enjoy.
But seriously, if you want to cut down on waste, it seems better– for now– to go direct with these merchants rather than wait weeks and weeks or months for them to respond (or not!) to Catalog Choice.
Opted out several times to “Woman Within” and now they have me on Jessica London’s hit-list – Ironically I received two of the Woman Within catalog’s today – one’s a Roman but has same customer number as Woman Within – Our planet will never be GREEN! Makes me want to YELL YELL YELL – oh yes, and I have phoned at least three times to request they NOT send me any more catalogs! UNCLE!