Stalkers

I'm in France right now. I am checking my voicemail but I am not calling anyone back unless it's important because, well, the trip is part vacation (as much as I can make it), the time difference is inconvenient, and it's expensive unless I happen to be at my PC and able to use Skype - and my connectivity is so-so, so Skype is so-so.

A while back I was on a printer's web site, and I filled out a form to receive a packet of samples of their work. That arrived just before I left the U.S. They called me a week ago - your basic follow-up call, did I receive the samples, did I have questions, and so on. I listened to voicemail. Obviously not a call I was going to return from France.

Of course, over the last week, I've gotten four more messages from them. Two were just silence because in a three-minute period they called me twice and hung up, and then finally called again and left a message. Still, that comes out to one call per business day. To follow up on a packet of printing samples for someone who did not indicate any immediate need for their services.

(I can see a log of all my incoming calls from the web site of my VoIP provider, which is how I know it was them.)

After the fifth call they send me an email. I replied to that; I told them that I'd gotten the package, thank you so much, and that five calls in a week was way too many, especially when you'd have to return the calls (or just listen to the voicemails) by dialing from Europe. Maybe I'm just in a mood today, but I added that I felt like I had a new stalker.

No reply yet (that was just a few minutes ago) but perhaps they'll learn a lesson: follow up is just fine, but calling someone over and over and over again for no obvious reason is not likely to earn customers. Frankly, I'm afraid to use them now; I half expect my account rep would show up in my yard throwing pebbles at my bedroom window.