Several months ago (probably more like a year ago), I signed up with DialPad. At the time I didn't have anything in particular in mind, I just thought it would be nice to be established with them if I ever needed to use it.

When I signed up, I clearly indicated via every checkbox I could find that I did NOT want to receive any "offers" or "special promotions" from them. I always do this. I get enough email every day without every company I've ever given my email address to sending me drek. If I allowed that, my inbox would be reduced to a pile of junk that would probably take me an hour or more to wade through.

Anyway, my account remained idle for a while, and I didn't hear from them either. Good. Then, on October 26, I received a newsletter from them. On October 29, I sent a "remove" request as instructed. I never heard back from them, so I stupidly decided that this meant I was removed.

I was wrong. Between November and mid-January, I received three more mailings from them. On January 12, I finally got sick of it. I dug around on their "privacy" policy and found an address - delist@dialpad.com - and was told that if I emailed this address I would be completely removed from their database.

Again, boy, was I naive. Between January 12 and this month, I have received three MORE mailings from them, bringing the total to six. You'd think that after I complained about each and every mailing (via SpamCop) they'd get a flippin' clue and not send me anything. Apparently, they're not that intelligent.

Last night, I snapped. I follow the suespammers.org mailing list, and there was a guy who said he'd had some luck with billing companies like this who defied his numerous requests. I searched through my email folders and found all six messages. Then I went to PayPal.

I sent them a bill for $300 - $50 per message. Will they pay it? Who knows. It would certainly be nice...and I wouldn't even mind settling for a portion of that if it would make them stop emailing me.

Bottom line, if you value the quality of the mail that reaches your inbox, don't sign up with DialPad. Or at least, set up a freebie account and use it just for them, so you can easily drop it if they get out of hand. To me, this service has just been a waste of my time.

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