to think this email was beyond cheeky and want to know what to do about it

[phantomnamechanger]

today we received an email from a one-person company from whom in the past, once and a long time ago, we bought something online. This is the only reason this person has our email address. they are not a friend or acquaintance.

the email was a big long one basically asking for people to sponsor a relative of the person, who was doing a sponsored event for a charity that was close to the hearts of their family who have a child with a disability. the relative, the child and the sponsored event are on the other side of the world! it had details of the family members name, their childs name and disability and the place they live!

is it not incredibly cheeky/rude to, I assume, spam ALL your past customers with a grabby request like this, not to mention just wrong to give out such personal details to random strangers! And WWYD, I have been cross about it all day, it felt like such an invasion of privacy for some reason.

Gah. I deleted it of course but I still feel CROSS!

I suppose it's spam but that's how every big/small internet company operates every day. They pass your e-mail address around and others try their luck in the hope that you'll buy something. My inbox is full of junk.
I'd much rather get a one off cheeky request like this than the junk other companies send. If one or two respond to this request they have raised more money.
I am suspicious though and would delete straight Could away. Could be a scam.

Maybe they clicked your email address by accident? My boss and my fil have the same name, I've sent each of them (harmless) stuff meant for the other when I've just typed the first few letters of the name and clicked the wrong one from the contact list that drops down.

Do you think they may have had their email set up to add all emails to contacts, and then emailed everyone in their address book? Or was it addressed to you specifically?

If it wasn't, I'd be tempted to think "oops, that obviously wasn't meant for me" and just delete it without a second thought.

It's hardly grabby if they're not getting the money themselves.

Just delete it. I delete 100 marketing or other unwanted emails from my account every day.

I've had emails like this from vaguely connected people like this - ones who've sold stuff on eBay for example - and it doesn't bother me in the slightest. Most appeals like this will be publicly available through a Just Giving page or something similar anyway, so it's unlikely that he'll be revealing information about the family/event that they haven't already made public. No harm in deleting it if you're not interested, but not worth getting wound up over either. Chances are, the cause was close to his heart and he was just doing his bit to help with their fundraising efforts.

Just think for a minute if it was your child who had a disability and needed funds raised - can you tell me there are any lengths you wouldn't go to, any contacts you wouldn't contact to try and raise the necessary funds?

if you aren't interested, don't reply but don't be so unreasonable when someone is trying to help their family and reaching the message out as far as they can.

Just think for a minute if it was your child who had a disability and needed funds raised - can you tell me there are any lengths you wouldn't go to, any contacts you wouldn't contact to try and raise the necessary funds?

er, no actually YOU just think before you start being all holier than thou -you have no idea what conditions my children or other close relatives might have or what conditions are close to my family's heart and we fundraise and/or give generously to. One of my children died - yet still I would NEVER think of sending out begging emails to people I do not even know to raise awareness/fund research etc! It is rude, there are other ways of getting publicity or fundraising, other than chancing your luck with your customers, just because you can. Imagine if someone who worked for Tesco started spamming with a personal agenda from the company database! The only difference is that this guy is his own boss. IMO he has abused the information we gave him, by using it for another purpose entirely. The money is not specifically to help one child with their needs, it is for a regional charity who may well be horrified that he has done this if they knew.

Anyway, believe it or not, this was supposed to be a lighthearted rant! But I still think the sender was just plain rude and cheeky. It will make us think twice about sourcing what he provides, it really will. It leaves a bad taste somehow. Its like being nagged by a chugger in the comfort of your own home.

Anyhow, its deleted and gone, so no harm done - and I do take the point that it might actually have been a mix up with email address/similar name.

either it's a bit cheeky or he clicked your address by mistake. Either way you click delete and get on with your life. It's not at all like having chuggers come to your home.

He was trying to raise money for a charity. If you don't want to give it is easy enough not to.

Well actually it's a spam so can see why you would find it annoying. It's also very bad practice as a company, charity or not.

On the other side I am sure you are receiving 100s of those emails that try to sell you stuff you don't need.

phantom

sorry, .. HEAR HEAR!
And possible infringement of Data Protection Act.

and I'm sorry for your loss.

My advice is get over it, its just an e-mail you don't need to get involved or even upset by it, just delete and ignore. Some people will be interested in said charity fundraising, some won't be, either way they tried and you weren't interested, why upset yourself and ruin your day over it?

Dont we all get dozens of email requests for our time/business/money every day? All from people who have our address because we had some dealings with them in the past. I don't really see how this is different

You should send a polite email back demanding asking that they remove your details from any databases that they have and confirming that you don't want spam unsolicited email.

YABU can't think of anyone I know in real life that would get upset over this!!

It's not a big deal OP. I agree with Kelsingra.

Although it's quite cheeky, I'm not sure why it has enraged you so much.

It might be that they've had their email account hacked and this is a scam email sent to all their contacts.

No one is forcing you to donate. You've read it, you've chosen not to donate, so delete it and move on. I get heaps of spam every day. If something catches my eye I might read it, otherwise they just get binned.

Small companies sending marketing emails annoy me a lot less than big companies. I guess I just have a bit of sympathy for small business owners who are just trying to make a living. I'm pretty sure that I've read that companies are required by law to provide an unsubscribe option on any email spam and I've certainly never got one without it. If I don't want to hear from that company I just unsubscribe and very rarely hear from them again.

you're right, I have no idea of your situation. just as you have no idea about mine. just as the person who sent the email has no idea either. [shrug].

I don't understand why you are so angry about it that's all. that email may have reached someone who can turn around and say 'actually I can help with that' - in which case it was worth doing IMO. (and if it matters, yes I have a family member who's life can very much be improved by the generosity of others). if that doesn't apply to you then delete and move on like all the other spam type mail you must receive.

I think perhaps they just unthinkingly sent it to all in their email address book, maybe even thinking anyone who didn't want to help would just delete and move on! My advice to you would be to do just that; delete and move on!

Being "cross about it all day" is an overreaction. Just reply asking to be unsubscribed from their list.