Strong words? Yes, indeed. Though I have the SMTP-headers to prove the fact that NS (Dutch Railways) actively hates their customers and wants to annoy them as much as possible. Case in point: e-mail newsletter.
When I registered with them (compulsary to receive a discount card. topic for another rant) I had to leave my e-mail address to “verify who I am”. Well, whatever. I registered and made sure to uncheck all the “sell my private information to advertisers” and “bother me with newsletters” boxes.
Yet what is happening? I keep receiving their stupid newsletters. What is worse, they have made it impossible to unsubscribe. Here is what I have tried:
click the unsubcribe link
Actually it’s not an unsubscribe link. The link leads to their general customer service page, after which I should login manually and navigate through their system to find the unsubscribe box. Bad! Give me a perishable token in the email for a one-click unsubscription.
uncheck the newsletter box
No shit Sherlock. I had this one unchecked of course. Un-checked it again just to make sure. Had no effect, I still keep getting email from them.
reply to the email
My opinion is: if you send out newsletters, make sure people can reply. Otherwise you are just shouting with your hands over your ears. In other words when you disallow responses through the very medium you are using, you are abusive and anti social. Yet this is what Nederlandse Spoorwegen is. A reply leads to an Undeliverable Message.
adhere to internet protocol
Even if you don’t care about your customer, when you are on the Internet you must follow the internet protocols. The bounce message from the last paragraph was sent from postmaster@ns.nl. But when I send mail to that address, the message bounces as well! This is a huge no-no and it makes them spammers by every definition out there. Having a valid postmaster address is specifically mandatory per RFC.
file a complaint
So I went to www.ns.nl and looked around to see where I could leave a complaint. Turns out I can’t!!! I can only call them, via a paid 0900 number which means I have to pay them to get my email address of their spam lists! Maybe it’s just me but I find this kind of behaviour absurd. Fucking idiots. I hate them.
result: spamklacht
Luckily the Dutch government has forbidden spamming and has opened www.spamklacht.nl. I am unsure if my little submission has any effect, but at least it’s something I can do.