Damart and a Frightening Letter

trisontana

A few months ago my wife bought a fleece jacket from Damart and paid straight away. Since then we have received catalogues and other literature from than which is all OK by us . This morning though we received a much more worrying letter. On the top left-hand corner of the envelope were the words "Finance Director" in large letters with "Damart" in smaller letters below. Underneath the address window were the words "FINAL REMINDER" in half-inch red letters. In the bottom left-hand corner was a box with

"ATTENTION
Concerning your customer file:

SETTLEMENT OF OUTSTANDING ITEMS "

The last line highlighted in yellow.

On opening the letter it was headed " Damart Finance Director" and with the words " FINAL REMINDER" in red again.

It was only after reading the letter that things became clear .It said:-
"Dear Mrs.xxxxx
Having studied your account file it seems that you still have available to you a number of offers that you have not taken up"

So all they were trying to do was sell here some more items, and there was no demand for money , even though the tone of the letter gave this first impression.

I think these tactics are deplorable. Other people might think , after seeing the envelope and letter , that Damart are demanding money from them. I have written a letter of complaint to them and asking them not to send any more letters and also we will not be buying any other items from a company that uses this type of marketing.

robnye

send them a polite ...... go forth and multiply letter in their own pre stamped envelope

shrek101

I would have also wrote to them and tell me to stick the letters where the sun dont shine, and that any further commications will be deemed as harrasemnt and the appropiate action will be taken. I would go on and say in the letter that items you have had (refer to order no) is paid in Full and that at no time have you owned them any outstadning balance. This is just to cover yourself in case they state anymoney is owed.

Bogof_Babe

This was featured on Working Lunch yesterday, and apparently Damart's MD has profusely apologies for an error of judgement in letting this mailshot happen.


Makes you wonder how some people manage to become MDs, doesn't it - although I expect he was just protecting his marketing people.

trisontana

shrek101 wrote:

I would have also wrote to them and tell me to stick the letters where the sun dont shine, and that any further commications will be deemed as harrasemnt and the appropiate action will be taken. I would go on and say in the letter that items you have had (refer to order no) is paid in Full and that at no time have you owned them any outstadning balance. This is just to cover yourself in case they state anymoney is owed.

To be fair to Damart , they never said any money was owed . But you do not realize this until you open the envelope and read half-way down the letter. As I said above, I have phoned and e-mailed them saying we do not want anything more to do with their company and products.

shrek101

I know they never said that you owed money. Its initial it may give that impression. I was mealy just making the point to Damart that if I was you, I would cover yourself in case you get a nasty invite from a baliffe etc. Most likely this would never happen but I have heard of stories where people haven't owed money but a nasty knock on the door and had to argue with the company once money is paid to the scum bag baliffes, because many of them operate above the law.

robnye

Bogof_Babe wrote:

This was featured on Working Lunch yesterday, and apparently Damart's MD has profusely apologies for an error of judgement in letting this mailshot happen.


Makes you wonder how some people manage to become MDs, doesn't it - although I expect he was just protecting his marketing people.

to be fare to the MD, tis always the mockeys below that cause the problems...... them that do do, them that dont, get someone else too...

methinks the unemployment queue maybe slightly higher near the realms of the Damart HQ today......!

trisontana

I can just image the scene : After a long liquid lunch the members of the marketing department stagger back from the pub and sit down to decide on the next mail-shot. Someone pipes up with " I've got a good idea , why don't we send out spoof final demand letters. That should grab people's attention."

It probably did seem a good idea at the time but we can all see the ghastly result of something that wasn't thought through properly.

trisontana

My wife received a rather grovelling letter from the MD of Damart today apologising for "any distress or misunderstanding" the letter caused. It goes on "it never was Damart's intention to imply that any customers were being reminded of a (late) payment" and "The wording and presentation were unfortunate". This is not a personally signed letter , but photocopied . So I imagine that this letter has been sent to many more Damart customers.

As I said on the other thread that was started on the subject , the ASA are now investigating the whole matter.