If you'd like to stop those annoying credit card solicitations and thus reduce your junk mail AND eliminate one more identity theft opportunity, go to OptOut or call 888-567-8688 and tell TransUnion, Equifax and Experian NOT to give your credit info and address out to banks, mortgage brokers and other lenders. You can do a five-year ban on the web site, or you can choose a lifetime ban if you print a form and mail it in with your signature.
This reminds me of an experience we had with American Express years ago. When we lived in France, my wife scheduled a spa trip for herself and some colleagues through SpaFinder.com. She booked a weekend at a spa in southern France to the tune of $1,200 for herself and three friends. But the demands of the project forced them to cancel the trip. My wife called SpaFinder and was told that there would be no problem since she was canceling almost a week before the reservation.
When we got the next AmEx bill, however, SpaFinder had charged us the $1,200! We called SpaFinder again and were told that they had no record of us canceling, so they'd gone ahead and charged us for the whole weekend. When we got nowhere with SpaFinder, we appealed to American Express, thinking that as loyal customers who for FOURTEEN years had paid our bills on time and proven ourselves to be trustworthy, AmEx would get involved on our behalf. Wrong.
AmEx told us at the end of each round of appeals that it was simply our word against that of their merchant and that AmEx had no reason to believe us. We were stunned. When some mistake like this had happened with Visa from time to time, Visa had always been great about helping us. They seemed to realize that people who for many years have been good customers don’t suddenly start lying to avoid charges. But in this case, we ended up having to pay the $1,200, which was a VERY expensive lesson learned about where you stand as a loyal AmEx cardholder, and about how poor SpaFinder.com treats customers.
Every time I get another AmEx card solicitation, it’s very hard to resist writing GO TO HELL AMEX on the application and return it in the postage paid envelope. I am looking forward to getting no more salt in my AmEx wound now that I have opted out of these annoying credit solicitations. And if you’re thinking of using SpaFinder or getting an AmEx card, beware.
4 comments:
An idea I remember reading somewhere. might help you vent here. Credit card applications (as with a lot of other junk) usually come with prepaid return envelopes. And I'm sure you get a lot of other junk through your door. Pizza menus, window replacement etc.
Simply stuff the return envelopes of once company with the junk from any other companies and mail it. Gets rid of your junk mail and at their expense.
Next time do your booking at WaySpa.com. Customer service that does NOT let you down.
As tempting as it is to stick it to the junk mailers and soliciters like this, it's a big waste of resources. You're better off just recycling the junk mail and getting on one of these opt out lists. When you mail junk back, you're costing tax payers and the envirnoment the cost and pollution of the extra gas to carry heavy mail, and when the companies receive junk mail, they probably throw it in landfill rather than recycle it. All ths junk mail is a huge waste of fossil fuel and trees, people. Each time you get in a No Send list you are saving the planet at the same time you bring less clutter annd inconvenience into your life.
Good points, and I have to admit I have never tried the method above and try to recycle all the wasted paper forced upon me. It would just be nice if the junk mailers shared the environmental considerations above.
Not just the ones you can opt out of, but the companies who you already do business with and who bombard you with advertising.
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