Overture harassing former customers

greedy spam message

[bird]

Almost two years ago, I closed my Overture account. I did so explicitly, even gave them the reasons, and they acknowledged and confirmed the closure. So far so clear. For all intents and purposes, there is no business relation in existence anymore between me and Overture.

Now I just fished a message from them out of my spam folder. They claim that my account has been "inactive for 20 months". Then they go on to tell me that they require a 20$ minimum monthly spend, which I "have not met for an extended period of time". And finally they warn me that my account, which I told them to delete two years ago, and which they have confirmed to be deleted, will now be deleted (again?) if I don't hurry to reactivate it.

The reasons why I cancelled my account back then were their substandard business practises, some of which became apparent in the shady distribution partners they chose. Receiving such spam now confirmed once again, that my decision was right. This is not the type of company I want to do business with.

[jimbeetle]

I chuckled when I received that same e-mail the other day. I haven't used Overture for about five years, back when it was Goto and I was able to get some great traffic at a penny per.

I don't really consider the e-mail spam or harrassment -- but talk about dumb marketing! Overture should have taken the opportunity to lure a lost customer back instead of making me hit "Delete" as quickly as possible.

[smayler]

It looks like they turned on their taximeter by adding some automatic option to match keywords on inactive accounts. That move is a hit bellow the belt and very unprofessional.

Our account was inactive for 8 months and now I have to find out the way to delete that account completely.

[lgn1]

When will Overture figure out that you collect more clients with honey than with vinegar.

Maybe if they offered my a $100 PPC credit to try them again, I may have bite, instead of the extortion
letter.

[hurlimann]

We got this email as well.

We also got an email offering a $50 Credit to restart.

Must have spent too much!

[Zamboni]

I got the $50 credit email to restart the account and then the slightly menacing one the next day. I think this ties into the recent TOS changes where you appear to be responsible to paying Overture no matter where they show your search listings or the budget you've tied to your account and you'll enjoy paying them as well.

They could be cleaning out old accounts so any accounts from this point forward will be subjected to the TOS changes. Or they could be trying a good old cash grab like an ISP I once used tried 2 years after we parted company. It must be awful expensive to keep your name on a computer.

[skibum]

Got 3 or 4 of for old client accounts. The communication could have been better but overall OV has been great to deal wtih lately so no complaints.

[bigjohnt]

got a bunch of those. Some offering $50 and the other one. Most likely based on profitability (theirs) of the account.
They've been good to me on the phone - when calling for high volume advertisers.
Otherwise.... well you know.
IT$ all about the Benjamin$.

[seth_wilde]

hehe... I'm suprised folks would get so upset about an email notification that your records will be deleted if you don't reactivate your account...

Although I didn't act on the notices, they certainly didn't anger me.. I'd probably do the same thing If I was in there shoes..