Plea to Citibank: Stop Emailing Me!

Since going in-house , I’ve learned about email marketing and the concept of permission marketing, as popularized by Seth Godin.  The one key concept is the idea of opting in for marketing promotions from a company. And according to the Can Spam Act, commercial emailers must provide a way for people to opt out of emails.

So here I am, sitting in front of my computer, sending my plea to Citibank – please, please stop emailing me! And if Citibank PR is actually monitoring the blogosphere, can you help me?

Here’s where the story began… earlier this year, I cancelled my account with Citibank but continued to get marketing emails for various offers. At first, I followed a link to change preferences on my profile to stop receiving emails. When I tried to follow the link, I couldn’t get in becuase – which is ironic, I no longer had an account with Citibank. Now what?

Every month for the past 5 months, I’ve called like clockwork to get my email address expunged from Citibank’s database. Every time, I’m told, “Sure, I’ll put in a request. Let me know what your email address is and you should stop getting emails next month.” I’ve even tried writing to get my contact info out with no success.

And today, what do I get. Another frigging marketing email with no way to unsubscribe from future marketing promotions (Check out the bottom of the email here – CitibankNoUnsubscribe)!!!!

Whether you’re in PR or Marketing, we all know this is a no brainer. Don’t send emails to people who don’t want it. So courtesy of the Consumerist , if you’ve had problems with Citibank, go past customer service and write to the top dog:

Citibank
William R Rhodes, CEO
399 Park Ave.
New York, NY 10022
NY Tel. 212-559-1000

And if you’re interested in calling, the Consumerist provides details to get through the executive customer service.

August 22, 2007 Update: I just found the letter that I wrote back in early July but obviously that was useless. Check out the Citibank Letter. Next step, letters to DMA and BBB =)

Ken Villano
Chairman and CEO
Citibank’s Service Center
100 Citibank Drive
Building 3, 1st Floor
San Antonio, TX 78245

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