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http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~dhbayne...vertising.html

Fraudulent Woosh advertising

I have a fairly broad tolerance for creative advertising. But the envelope
I received in my mail today was beyond the pale.

Myself & my wife have a large "No Circulars" sign on our letterbox, in an
effort to cut down on junk mail. Any personally directed letters that
contain advertising (usually identified by logos of companies with whom we
have no dealings) go straight in the bin. So needless to say, we didn't
junk the plain white envelope (no company name or logo) with no sender's
address (except a P.O. Box number) and a label stating that it contained
an award certificate.

It turns out that the 'award certificate' was an advertising campaign by
Woosh, trying to get us to sign up to their broadband internet plans. I
called them, lodged a complaint, and had them remove us from their mailing
lists. To their credit, they did so without demur, but also without any
form of apology.

You might be reading this and thinking "what a sensitive, over-reacting
pillock."

The fact is that Woosh tricked me, plain and simple, into receiving and
opening their junk mail. If they thought it was even vaguely welcome, they
wouldn't have done what they did. It'll be a cold day in hell before I
give my money to a company that, by way of introduction, treats me in that
fashion.

--
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Duncan Bayne phone (+64) 027 2536395 email |
| ============ icq# 115621676 msn |
| |
| web http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~dhbayne/ |
| http://dotgeek.blogspot.com/ |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| "The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly |
| is to fill the world with fools." |
| |
| - Herbert Spencer. |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+

Duncan Bayne wrote:
> http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~dhbayne...vertising.html
>
> Fraudulent Woosh advertising
>
> I have a fairly broad tolerance for creative advertising. But the envelope
> I received in my mail today was beyond the pale.
>
> Myself & my wife have a large "No Circulars" sign on our letterbox, in an
> effort to cut down on junk mail. Any personally directed letters that
> contain advertising (usually identified by logos of companies with whom we
> have no dealings) go straight in the bin. So needless to say, we didn't
> junk the plain white envelope (no company name or logo) with no sender's
> address (except a P.O. Box number) and a label stating that it contained
> an award certificate.
>
> It turns out that the 'award certificate' was an advertising campaign by
> Woosh, trying to get us to sign up to their broadband internet plans. I
> called them, lodged a complaint, and had them remove us from their mailing
> lists. To their credit, they did so without demur, but also without any
> form of apology.
>
> You might be reading this and thinking "what a sensitive, over-reacting
> pillock."
>
> The fact is that Woosh tricked me, plain and simple, into receiving and
> opening their junk mail. If they thought it was even vaguely welcome, they
> wouldn't have done what they did. It'll be a cold day in hell before I
> give my money to a company that, by way of introduction, treats me in that
> fashion.
>
You open an unsolicited letter that promised "an award
certificate" and then get sniffy because it contained
advertising?

Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe!

Cheers,

Cliff



--

Barzoomian the Martian - http://barzoomian.blogspot.com

On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 18:27:12 +1300, Duncan Bayne wrote:

> You might be reading this and thinking "what a sensitive, over-reacting
> pillock."
>
> The fact is that Woosh tricked me, plain and simple, into receiving and
> opening their junk mail. If they thought it was even vaguely welcome, they
> wouldn't have done what they did. It'll be a cold day in hell before I
> give my money to a company that, by way of introduction, treats me in that
> fashion.

Get over it.

Have another apple Duncan,


I know how you feel, I just read your posting.







"Duncan Bayne" <> wrote in message
news...
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~dhbayne...oosh-advertisi
ng.html

Fraudulent Woosh advertising

I have a fairly broad tolerance for creative advertising. But the envelope
I received in my mail today was beyond the pale.

Myself & my wife have a large "No Circulars" sign on our letterbox, in an
effort to cut down on junk mail. Any personally directed letters that
contain advertising (usually identified by logos of companies with whom we
have no dealings) go straight in the bin. So needless to say, we didn't
junk the plain white envelope (no company name or logo) with no sender's
address (except a P.O. Box number) and a label stating that it contained
an award certificate.

It turns out that the 'award certificate' was an advertising campaign by
Woosh, trying to get us to sign up to their broadband internet plans. I
called them, lodged a complaint, and had them remove us from their mailing
lists. To their credit, they did so without demur, but also without any
form of apology.

You might be reading this and thinking "what a sensitive, over-reacting
pillock."

The fact is that Woosh tricked me, plain and simple, into receiving and
opening their junk mail. If they thought it was even vaguely welcome, they
wouldn't have done what they did. It'll be a cold day in hell before I
give my money to a company that, by way of introduction, treats me in that
fashion.

--
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Duncan Bayne phone (+64) 027 2536395 email |
| ============ icq# 115621676 msn |
| |
| web http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~dhbayne/ |
| http://dotgeek.blogspot.com/ |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| "The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly |
| is to fill the world with fools." |
| |
| - Herbert Spencer. |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+

Gordon wrote:
> On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 18:27:12 +1300, Duncan Bayne wrote:
>
> > You might be reading this and thinking "what a sensitive,
over-reacting
> > pillock."
> >
> > The fact is that Woosh tricked me, plain and simple, into receiving
and
> > opening their junk mail. If they thought it was even vaguely
welcome, they
> > wouldn't have done what they did. It'll be a cold day in hell
before I
> > give my money to a company that, by way of introduction, treats me
in that
> > fashion.
>
> Get over it.

I am over it I'm also never giving my money to Woosh. Joel
Spolsky actually wrote about a similar event here:

How Many Lies Can You Find In One Direct Mail Piece?
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articl...000000019.html

....

The biggest problem with direct mail (what we normal people call "Junk
Mail") is that 99% of it (literally) gets thrown away unopened,
Batesian mimicry or not. To combat this, direct mailers will do
anything to get you to open their junk, no matter how dishonest.

When I went to Earthlink's home page, it only took me a couple of
clicks to find their Mission and Core Values and Beliefs. And what it
says there is:

We require complete honesty and integrity in everything we do.

I didn't even have the energy to open the damn thing and see how many
lies were on the inside. Does this mailing strike you as "completely
honest"? Or just "business as usual?" Am I too sensitive? Should I go
back to complaining about complaining about Bloatware?

On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 21:26:02 +1300, Enkidu wrote:
> You open an unsolicited letter that promised "an award certificate" and
> then get sniffy because it contained advertising?
>
> Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe!

You'd not laugh if you'd just spent the week wrestling with Windows
Installer and InstallShield

Actually, I was rather expecting a certificate for my wife, and as the
letter was addressed to her I didn't suspect it was junk until I opened
it.

Seriously though, I *do* get sniffy when a company thinks it's okay to lie
to me in order to get me to open their junk mail. It's a really good way
of ensuring I *never* buy their products or services.

--
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Duncan Bayne phone (+64) 027 2536395 email |
| ============ icq# 115621676 msn |
| |
| web http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~dhbayne/ |
| http://dotgeek.blogspot.com/ |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| "The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly |
| is to fill the world with fools." |
| |
| - Herbert Spencer. |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+

"Duncan Bayne" <> wrote in message
news...
> http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~dhbayne...vertising.html
>
> Fraudulent Woosh advertising
>
> I have a fairly broad tolerance for creative advertising. But the envelope
> I received in my mail today was beyond the pale.
>
> Myself & my wife have a large "No Circulars" sign on our letterbox, in an
> effort to cut down on junk mail. Any personally directed letters that
> contain advertising (usually identified by logos of companies with whom we
> have no dealings) go straight in the bin. So needless to say, we didn't
> junk the plain white envelope (no company name or logo) with no sender's
> address (except a P.O. Box number) and a label stating that it contained
> an award certificate.
>
> It turns out that the 'award certificate' was an advertising campaign by
> Woosh, trying to get us to sign up to their broadband internet plans. I
> called them, lodged a complaint, and had them remove us from their mailing
> lists. To their credit, they did so without demur, but also without any
> form of apology.
>
> You might be reading this and thinking "what a sensitive, over-reacting
> pillock."
>

Yep, you're right.

Rider

Duncan Bayne wrote:
> On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 21:26:02 +1300, Enkidu wrote:
>
>> You open an unsolicited letter that promised "an award
>> certificate" and then get sniffy because it contained
>> advertising?
>>
>>Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe !
>
>
> You'd not laugh if you'd just spent the week wrestling
> with Windows Installer and InstallShield
>
> Actually, I was rather expecting a certificate for my
> wife, and as the letter was addressed to her I didn't
> suspect it was junk until I opened it.
>
Well, admittedly if you were expecting a certificate and the
envelope said "certificate" on it, I'd guess that you might
be fooled into opening it. But surely, certificates are
sometimes valuable, so I'd doubt that a legitimate
certificate would come in an envelope with indication of the
contents on the outside, would it?

It would be the same as saying "steal me"!

Cheers,

Cliff

--

Barzoomian the Martian - http://barzoomian.blogspot.com

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 13:22:08 +1300, Rider wrote:
>> You might be reading this and thinking "what a sensitive, over-reacting
>> pillock."
>>
>
> Yep, you're right.

So you reckon tricking customers into opening junk mail is indicative of a
corporate culture with which you'd *want* to do business?

--
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Duncan Bayne phone (+64) 027 2536395 email |
| ============ icq# 115621676 msn |
| |
| web http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~dhbayne/ |
| http://dotgeek.blogspot.com/ |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| "The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly |
| is to fill the world with fools." |
| |
| - Herbert Spencer. |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+

In <> Duncan Bayne wrote:
> On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 13:22:08 +1300, Rider wrote:
>>> You might be reading this and thinking "what a sensitive, over-
>>> reacting pillock."
>>>
>>
>> Yep, you're right.
>
> So you reckon tricking customers into opening junk mail is indicative
> of a corporate culture with which you'd *want* to do business?

If you asked them they'd probably just blame the marketing divison, 'a
bunch of mindless jerks who'll be the first against the wall when the
revolution comes'.

--
Roger Johnstone, Invercargill, New Zealand
http://vintageware.orcon.net.nz/
__________________________________________________ ______________________
No Silicon Heaven? Preposterous! Where would all the calculators go?

Kryten, from the Red Dwarf episode "The Last Day"