In the past year, I have received seven cold emails from Idera account managers Marc Colvin and Atif Siddiqui. For each, I replied something along the lines of “Please unsubscribe, please do not solicit, please opt-out” in both the subject and body. I often also cc:ed the following email addresses:
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
Despite my efforts to request privacy, I continue to receive unsolicited emails from Idera via Marc Colvin and Atif Siddiqui.
To make matters worse, not only do Marc Colvin and Atif Siddiqui ignore my emails, text messages, and tweets; the [email protected] email account isn’t even a valid email account.
The publicly-posted Idera Privacy Statement says:
Idera, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates (“Idera” or “we”) is committed to respecting and protecting the privacy of our customers, partners and web site visitors. This policy will let you know how we collect and use your personal information, how you can control its use, the limited conditions under which we may disclose it to others and how you can correct any inaccuracies in the information. You are entitled to access the personal information that we hold. Email your request to our Data Privacy Officer at [email protected]. You may unsubscribe or opt-out at any time, by emailing [email protected] with your email address in the subject line. If you have any problems using this opt-out mechanism, please email [email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns about our collection, use or disclosure of your personal information, please email our Data Privacy Officer at [email protected]. For more information about this site or your visit, please email us at [email protected].
However, emails sent to [email protected] receive the following rejection:
Delivery has failed to these recipients or groups: [email protected] A problem occurred during the delivery of this message to this e-mail address. Try sending this message again. If the problem continues, please contact your helpdesk. The following organization rejected your message: [209.85.147.26].
While it is frustrating to have a company’s sales force (Marc Colvin and Atif Siddiqui) ignore a basic request for privacy, it’s even more irritating that the officially posted procedure for how to submit a complaint to Idera’s Data Privacy Officer is invalid.
If anyone from Idera is listening, please respect my request for privacy by removing me from your marketing and sales campaigns.
Later this afternoon (a few hours after this post), Idera’s COO Chris Smith emailed me stating that he is their Data Privacy Officer. After a year of emails, voice mails, text messages, and even Tweets to various Idera employees; Chris was the first and only person to respond. I thanked him and resubmitted my request for Idera to honor is Privacy Statement by respecting my desire to no longer be solicited. I hope Chris will be able to convince Marc and Atif to respect my request for privacy and prevent further frustration.