I have finally had enough of LinkedIn and their email harrassment
of me so I am telling my followers all about it. It started last year
when I became friends with a lot of authors and one asked me to connect
with her on LinkedIn. I'm not a member of the site and really had no
interest in joining so I declined the invitation, told her this and
deleted the email. Over the next couple of months I received a pile of
reminders from LinkedIn that I hadn't accepted the invitation and that
it was waiting for my response. Grrr.
Under
this text was a box marked UNSUBSCRIBE next to a message which says
'You are receiving Reminder emails for pending invitations'. So I
clicked on unsubscribe and was told that I had been unsubscribed from
these messages-followed by being diverted onto their home page with a
big sign up message. Oh get lost LinkedIn!!! I should have known that this wasn't the end of it.
Over the coming months I received countless more invitations from
authors I knew and reminders about invites I had already unsubscibed
from. It is irritating and frustrating.
2014
has been a total nightmare. Some of you will know that in January my
mum was diagnosed with stomach cancer and started chemotherapy shortly
afterwards. As you can imagine, her health and looking after my father
have been my priorities and sometimes I barely have time to get online
because of countless hospital and doctor visits and sheer exhaustion. So
the last thing I needed was this crap from LinkedIn starting up again.
Now I'm going to show you what it has been like trying to get these junk
mails stopped. Since January I have tried to unsubscribe from this crap
16 times. I was irate and fuming and then the next invite came. Here is
the story.
APRIL 17th
Invitation received from someone who wants to connect on LinkedIn.
I was asked to confirm that I knew the person in question. I ignored
the request and pressed UNSUBSCIBE again. I decided to complain to the
LinkedIn customer services about the emails. Here is my email:
I am sick to death of continually unsubscribing from these junk emails
that you keep sending me, inviting me to join you. I AM NOT INTERESTED. I
keep receiving invites from the accounts of the same friends so
obviously you are not really unsubscribing me. If I receive one more
message from your company I will take legal advice for harrassment. Got
it?
APRIL 18th
LinkedIn replied with this message:
As you requested, I've added (my email) to our "do not contact" list. That means you'll no longer receive any
emails from LinkedIn or our members at that address. If you change your
mind, just let us know.
APRIL 20th
I read that email and felt happy that it was being sorted now. Today my mum was taken back into hospital so I didn't need any extra hassle.
APRIL 21st
Another invite arrived from LinkedIn. I could not believe it and I was furious. Here is my email to Customer Services.
Perhaps you could explain why I got another invite from your site today??? What part of NO are you people not getting? Obviously you have no
interest in respecting my wishes so I will now be taking this matter
further. This is harrassment and I WILL NOT stand for it.
APRIL 21st
Reply from LinkedIn Customer services. This was a beauty.
Thanks for your reply.
Have you received the email to (my email)
No. I received it by bloody smoke signals-What a stupid bloody question. That was the whole point of my complaint to them! Arriving home from a day at the hospital to be greeted with that set me off on one.
APRIL 22ND
My email to them
You already have my email address. You already told me that no further
messages would be sent to the named email address as it was on a do not
contact list. Obviously this was not true. I am now complaining(again
and again) of further emails sent to email address. My email is (my email) and I want your company to leave me alone. How hard can that be when I'm not even a member of your community???
APRIL 22ND
Their reply to me.
Lynn, once I get this information, I'll look at it right away!
APRIL 23RD
OMG. Can you believe that email??? How frigging hard is it to stop sending emails and invites to one poxy email address??? Why should I have to spend all day making up stupid documents to them so they can see an email that I shouldn't have received??? JUST STOP SENDING THE DAMN THINGS!!! My level of irate was through the roof when I fired off an email an hour ago.
My reply.
Look, I'm getting really tired of spending my time trying to stop these
junk emails. It's taking up my valuable time on a daily basis and I've
had enough. Now I'm being asked to spend more time making screenshots
and documents to show you the problem? Here is the problem. Your company
keep sending me invites. I don't want them EVER. The messages are
coming from you to my email. Just stop it happening!!! How difficult can
that be? My mum is seriously ill with cancer and after spending all day
or night attending to her needs, I don't have the time or energy for this rubbish.
The invitations are coming from invitations@linkedin.com
This was the last email header and message.
(author's name) invitation is awaiting your response
(author's name) would like to connect on LinkedIn. How would you like to respond?
I
am tired and stressed and frustrated and your company is making it
worse. This week I am going to speak to my MP to get action taken
against your company.
APRIL 23RD, one minute later a reply was sent.
I truly apologize for this inconvenience. I have cross checked the email address and I have added it to the list.
Please let me know if you receive any more invitations.
Your Mom will get well soon, please do not worry.
Lynn, I look forward to hearing your response in order to further assist you
CURRENT STATUS:
Do I believe that this is sorted now? No of course I don't. The fact that I am to contact her if I receive any more invites does not fill me with confidence. I have spent the last two hours dealing with this and getting my blog post ready. I have the headache from hell. My grumpy levels are sky high. We have been dealing with sales and marketing phone calls on a daily basis as well(despite being on a phone preference list) so my temper is at an all time sizzling level.
So to all the authors out there who know me. DON'T send me an invite to LinkedIn or I may have to rip your throats out...
No doubt the story will continue.
