Victory is Mine!
Posted: May 23, 2011 Filed under: fun, rants and raves, the internets 5 Comments »Do you really hate getting unsolicited advertisements over text? I do. So after a local company texted me twice in three days, I decided to do something about it. Here is the email that I sent to the customer care email address for each of the three companies. Background information: the Pass of All Passes, is a season pass that allows you go to to the local water park (Seven Peaks) and mini-golf/arcade center (Trafalga). I had never heard of Fizook before May 21.
Seven Peaks, Trafalga and Fizook Deals,
When I signed up for the “pass of all passes” I was required to give my personal information. I was not told, or made aware in any way shape or form, that I would be receiving text messages to my personal cell phone. I do not have unlimited texting and I am charged $0.20 for each text you send to my phone. http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/messaging-internet/messaging/faq.jsp
The first text was sent at 11:11 AM on Saturday, May 21 and had the message:
Trafalga Pass of All Pass Holders- Special VIP Offer, $10 Bucks Gets You An Appetizer, Combo Meal & A $10 Playcard. Learn More/Buy It Now @ www.fizookdeals.com
The second message was send at 4:29 Monday, May 23 and contained the following:
Trafalga Customers Last Chance For- Special VIP Offer $10 Bucks Gets You An Appetizer, Combo Meal & A $10 Playcard. Learn More/Buy It Now @ www.fizookdeals.com
I will be as clear as possible. I do not want your texts. Do not send me your unsolicited and unwanted text messages. Remove all of my contact information from your systems. I do not wish to receive text messages from either of your companies ever again. If the world is burning down and you are the only people in the world with access to text messaging, do not text me. If your very life depends on being able to text me, do not text me. I do not care one bit about your deals, sales, or promotions. In fact, this whole ordeal has ensured that I will never purchase anything from either of your two companies.
I consider this a gross abuse of my personal information. What makes it worse is that this was done without my consent. While writing this I ran across an interesting case. Are you aware that Payless Shoes recently had a class action lawsuit filed against it for a similar practice? http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/10/30/Spam.pdf The different between text advertising and other forms of advertisement is that I am directly forced to pay for your advertisement.
Here is a simple list of what I want. I have tried to make this as absolutely simple as possible:
1) I want my name (Romgi the Enigma) and phone number (XXX-XXX-XXXX) removed from any and all advertising databases at Seven Peaks, Trafalga, and Fizook Deals
2) I do not want to ever receive a text message from either Seven Peaks, Trafalga or Fizook Deals in the future
3) I do not want to ever get a text message from any of the subsidiaries or affiliates of Seven Peaks, Trafalga, or Fizook Deals
If your reply to this email does not address and promise those three things, I will send an itemized bill for each of the text message I have received. If I have not received a response to this email within 10 business days (Monday, June 6, 2011), I will consider this a refusal to respond and I will send an itemized bill for each of the text messages I have received. If you refuse the pay the bill within 30 days, I will begin the process of filing a lawsuit to recover damages under 47 U.S.C. 227 titled “Restrictions on Use of Telephone Equipment” http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/47/5/II/I/227 . Please note that this federal law prohibits unsolicited advertisements being sent to a person’s telephone. Yes, I am talking about a total of $0.40 of damages, but I am tired of companies such as you costing me money. I have had enough.
Best regards,
The Romgi
I sent that email today around 5:34 and I received a reply at 7:44. I was a bit surprised to get such a quick response. I was sure they would dilly-dally for days before getting back to me.
Romgi,
You have been removed from the Trafalga/Seven Peaks/Fizook Deals Databases.
Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
If for any reason you receive a text/email from fizook deals ever again in the future please contact me directly as this should not happen.
[Redacted]
Senior VP of Sales & Marketing
Apparently, the email went from “customer care” up the ranks to the VP quite quickly! I will forever cherish this small victory.
Politically Incorrect
Posted: November 16, 2010 Filed under: Opinion, rants and raves 2 Comments »Something happened in class the other day that really got me thinking. Let’s start from the beginning.
This semester, I have been taking a class on employment discrimination. We talk about ways that employers and businesses become liable for how they treat protected groups. Different groups are protected based on statutory provisions. For example, Title VII of the United States Code provides protection against discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, etc. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), not surprisingly, requires employers and businesses open to the public to make certain accommodations for disabled people.
During the class period where we were discussing the ADA, our professor told us a story about her husband. Her husband has a condition that confines him to a wheelchair. In this story, she told us that they took a trip took to New York. They were standing in line at a deli; the line was long enough that it went outside of the store. An employee came out multiple times and asked them to come inside. When my professor asked why, she was told that it was because my professor’s husband was disabled. They both politely declined, saying that they could wait in line just as well as anybody else. Finally, the manager came out and brought them inside to a table. He explained, “If a city official were to walk by and see you in line at my store, I could get a fine for making you wait in line. It doesn’t matter if you think you’re OK to wait.”
As my professor told us this, she said something like, “While the statute was without a doubt meant to make things easier for disabled people, it ended up making my husband feel like he was singled out!”
Right after she said this, a student in the back mumbled a comment. The professor asked the student to speak up, and the student said, “Not ‘disabled person,’ but ‘person with a disability.’”
This really made me upset, and I’ve been trying to figure out why ever since that class. I couldn’t help but wonder if this student had heard a black person refer to himself/herself as “black” would she have correct them? ”Oh, sorry. It’s ‘African American.’” If they had been calling each other the “N word” would she have corrected them?
"I'm sorry, you can't say that."
My problem is this: why does this student think she can correct my professor when the professor is talking about her own life. Here was my professor, talking about her own life, talking about the challenges she and her husband face on a day-to-day basis, and the student has the audacity to correct her. Has being politically correct become such a social necessity that we have to right to correct how a person refers to their own group of people?
Don’t get me wrong, I think that some there are certain words that are so offensive, that I think they shouldn’t be said. But who am I to correct a person who is talking about their own life? Since when do I have the right to tell people how to refer to themselves? to a person they love? Telling people what they can and can’t call themselves seems overbearingly paternalistic. It is as if we are saying they aren’t even competent to pick a name for themselves.
Law School Rants and Raves
Posted: September 2, 2009 Filed under: Law School, rants and raves 1 Comment »Now that I am a seasoned veteran of law school vet of two weeks, I have very strong opinions about the BYU law school. So here it goes.
Jarom
Mika
