I’m not unusual (really, surely?) in getting a good many emails, many of them quite unwelcome. Over the holiday period, I got quite cross when, on Christmas Day,. I had a number of advertising emails. You’d think they could leave us alone for once in a while.
You’d think I’d simply unsubscribe or mark them as spam – trouble is that firms I use are as much nuisance as those I don’t. John Lewis, for example, sends frequent advertisements, often to boast that they’re matching a competitor’s prices (which I thought they were supposed to do all the time) – and I buy from them sometimes, just not what they advertise. And then I had an email complaining that I haven’t been buying what they advertise. I wasn’t too pleased. And last year I bought seeds from two companies, both of which send ‘updates’ at least once a week. Liz Earle, whose face cleanser is the best I’ve ever used, is a pain in the arse with its constant ads.
And while I’m on the subject, I do get quite irritated by the language they use. “Hurry,” for example. “Last chance!” – which it never is, of course. “When it’s gone, it’s gone” is probably the cream of the crop for annoyance value. “We miss you,” they sometimes whine. ‘Just for you.” Though yesterday, Boots suggested I might enjoy a free NHS Eye Health check. I have my eyes tested every year and I’ve never enjoyed it yet.
Anyway, when I got home after my various Yuletide visits, I went to the computer to mark all these things as spam, thinking that they’d then be diverted to the spam folder rather than the inbox, but that I could retrieve them if I wanted to. But it wasn’t as simple as that, it wanted to stop them coming … oh, the ins and outs are boring and I can’t bother you with them – nor me, actually – and in the end I succumbed to downloading the gmail app. And so the advertising emails go into the designated folder and I simply don’t look at them (occasionally at the subject line, just to be sure there’s nothing I actually do want to read). There are several hundred of them. I feel rather more free than I did. But I’m still a bit annoyed at having to download google.
It’s evidently been a quiet day at the Zeddary – or anyway, it was. LT is here now and all is gaiety and hahahaha.
If you look very carefully toward the bottom of these nasty e-mails there is always a little “un-subscribe” link. Sometimes all it takes is entering your e-mail and sometimes you have to tell them why you don’t love them any more. If it is easier when I am in a store to give them my e-mail I often wait til I get home and unsubscribe first chance I get.
We use outlook express and I have a ‘bacn’ folder to which I direct all mails from companies that we have dealt with in the past but I don’t want to actually read.
I don’t want to take myself off the mailing list entirely, Beryl, just not get so many advertisements. Sometimes, unsubscribing doesn’t work anyway and I have to send it to spam, but it’s the companies that I use once in a while that I’ve the problem with.
I don’t use OE, I have Safari and I haven’t found a way of dealing with the problem on my phone. It’s not a difficulty on the computer as I can direct them to a folder marked ‘promotions’ and that’s on the gmail app too. I suppose if I used an Apple account there might be a way round it too, but I don’t really want to be bothered with yet more email accounts. What I mind is the idiots in marketing who think that bombarding customers with adverts actually encourages them to buy more often – it puts me off.
Completely understand about not wanting to unsubscribe. I use my gmail account when I have to sign up to a website, or buy things online. I too have it sorted into folders, which was a great relief when I found out about it. My Apple account is kept for my personal or important emails, and I am careful who I give it to. I get very cross if spam arrives there, but it’s usually easily fixed. This means that on my iPhone I can just look at the Apple account to check for important stuff, it’s also the only one I set to ‘push’ onto my phone and notify me. Apologies, that was quite long winded, but it helps me cope with the sheer volume of emails these days.
Lovely to hear you sounding more cheerful! x
Not being a regular online shopper, I don’t get much marketing stuff, and am happy to bin what I do. Waitrose have taken to asking me to rate and review three items from my last shopping trip; the last such request included toilet paper, which I found mildly amusing.
I’ve been making a concious effort to unsubscribe from these as they come in. Not because I don’t want them or might in the future, but because they are distracting. If I want something I can search for it or go directly to the website. I know I might miss out on special offers etc, but then I’m less likely to impulse buy something I don’t really want.
Wallis are driving me mad,.
Maybe we should all write to the companies we use but don’t want to be bombarded by and tell them to leave us alone for at least a week at a time? No, I can’t be arsed either. It actively puts me off shopping.
Tim, I bet you, like me, grew up with toilet paper that was indistinguishable from greaseproof and which you tried to avoid because it was so scratchy? Rate Waitrose’s according to that, or cashmere at the other end of the scale.
Thalie, welcome – I suspect I should have an Apple account for the same purpose, but I find it almost impossible to get people to change the account they use for me. I have a second gmail account that takes care of the businesses I don’t want to bother me, but I evidently haven’t been careful enough. Gmail on the phone does have a VIP folder for people you especially want to get emails from instantly – I’ve only two people in that at present though.
I’ve just deleted 18 virus-bearing emails allegedly from a toilet hire company.
A toilet hire company. Hmm. I’ve just discovered one from a company ‘confirming’ a non-existent booking to park my car at an airport – I suppose they want me to think I’ve been swindled, but they’re wanting to swindle me. I’ll have to look at it but I’m sure it’s phishing. Bastards, aren’t they? Hope you’re having a wonderful time, both of you – you know the blog party is 16th July?