ON VONAGE'S ILL-ADVISED MARKETING TACTICS

VERY BAD FORM

To say I was surprised when I received an email yesterday from a close friend, about why he was receiving an email solicitation from Vonage on my recommendation, is an understatement (no link love to Vonage or it's programs). 

He had attached an email from Vonage that was soliciting him to subscribe to their service as part of their "Refer-a-friend" program.  It mentioned my given name "Mukesh Parekh", no less than three times in the email.

Although I've been a long-time subscriber to Vonage, I have NEVER, EVER consciously given them email addresses of my friends, or my permission to solicit them in my name.

Just to be sure, I spent an hour searching through all my electronic correspondence across all my email services on all my computers.  I've had almost no snail-mail contact with the company.

I found no record of my ever having signed up for Vonage's referral program, or given them permission to solicit my friends.

And yet there it was, a solicitation in my name, to a friend who is PARTICULARLY sensitive about spam and privacy issues, and very careful as to who he gives out his email address.

I obviously apologized profusely.

I then searched Google for the terms "Vonage, refer, friend", and found that I wasn't alone.

Vonage apparently is in litigation in some states for their aggressive harvesting of customer data for their spammy marketing campaigns.  And other folks found themselves in a similar boat.

I'm ticked off about this enough to spend however long it takes today, to cancel my Vonage service. 

I'll have to go through banks of "customer save" reps to do it.  But it's the one small thing I can do to show how much of a non-starter this is for an internet company with all the promise that Vonage once had.

Curious if anyone else out there have had this personalized spam experience.

Comments

[Andy Sernovitz]

It's happened to everyone. We're ANGRY!

More details: http://www.damniwish.com/2007/06/vonage-spams-cu.html