Apology accepted and they’ve made an overture to make up for the trouble this has caused.
So if you keep reading, please keep in mind, that while it took them 26 hours to get back to us, they did reply and have tried to make things right. Hopefully in 3-4 months we’ll be able to report back here that we’ve been using their product and that it’s been an effective tool in growing our business. While she was selling InfoUSA.com, we also were reminding her that ClaxtonCreative.com is in the crisis management business and there are somethings they need to be working on as well in case this ever happens again. Maybe, just maybe, they’d consider working with us, too.
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On Saturday, trying to develop a way to create new business leads, we registered with InfoUSA.com and narrowed down a selection of options we’d consider in a direct mailing campaign. We are a Dallas public relations firm and trying to grow our business by helping clients with PR, book publicity, social media strategies, and school district public relations.
Within two minutes of hitting submit on the InfoUSA.com Website, our office phones were ringing. If we had wanted to talk to them, we would have called them in the first place. We didn’t answer.
Then yesterday, we received another call. Within two minutes of that call, we also received an email from Account Manager Jeff Gunther. We let him know that when/if we need them, we’ll let them know.
This morning at 8:22 a.m. CST, we received an email from Orlando Vera. His email was sent to us and 736 other recent businesses or people who have apparently registered in the InfoUSA.com system. How do we know it went to 737 people? Simple. Orlando Vera sent it out CC instead of BCC to all of us.
Our Initial Response
First we sent Mr. Gunther a nastygram. Then we sent one to Orlando Vera and copied the other 736 people on the list and said:
Orlando Vera,
I do not at all appreciate your compromising my business strategies by sending out my email address with all these other contacts. I doubt they do either. Personally, I think we now all should be entitled to at least two month’s worth of free services from your company because of this compromise. Not to mention a letter of apology.
I’m trying to run a PR and social media company in Dallas. Like my counterparts on this list, we all now have to wonder if any of our competitors also are on this list. And since there are more than 700 people, that’s going to take a little bit of time to figure out. Please enact stricter policies about how you send out emails. If you need some help with setting that up, fixing your public relations mess you just created, or doing some social media damage control, please feel free to contact my company.
DC
That email went out at 8:57 a.m. CST. As of time of publishing, 10:24 a.m., we’ve not received any response or phone calls within two minutes from InfoUSA.com.
But we are getting other messages from some of the other recipients:
I am a consumer who registered with InfoUSA because I couldn’t find any other way to contact them to be removed from their mailing list.
InfoUSA ignored the fact that I registered on the National Do Not Mail list at DMAchoice.org more than 5 months ago. They continued to sell my information and I finally found out it was InfoUSA because one of the companies that sent me mail told me where they bought my information.
I am trying very hard to reduce my impact on the environment and it is extremely frustrating to get paper mail from companies I’ve never heard of in spite of all the steps I take to prevent it.
I recommend that all of you use a different marketing company that is more respectful of your consumers’ mailing preferences – you will end up annoying less of your potential customer base.
Orlando – thanks for including everyone’s email address in the “To” field so I can get the message out. Next time maybe you’ll use the BCC field. 😉
Sincerely,
-Janie Pumphrey
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Hi Donald,
If Orlando can actually manage over 700 new client accounts, maybe one of us should hire Orlando. Amazing.
This is exactly why I use a dummy email account when I’m reviewing new marketing options.
Regards,
Owner Collaborative Quality Systems
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Mr. Vera,
I completely agree with Mr. Claxton. And wish to thank Mr. Claxton for pointing this out to you.
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Those are just the beginning. We’re going to publish this piece now and update it throughout the day. Please feel free to forward this link to as many other business friends as you like. You might also offer the InfoUSA.com listing to your competitors. Or maybe not. Karma, don’t you know.
We’ve offered InfoUSA.com a chance to respond, yet they’ve been silent. We still think several months of their services for free would be nice, but from the way Janie Pumphrey’s email reads, that’s the last thing we’d want to do.
Part of the extra fun of watching Two And A Half Men for me for years was being ready to stop and read Chuck Lorre‘s ending note placards. They’re usually laced with information about how the CBS censors wouldn’t let there be jokes about one thing, but allowed something even more outlandish into an episode and how they can suck it.
Well, tonight was a little different.
Here’s the message:
I exercise regularly. I eat moderate amounts of healthy food. I make sure to get plenty of rest. I see my doctor once a year and my dentist twice a year. I floss every night. I’ve had chest x-rays, cardio stress tests EKGs and colonoscopies. I see a psychologist and have a variety of hobbies to reduce stress. I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I don’t do drugs. I don’t have crazy, reckless sex with strangers.
If Charlie Sheen outlives me, I’m gonna be really pissed.
The last news I heard was that tonight’s show was the last one they had in the can. You’ve already seen CBS doing screwy things with the line up. Let’s face it. Monday night is the funniest one on TV.
But I think, even though Lorre may be trying to be funny here, that his lining has worn a little thin. Some don’t realize how their life effects another, but this latest deal with Charlie is costing a lot of people a lot.
Charlie Sheen clearly has spiraled out of control. He’s the current male version of Lindsay Lohan.
Let’s hope it all works out.
And Chuck, for now, unless Charlie is somehow related to Keith Richards or cockroaches, I think the odds are in your favor.
HOUSTON AUTHOR REVEALS THE SECRET ABUSES OF ‘THE PROSPERITY MESSAGE’ TO PAD THE POCKETS OF CLERGY AT PARISIONORS’ EXPENSE
Leah Davis’ New Book Exposes How Fear, Guilt & Intimidation Are Ruining People’s Lives While Mega Church Pastors Are Making Fortunes
HOUSTON: Humble, Tex. Author Leah Davis has new in-depth information about “The Prosperity Message:” It’s ruining the lives of many faithful Christians while some mega church pastors throughout America are leading rags to riches lives at the expense of their parishioners who are guilted with fear and intimidation to give in abundance to the church even before paying their mortgage, car payments and even utilities.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cQWj_qxxbM
In her book, What Your Pastor Didn’t Tell You About The Prosperity Message, Davis seeks to alert consumers of the intimidation tactics some preachers use to increase church giving and to also provide insightful wealth building tips that are critical for surviving tough economic times.
“Having been a member of a mega church, employed by the ministry and being a tither for more than a decade, I experienced firsthand the skillful ways that pastors manipulate the scriptures and gently pressure their members to give,” Davis said. “I know the struggles, pressures and emotional vulnerabilities congregants are facing, having to decide whether to please God and pay their tithes or deal with the human-imposed guilt and pay their bills.”
Davis quotes a research report by Christianity Today International that cites 38 percent of churches surveyed reported a decline in church giving in 2010 and, equally alarming, 77 percent of Christian household incomes have stagnated or decreased in the past 12 months.
“This causes pastors to contrive ways to keep their ministries afloat, and some are doing so by very questionable means,” Davis said. “Though giving and generosity are principles taught in the Bible, they should not be used in accordance with fear, guilt and intimidation tactics that cause people to feel they are committing a sin by not supporting their ministry financially. We have seen prosperity in the pulpit. Some have seen pastors go from rags to riches right before their eyes.”
The author says those who chose not to contribute at the levels prescribed from the pulpit are called “God robbers” and sent on a guilt trip, while those who contribute beyond their means have false expectations of financial increase based on half-truths that carelessly omit the basic fundamentals of building and attracting wealth.
“Many have failed to receive prosperity because they haven’t fully examined the message, the messengers, the motives and the methods that bring money into our hands,” Davis said.
But she doesn’t blanket all prosperity-preaching ministers as abusers of the system.
“Though many anti-prosperity preachers have expressed their distaste for the message and the messengers of prosperity, many have failed to explain what money is, how it is acquired and God’s true purpose for prosperity,” Davis said. “This is what is getting so many into financial trouble from which they cannot recover, compounded by the state of the national economy.”
A Victim Of The Prosperity Message
Herself a victim of half-truths from the pulpit, Davis simply says, “I don’t want others to make the same mistakes I did. Christians are often taught that being righteous, holy and faithful means automatic entitlement to wealth and blessings. We can see from some of our own lives, this is not true.”
Davis’ style is direct, controversial and straightforward. “My readers are given the missing components to the prosperity message, so they can make the proper adjustments in their hearts, minds and actions,” she says. “In the book I attempt to present a clear understanding of what God promises. The book cuts through the junk and tells my readers what they need to know but aren’t hearing out of the pulpit.”
What Your Pastor Didn’t Tell You About The Prosperity Message is available for sale at www.leahldavis.com.
“Please know that I am not talking about all pastors,” Davis says. “I mean no disrespect to the preachers and teachers of prosperity. What I write in this book does not change the wealth they have acquired or the things they may have done to get it. I am not trying to diminish or defame pastors in any way. The perspective of pastors may be different because of their position and all the things that must be managed as a pastor and business owner. I wish all ministers well in all their endeavors and continued success in ministry. My heart’s desire is to teach God’s people the whole truth about the prosperity message so that we can walk in victory in this area of their lives.
About the Author
Leah Davis is a recognized screenwriter, song writer and director in the entertainment industry. Known for tackling very controversial topics in Christianity, Leah has been called a jewel to the body of Christ because her writings, often coupled with humor and drama always bring a clear understanding of God’s word. In her latest book, “What Your Pastor Didn’t Teach You about the Prosperity Message” Leah tackles undoubtedly the most controversial topic in the body of Christ, in an effort to help Christians rediscover God’s true purpose for financial prosperity.
Claxton Creative, LLC
Claxton Creative is a DFW-area based public relations firm focused on Social impact, innovation and invention. Owned by former political advisor and Dallas ISD spokesman Donald Claxton, the company specializes in social media and traditional mediums to market and brand products domestically and internationally. The company provides PR services for brands, bloggers, businesses and school districts.
This morning at 5:58 a.m. I awoke abruptly to the fact that my power was out. It came back on for a few minutes and I rested again. But then it went off. And at 3:40 p.m. it’s still off.
I patiently awaited it to come back on throughout the morning. I heard of Chase banks here in the area having issues, but their power had just come back on and they were booting their computers. Not so here.
So I started venting a little bit via Twitter. I included #Oncor and #TXU hastags in my tweets and shortly, I got Tweets back from Oncor, then Catherine Cueller, whom I know of by communications circles I’m in but have never met, and then from @TXUEnergyNews.
I’ve told them I was going to write something positive about them being so responsive via Twitter. This is something I emphasize to my clients. It’s great to see others doing it, too.
I was asked by Catherine and @Oncor to call 1-888-313-4747 to report my outage. I’d already done that, but at least I knew I was on the right track.
Then came the Tweets from @TXUEnergyNews asking me first to friend them, then to DM them with information. Shortly there after, I got a DM back saying to Email a contact at TXU. I provided him the information from my account.
I received the DM 23 minutes ago. I sent an email back about three minutes later. I received a call back from TXU 16 minutes ago. They’re checking with Oncor again on my behalf, and the several hundred others here in the complex who have been without power as long as I have.
We’re coming up on the nine-hour-mark, but I do in one way have a warm feeling inside. I know that what I’ve been emphasizing to my clients, the need to actively monitor Twitter is essential in today’s marketplace, and second of all, I know that at least two people inside these two power companies in Texas are working on my behalf, just because of a Tweet.
BTW: The TXU guy who called, Greg, says the rolling blackouts in Texas have been stopped. So, my power outage is something worse than them trying to keep the grid from overloading. The third good thing I’ve now seen from this interaction via Twitter.
Thanks Catherine and thank you, Greg.
I’m glad I had a Long John’s moment a while ago. And I don’t mean the restaurant kind. I’m warmer now, but it’s getting really cold.
I’d go back up and do links, but iPad Safari doesn’t let me do that in WordPress–Something that seriously needs to be taken up with Apple. .
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