Since getting a cell phone a few years ago, I’ve received a number of unsolicited text messages. There haven’t been a lot of them, so dealing with them is little more than a minor bother, but because my plan with Verizon doesn’t include unlimited texting each one of them costs me fifteen cents. Again, not a huge deal, but the fact that their spam is costing me money (even a little bit) is more than a little irksome.
Today I got a spam from PAYLESS INSIDER.
From: 242-424
PAYLESS INSIDER: Take
20% off during the Easter
Sale @Payless! Use codo
3XXXX thru 4/4. Txt END1
or 866-746-5923 to
Opt-Out. Msg&Data rates
may apply. Not@Shopko
I can remember receiving about a half dozen messages from Payless before, but never did anything with them, fearing that following their opt-out instructions might just make matters worse (with a lot of email-based spam, the opt-out instructions will only serve to confirm to the spammers that your email address is legitimate and make it that much more valuable.) I hadn’t bought anything from Payless for years, and even if I had, I certainly wouldn’t have given them my cell number, nor any hint that I was even remotely interested in their pseudo bargains.
But today my sore back made me grumpy enough to want to do something about this one, so I went to the Payless Shoes website looking for contact information. The Customer Service link lists an email address, so I clicked on it & drafted a short but terse note asking if they were responsible for the unsolicited text messages. I didn’t really expect to hear back from them, but hitting send (forcefully!) made me feel a little better. My back still hurt, but it helped a little anyway.
Much to my surprise, I did get a response about an hour later:
Dear David,
Thank you for contacting Payless ShoeSource.
We apologize that you were inconvenienced by our message. Please rest assured that your comments have been forwarded to our marketing staff.All of the phone numbers called during this marketing campaign were collected at the time of checkout in our stores. These numbers have not been bought or sold through any outside marketing firms. You may remove your phone number from this database by calling
1-866-746-5923.
Thank you for taking the time to provide us with your feedback.
Tyler
Payless ShoeSource Customer Support Center
1-877-474-6379
Well isn’t that dandy? If what’s said in that note is true, someone other than me gave my number at the time of checkout; sure as heck wasn’t me. That (on top of my still-sore back) ticked me off enough to chance a call to that number, halfway hoping to get a real person just for the chance to vent a little. Un(?)fortunately, calls to that number end up in an automated answering system where one of the options is to have your number removed from their call list. I clicked a few buttons in response to the queries, and the pleasant female voice assured me that my number has been removed. Time will tell. Either way, it’ll be a long, long time before I consider buying anything from them.
Now, time to look for a little something in the medicine drawer — or the bottom of a bottle — to help dull the hurting in my lower back…