Is there anything more annoying, in this day and age, than trying and failing to get off of a mailing list.

We’re talking email now, and sometimes text, and the information just never stops.

OP signed up for an account on a site in order to get a sales quote.

I was looking for a digital signage company for work and with one of the companies, the only way to get information was to create an account, which I did.

I played with their demo and talked to the sales department and came to the conclusion they weren’t a good fit based on their offering, and the fact the marked up their media playing device 2x while telling me there wasn’t any discount for 20 because they sell them at cost.

(When you can look up the retail cost of a streaming device online, you really shouldn’t lie).

In any case, I went with a different company (very happy with by the way).

When he decided not to go with that company, he unsubscribed.

I closed my account, unsubscribed and told them I’m not interested.

Except, they kept sending him information.

But every 2 or 3 weeks, I’d get an email from sales telling me about the product and wanting to setup a zoom call to discuss my project. I’d reply stop and click on the unsubscribe button at the bottom of their emails.

But they still kept coming.

I composed a separate email directly to the sender telling them I’m no longer interested and to remove me from the list, which went unanswered.

Calling their very hard to find main number would only bring me to an answering service which promised to pass along my complaint. A couple times I even got a response promising me they’d take care of it… and yet….

He went to great lengths with no results.

Filing a complaint with whatever government agency is supposed to help with this kind of spamming doesn’t do anything.

After spending 20 minutes filling out their forms, it basically reads “no direct action will happen because of this complaint, but if we receive a substantial amount, we MIGHT look into it”.

But on the rare occasions I did speak to a live person for the company, I’d give them the filing number and told them I’ve asked multiple times to be removed.

So, he feigned interest.

So after all that I resorted to my basic strategy, which if you’ve read my other posts you already know whats coming. I received another email from sales with the usual link to request more information. So I clicked it. I filled out the form with the exact same information they already had. I answered their questions about how many displays, 100+ was the maximum so I chose that. Project timeline: immediate. Decision maker: ME!, etc…

I received a response within minutes wanting to setup a zoom meeting with their sales team to discuss my project and what they could do to help and answer any questions I had.

I accepted their offer and setup the meeting. Mind you this is the same exact email I was sending my unsubscribe requests to.

On the Zoom call, he got the reactions he was looking for.

So the meeting finally came and it since it was a zoom meeting I got to see their faces. I let them introduce themselves, ask my role in the company (IT Dir), go through their sales pitches, company history, etc…

When they finally got around to asking me what questions I had I said “how do I get you to stop sending me emails?”

The look of confusion on their face was priceless, along with the stuttering and squirming as I explained my history of trying to get them to stop sending me sales emails. After which they promised to get me removed, which I’d heard before.

So I warned them that I would do this same thing to every single email I receive… and if you stop falling for it with my current email, I will use different emails just to cause you more pain.

Amazingly, I haven’t received one email since that day. I’m batting 1000 with this technique.

And then it was quiet.

I bet some people on Reddit are going to steal this trick!

Some people just need a little extra kick.

We have a complicated relationship with salespeople.

But maybe we’re blaming the wrong people.

I mean, make it make sense.

It’s pretty gross most of the time.

I mean, there’s a reason no one likes salespeople.

They should really work on that.

Want to read another story where somebody got satisfying revenge? Check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.