Yes, I know I am very very old but since when was it considered acceptable to write business letters like this?

[bibbitybobbityhat]

"Dear Mr xx,

Lucky you! You've just started a Pay Monthly contract with Virgin Mobile. Now here's our Pay Monthly joining pack to help you make the most of it.

It containes all the essentials for setting up your phone or Mobile Broadband, a few ways to have some fun, and some info (sic) on where to get help if you need it."

I mean, REALLY.

I feel your pain!

Barclays Bank marketing makes me grind my teeth

ie on the cash machine "I love it when you press my buttons"

Completely inappropriate language for a business.

Virgin Mobile/Virgin Money etc seem to have marketing geared at a market that I'm not actually sure exists...

Similarly, HBOS/Barclays/etc IMO!

I get wound up by that.

Virgin write to me and don't even call me Mrs XXX they call me by my (misspelt) first name.

I had a sales call recently where they conversation went like this:

Me: Hello

Bloke: Heyyyyyy!! You must be XXXXX. How you doing?

Me: Sorry, who is this?

Bloke: Heyyy, it's Steve at Tryingtosellyouanewkitchenyoudon'twantand can'tafford Direct.

Me: No thanks, bye

I mean, when did that become the norm for telephone sales?

At least they called you by your surname. I have had business letters addressing me by my first name.

PMSL at "I love it when you press my buttons"

I think it is very rude to use your first name!

My mum used to be a primary school teacher and she marks up poorly written business letters with her corrections and sends them back.

I reckon it's only a matter of time before I start doing the same thing. I had to sit on my hands at my ante-natal breastfeeding class last week when the health visitor asked for help spelling 'dummies' and was told by one of the other attendees (very confidently) that it was 'd-u-m-m-y-'-s'. I couldn't look at the board for the rest of the session.
YANBU

It happens becuse it is aimed at the ignorant masses, and it's not a real business letter, just standard commercialised auto-message.

And the people who write those messages probably never even finished school.

I hate it when they use my first name too. Bloody cheek - I don't know them.

It's nice to know that there are other
old people like-minded individuals - I thought it was just me who hated unprofessional business relationships

I hate it when they call you by your first name too, especially on the phone, and they are really chatty like they are your best friend. You can be friendly and professional without sounding like best mates!

Oh thank the Lord! I really thought i was the only one who hates to be called by my first name by companies and strangers. I was on the telephone to BT once and he called me by my first name and I asked him how he knew me personally?! He admitted he didn't so i asked him to call me Mrs xxxx .... and i am not even 30

Ohhhh Virgin are so matey aren't they? It used to make me laugh after a while. Tossers! It's quite possible to be friendly and polite without sounding like my best friend or a nursery care worker.

I hate this - how dare they be so over-friendly?

And don't get me started on the ones who call up and say 'Can I talk to Dr. Surname?' and are positively astounded when I say 'This is she.'

I hate chummy business letters, salesmen, political canvassers, it isn't chummy it's rude. I also dislike the fact that when Firefox can't find your opened tabs it now says something like 'Oooh this is really embarrassing ....' WTF is that all about?

(I am old and grumpy and don't care)

I once worked at an insurance company and did outbound calling ( i know shoot me! ) and it was policy to ask for the exact name given on the pop up listed before the call, and i once had to embarrisingly ask for a MISS DICK, a male had answered the phone and when i asked for MISS DICK he cleared his throat and said, oh that will be Annie you want, and after that i actually called her Annie throughout the phone call as my work collegues were in histerics and i couldn't keep a straight face saying it all through the conversation.
it was mortifying.

I compained to Halifax Online recently about a message that appears on their log-in screen.

"your password is case sensitive and maybe made up of both letters and numbers".

They replied quickly thanking me for pointing out the error and said they would look into it.

The log-in screen has since been updated and the mistake still hasn't been corrected.

FFS.

At least you didn't have to write them. At the place i used to work (not mentioning names) we were told we had to stop using professional business language as our customers were all sun readers and wouldn't understand

It pained me, it really did.

I too take out my teacher's red pen and correct grammatical errors. (usually after a glass of wine or two). I thought that was what all those prepaid envelopes were for.

Ooooh YANBU at all.

I hate it. Hate hate hate hate hate it.

In fact I now teach EFL and I make very clear to my business students the proper forms of address, sample sentences, the importance of good spelling and grammar...

Most of them are horrified that letter writing conventions are even flouted in the first place, bless them.

I laughed aloud at the "dummys", and at MadamDeathstare's "Daisy Duke on helium"!

Since getting married, I have a Johnny Foreigner surname (DH's fault), and take rather a lot of pleasure in waiting for the end of the attempts to say it when the person is introducing the call. I don't tend to spell out my first name in forms, so they have to call me "Mrs Y" rather than "X".

I don't use the JF name for work, mind, as I need to be understood when making a phone call!

YANBU

So many "business" letter contain inappropriate language, are too familiar & don't get me started on grammar and spelling errors...

young "old fogey" here too!

YANBU,and I don't think age has anything to do with it. I'm 26 and detest badly written company literature of any sort. Telesales people pretending to be my best friend and calling me by my first name drives me nuts too.