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death and advertising
Sep. 20th, 2011 10:07 amMy sister died in April. I'm her executor. Pretty much the bills are paid, the house is in foreclosure, the credit cards are cancelled, and you'd think we could begin to get back to normal. But, no! Yesterday's mail brought four catalogs, a gift card from Dell for $50 off on the purchase of a new computer, 150 address labels from the Disabled Veterans of America, and an offer for a free phone from AT&T. This happens every single day. And it isn't even the same ADDRESS as she had while she was alive - these things come to my house because I put in a change of address to have her mail sent to my home so I could settle her bills. It's not forwarding either, all the various companies have taken the new address and are convinced that she lives here.
You would think it would be an easy thing to call, for example, AT&T and tell them their customer was dead. Not so. After about five minutes on a phone tree I got in touch with a nice young man in India who told me that he could remove her from the current offer list for free cell phones, but that I would have to call a separate customer service number to get her name put on the "do not contact" list. I asked him if there was a "customer is dead" list and he said he didn't think so. The second number kept me on hold for quite a while because I couldn't enter the account number that I was calling about. Finally, I began talking with a pleasant young woman from eastern Europe. She told me she was sure we could arrange something, but after about five minutes of looking though her guide book she quietly hung up. There were no instructions for dead customers. The second time, I got, believe it or not, someone in the US. She expressed sympathy, found appropriate instructions, and finally brought her manager on the line to assist. They wanted to know if we wanted to cancel Diana's existing go-phone with 200 pre-paid minutes. Duh! No! They then managed to put that account on "do not contact" and, so they said, put through a request to have her removed from all other lists. It will take six weeks. They do not, indeed, have a "customer is dead" list or any way to permanently remove someone from an existing list.
I make half a dozen of these calls a week. After the first few, it's engaged my intellectual curiousity to see just what extremes of bad taste companies can demonstrate about the process. I've been asked, "Who would you like to receive these mailings in the future?" and been told that her name cannot be removed until we replace it with another name and address. I've been asked for her date of birth and social security number and told that without those two pieces of information they cannot talk to me - and this was a catalog for tchotchkes! I use postage paid return envelopes whenever I can. I write, in red pen, "Mrs. Barbour is dead. Please don't send any more mailings because it makes our family very sad." Sometimes I even use my own postage stamp to send things back rather than trying to call on the phone. Several of these companies and catalogs have removed her name but now send the same advertising to "current resident".
We have a national "do not call" list. How about a national "dead" list where you could send in one death certificate and advertisers would have to remove the person from all future advertising campaigns?
I look forward to the time when I can begin simply returning things to the postman as "not at this address", but I can't do that until at least after Christmas card season (there may still be friends unknown to me that haven't gotten word of her death), and until the final legal settlements are made on her house. Honestly, it should be easier than this.
You would think it would be an easy thing to call, for example, AT&T and tell them their customer was dead. Not so. After about five minutes on a phone tree I got in touch with a nice young man in India who told me that he could remove her from the current offer list for free cell phones, but that I would have to call a separate customer service number to get her name put on the "do not contact" list. I asked him if there was a "customer is dead" list and he said he didn't think so. The second number kept me on hold for quite a while because I couldn't enter the account number that I was calling about. Finally, I began talking with a pleasant young woman from eastern Europe. She told me she was sure we could arrange something, but after about five minutes of looking though her guide book she quietly hung up. There were no instructions for dead customers. The second time, I got, believe it or not, someone in the US. She expressed sympathy, found appropriate instructions, and finally brought her manager on the line to assist. They wanted to know if we wanted to cancel Diana's existing go-phone with 200 pre-paid minutes. Duh! No! They then managed to put that account on "do not contact" and, so they said, put through a request to have her removed from all other lists. It will take six weeks. They do not, indeed, have a "customer is dead" list or any way to permanently remove someone from an existing list.
I make half a dozen of these calls a week. After the first few, it's engaged my intellectual curiousity to see just what extremes of bad taste companies can demonstrate about the process. I've been asked, "Who would you like to receive these mailings in the future?" and been told that her name cannot be removed until we replace it with another name and address. I've been asked for her date of birth and social security number and told that without those two pieces of information they cannot talk to me - and this was a catalog for tchotchkes! I use postage paid return envelopes whenever I can. I write, in red pen, "Mrs. Barbour is dead. Please don't send any more mailings because it makes our family very sad." Sometimes I even use my own postage stamp to send things back rather than trying to call on the phone. Several of these companies and catalogs have removed her name but now send the same advertising to "current resident".
We have a national "do not call" list. How about a national "dead" list where you could send in one death certificate and advertisers would have to remove the person from all future advertising campaigns?
I look forward to the time when I can begin simply returning things to the postman as "not at this address", but I can't do that until at least after Christmas card season (there may still be friends unknown to me that haven't gotten word of her death), and until the final legal settlements are made on her house. Honestly, it should be easier than this.
