This is just a personal observation, but I think that over the decades that I've been online nearly 100% of the companies that have my email address on file eventually decide that it'd be OK to casually add it to their promotions list.
True. Some eventually put me back on a couple of years after I unsubscribe. One of the reasons I use a Yahoo email address as a catch all for all sign ups and purchases online.
Politicians are worse. A couple of months ago I emailed all my state and federal politicians about something. Almost all of them put me on their mailing list. Gits. ::)
>>Politicians are worse
First mistake, I donated to a Democratic candidate I support. Now every organization vaguely related calls me. At a certain point I was getting 3-5 calls per week from Democratic fund raisers with slightly altered names like Democratic Congressional Campaign and the Democratic National Committee Congressional Campgain. After a month of answering every call with "take my off your list NOW", the calls have finally stopped.
But realistically, if they were really coordinated they would have figured out that they were calling me sometimes twice a day and that they were pissing me off so I never want to donate again.
HOWEVER,
Second mistake - I wrote to complain to my off-the-wall nutso Republican Rep (one of the most extreme). Now he emails me all the time with what he's up to. Since I'm utterly opposed to almost everything he's done, he's turned into the only effective Democratic fundraiser I deal with. Every time I get one of his emails, I feel like donating to someone else.
So the irony is the Dems make me never want to donate again. And the Rep makes me want to donate to anyone but him. Balance is achieved.
So, after some we-thought-you-wouldn't-mind infractions by banks, stockbrokers, and assorted professionals that have me on their client list, I'm going to start giving a "no brown M&Ms" warning when they ask for my contact info. Instead of trashing their offices, I'll just move the account. I'll bet that even forewarned, they won't bother looking.
http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/vanhalen.asp
This really winds me up too. Even when get them to swear in person that they wontnadd you to a list they do it.
I had this with a car dealership the other week. The sales woman promised me that it would only be used to email me a quote and wouldn't go on a list or be shared.. Two days later I'm getting spam from their "selected partners".
I did let them know they lost a sale as a result. Not much reaction to be honest - not even a apology, just a promise to look into it. It's a shame that no one ever gets prosecuted for this.
Lowes and O'Reilly Auto Parts ask for your phone number when you go though the cashier's line. Yeah, right, like I want phone spam, too. I'm pretty blunt and growl 'No.'
I get that less and less but in the past I've had people say they couldn't check me out without my phone number and I've said "Well, then I'll have to put my stuff back."
What blows me away is the cashier usually responds as if it's the first time. Of course since I usually pay by credit card, it's pretty much over (I've never been called by a business who asks for my number; what they're trying to do is link your purchase history to figure out how to market to you).