While howling indignantly at unsolicited telemarketing calls and though e-mail has become fashionable, I recently received a refreshing reminder that traditional mail is not without its foibles.
While howling indignantly at unsolicited telemarketing calls and though e-mail has become fashionable, I recently received a refreshing reminder that traditional mail is not without its foibles.
Earlier this year, Richard N. Tooker, senior vice president for database and interactive marketing at direct marketing agency DMW, was sent an offering from TLC Remodeling Inc. The hand-stamped envelope contained a business card and a double-sided salmon-colored flier covered with testimonials.
It also held a letter that began, “Dear Mr. Tooker: We recently received your name and telephone number from the State of PA Telemarketers Do Not Call List.”
The note continued, “TLC Remodeling Inc. is a responsible, full-service home remodeling company and we respect the telephone privacy and rights of homeowners. Therefore, we have removed your name from our telemarketing directory and will not contact you by telephone unless you have requested us to do so in writing.”
It went on to request that Tooker keep the enclosed business card in his files.
Tooker was amused. The Direct Marketing Association, which was retained by the state of Pennsylvania to maintain the do-not-call list, was not.
“They're not responsible,” said an irked Louis Mastria, the DMA's director of public and international affairs, after being read the first few sentences of the letter.
Mastria continued, “There is no way that that list should be used for anything other than suppression. We don't even give out street addresses. This definitely violates our policy for the use of the list.”
It violates Pennsylvania state law, too. The bill establishing the Keystone State's do-not-call list states that the list's purpose is solely “to remove residential telephone subscribers from telephone sales call lists.”
Tooker, who says he was “a charter sign-up” to the Pennsylvania do-not-call list, is taking the mailing in stride.
“My first reaction was, well I'll be damned. Is this clever or what? My second reaction was, albeit either illegal or in bad taste,” he said, adding that as a 30-year direct mail industry veteran his reaction might be somewhat atypical.
“I always appreciate people who think on their feet and are clever, but I did think that this can't be what the law intended,” Tooker said.
What does TLC Remodeling Inc. have to say about all this? Not much: Executives at the Chester Springs, PA-based contracting firm were not available for comment.
While Tooker would not rule out using the contractor based on the letter, one can only hope that TLC Remodeling's construction abilities are better than its marketing skills. If nothing else, the company needs a crash course in timing.
“I am not in need of any home contracting services,” Tooker said. “I completely remodeled my house within the last two years.”
RICHARD H. LEVEY (rlevey@primediabusiness.com) is a senior writer for Direct. His Loose Cannon column appears every Monday on Direct Newsline (www.directmag.com).
