Is This Email Requester Really a Consultant?

[PampChefJoy]

Every season during the changeover, I get an email from this person who asks for the link to the online catalog... I have asked for her address to snail mail one to her, but she never answers that question directly... only insists on the online link.

Now, awhile back before I started the subscription newsletters, I did have many consultants on my distribution list. Since I started charging, I weeded out consultants as I thought it wasn't fair to those who were paying. However, I didn't recognize this email address so I left it on the list. I have searched through all my old show receipts and drawing slips and cannot find this person's email address on anything. I am inclined to think it's another consultant.

Here are all the emails I've received from her:

10/2/06: Joy - Are you sending out any more newsletters...I miss receiving them. Forward if you are still sending out your monthly letters.

4/22/07: Can you e-mail the link where I can view a full page online catalog. The link below that you sent out in March used to work but as of today I noticed it no longer does.

and 4/23/07: Thanks, Joy. Let me ask you a quick question about the on-line catalog, would I be able to fine it just by going to the PC home page (not a personal webpage)? So for the new catalog in fall, how would I be able to find it?

8/5/07: Joy - Can you e-mail the on-line Fall/Winter Catalog link.

and today 2/28/07: Joy - Can you forward to me the new Spring on-line Catalog.


So, what is up? I admittedly have not been good at following up with her to see if she'd like to place an order... I cannot understand why someone would diligently contact me at the beginning of each season and only want the LINK to the catalog, except that it must be a consultant who cannot figure out how to get the link to the catalog on her own (for her own customers) and the reason I think this is because of the one email she sent asking if it was affiliated with my personal website.

Am I worrying too much about this? I think what bothers me the most is that if it is a consultant, I'd be MORE than happy to share the link if she'd just come out and ask legitimately as a fellow consultant. If she masquerades as a customer, I just don't feel it's honest and I don't appreciate that she avoids MY questions back to her...

Of course she could just be a PC fan who wants the catalogs, but I don't understand why most people wouldn't take me up on my offer to send them a nice beautiful paper catalog.... and why the questions on finding the link on the website...

Your thoughts?

 

[PampChefJoy]

Oh, and I know this is a public site and for all I know, she could be reading this right now... If so, could you please just let me know if you are a consultant -- this has been going on for 2 years now and I'm baffled.

 

[JAE]

Just e-mail her and say "I seem to have lost your information. Could you please give me your contact information. Are you a Pampered Chef consultant or a Pampered Chef customer? I will be able to send you the link after I get your information to update my files."...or something like that. Stress the "after".

 

[PampChefJoy]

Already emailed her in the past and said I felt bad about not being able to track down the information... who was the host of the show that I got your info from?.... etc... she does not respond (until the beginning of the next season!)

 

[JAE]

Do you send her what she asks for?

 

[PampChefJoy]

I have every season but I got this again today (I switched my newsletter mailing list service and actually dropped her off of it - I figure that I can stand to lose a customer who asks for catalogs and never orders anything....)

Here is my response to her today:

You know, I feel terrible for not following up with you each season. I know you write me for the catalog link, but I get so busy that I forget to check back with you to see if you'd like to order anything. Obviously, you must be a fan since you look forward to the new catalog each season!

Is there anything you're interested in seeing or ordering? I still can't find in my records if you are close to me here in Sacramento... I'd be happy to drop off a catalog to you if you are!

 

[RaggedyAunt]

If she's not ordering, or even letting her know who she is, I don't think you are obligated to do anything further for her. I like JAE's verbage, or you could really be blunt and say you prefer to not communicate with unknown persons, so you will not be providing any more info until she identifies herself to you. JMO

Tammy

 

[JAE]

I have every season but I got this again today (I switched my newsletter mailing list service and actually dropped her off of it - I figure that I can stand to lose a customer who asks for catalogs and never orders anything....)

Here is my response to her today:

You know, I feel terrible for not following up with you each season. I know you write me for the catalog link, but I get so busy that I forget to check back with you to see if you'd like to order anything. Obviously, you must be a fan since you look forward to the new catalog each season!

Is there anything you're interested in seeing or ordering? I still can't find in my records if you are close to me here in Sacramento... I'd be happy to drop off a catalog to you if you are!

I think that's fine. You really aren't obligated, like Tammy said.

 

[PAMPEREDLADY27]

If she wants the link every season why can she not go to the same link every time?

 

[CookingwithMary]

B&R! (Bless and Release)

Edited to add: I mean that sincerely, no intention of curtness intended.

You provide a wonderful service with your free flyers and the newsletter. My customers LOVE the newsletter!

 

[pamperedlinda]

If she wants the link every season why can she not go to the same link every time?

that was my thought too

 

[vwpamperedchef]

I think you've handled it just fine. It would baffle me too....and I agree with you, it sounds like she is a consultant but hiding as if she was a customer.

 

[janetupnorth]

Joy - I would have the same questions as you too and would "suspect" she is a consultant. In your case I would be worried that she is just using the newsletter to pass on for free and/or creating her own stuff. Which the latter in fine, but don't take up someone's time who is doing this for a living without giving in return.JMO...I hope you find out to ease your mind.Janet

 

[PampChefJoy]

I'm going to ignore, bless and release. Realize that it's hard for me to ignore someone, customer or otherwise... but I guess it is pretty rude on her part to never answer my questions, yet come back each season for more...

It doesn't cost me anything to give out the link -- I am guessing maybe she just doesn't know how to get the link herself... it's not like it's a private url or anything.

 

[janetupnorth]

I'm going to ignore, bless and release. Realize that it's hard for me to ignore someone, customer or otherwise... but I guess it is pretty rude on her part to never answer my questions, yet come back each season for more...

It doesn't cost me anything to give out the link -- I am guessing maybe she just doesn't know how to get the link herself... it's not like it's a private url or anything.

Doesn't cost you except your valuable time. That wouldn't bother me though as much as the original e-mail about the newsletter...

Is she still on your personal newsletter distribution list? She probably never asked for those because she was now getting them.

???

 

[crissy11]

What if she is using your link to have access to the catalog to copy the pictures to sell stuff on ebay. It could be traced back to you somehow.. just a thought since she doesn't order from you but just wants to use your online catalog.

 

[KateD]

What if she is using your link to have access to the catalog to copy the pictures to sell stuff on ebay. It could be traced back to you somehow.. just a thought since she doesn't order from you but just wants to use your online catalog.

I wouldn't worry too much about images being taken and Joy bearing responsibility. It's possible that someone would try to hotlink to the picture or that they could be traced back to the .BIZ's, but the images are common to all pages and stored centrally - the images on Joys page are the exact same as on mine

But the whole situation is baffling

 

[PampChefJoy]

Okay, so here is her email response today:

I'm interested in seeing all the new products in the on-line catalog format. Thanks so much for sending it each season e-mail.

And that's it.... no response to my question about placing an order, or if she is close to me in Sac. I'm torn between wanting to ask "would you please provide me with your contact info first, and then I'll be glad to forward it to you" or just ignoring her altogether.

 

[janetupnorth]

Okay, so here is her email response today:

I'm interested in seeing all the new products in the on-line catalog format. Thanks so much for sending it each season e-mail.

And that's it.... no response to my question about placing an order, or if she is close to me in Sac. I'm torn between wanting to ask "would you please provide me with your contact info first, and then I'll be glad to forward it to you" or just ignoring her altogether.

With the lack of response, I'd just ignore her...bless and release. She wants it for another purpose in my opinion!

 

[pamperedlinda]

Ditto what Janet says!

 

[PampChefJoy]

Teehee... I wonder if I can mark her as a spammer in my Hotmail.... I think that would put her on my ignore list, wouldn't it?

 

[PampChefJoy]

And IF ONLY all my other customers contacted me so diligently every 6 months!!!

 

[cathyskitchen]

I'd give her instructions on how to find it herself, saying "It's really easy to find the link, just go to..." and then be done with her. If she emails you again next season, you've already given her instructions on how to get to it, so you don't need to feel bad if you don't respond.

 

[PampChefJoy]

Okay, so here is a follow-up... I sent out my customer newsletter a few days ago, and I forgot that I must not have removed her from my list... so.... I guess she got the link anyway! And the reason I noticed is because I checked my tracking stats and I had a HUGE # of opens... so I click on detail and find that she has opened my newsletter about a 100 times... not kidding. Over the course of 24 hours, it got opened that many times... and I am inclined to think that this newsletter was (surprise surprise) forwarded to a great many more people who did open it (it only tracks the person the email was sent to, not the email addresses it was forwarded to).

So I just sent her an email:

Please answer this question honestly. Are you a consultant?

Wonder what she'll say... I mean, I pretty much know the answer. No customer opens a newsletter 100 times themselves and never orders anything and asks for the link each season...

Why do people have to be so freaking dishonest?

 

[janetupnorth]

Okay, so here is a follow-up... I sent out my customer newsletter a few days ago, and I forgot that I must not have removed her from my list... so.... I guess she got the link anyway! And the reason I noticed is because I checked my tracking stats and I had a HUGE # of opens... so I click on detail and find that she has opened my newsletter about a 100 times... not kidding. Over the course of 24 hours, it got opened that many times... and I am inclined to think that this newsletter was (surprise surprise) forwarded to a great many more people who did open it (it only tracks the person the email was sent to, not the email addresses it was forwarded to).

So I just sent her an email:

Please answer this question honestly. Are you a consultant?

Wonder what she'll say... I mean, I pretty much know the answer. No customer opens a newsletter 100 times themselves and never orders anything and asks for the link each season...

Why do people have to be so freaking dishonest?

On the last line...I'll NEVER get that!!!!

...and got to love internet stats.

Wonder what she'd say if you sent her an invoice for the "number of hits"/internet traffic...he-he...

 

[PampChefJoy]

Okay, I am trying to practice bless and release...

But I am REALLY REALLY angry.

Angry at her dishonesty.
Angry that she willfully avoided my questions to cover up the fact that she was a consultant.
Angry that she HAD to have been covering up the fact that she was a consultant because she knows I charge for my newsletter.
And plain baffled because ANYONE can email me and ask for the link without pretending to be a customer. I don't charge for information! I charge for design services.

Ugh.... I am just so disappointed to be right in this situation....

I suppose I could have played dumb and emailed her "I noticed you opened my email 100 times... you must REALLY want to place an order, right?"

But I have shot myself in the foot by calling her out....oh well, at least I won't have to worry about her coming back in 6 months for the link!

 

[c00p]

How completely ridiculous. I've been struggling with people being deceitful in a variety of ways in my own personal life and it's frustrating to say the least. JUST OWN IT!!!!! What's the big hairy deal??? Admit that you are a consultant with no backbone!!!!! I'm sure that your newsletter service doesn't cost that much, and besides, she/he can write-off that fee. Good grief! Whoever you are - in case you are reading these posts, own up to the fact that you are STEALING from Joy!!!!!!! Sorry, as you can tell, this is a major nerve of mine!

 

[c00p]

But I have shot myself in the foot by calling her out....oh well, at least I won't have to worry about her coming back in 6 months for the link!

Don't beat yourself up. I probably would've done it a long time ago - but I can be a bit "forward" if I think I'm getting jerked around.

 

[pamperedbecky]

Wow, Joy, that is just SO not fair! It would have been kind of funny to "hear" her response (if there was one) about opening it 100 times because I"m sure she doesn't realize you can get that information.

Yeah, it would be nice if she'd just own it. Keep us posted!

 

[PampChefJoy]

I hope it doesn't sound like I'm whining about losing out on the cost of the subscription. I so totally don't care about that. But I do care that other people pay, INVEST, the fee in their business to purchase my service and she gets it for free.... I had to really carefully weed through my mailing list when I first started Tasty Tidbits... had to explain why I was removing them from my list, etc... and I think I caught everyone else, but like I said, couldn't remember where I got this one person's name from (I'd done a few fairs too).

 

[c00p]

Oh no, you aren't coming off as you want the money....at all. It's simply a matter of being honest, forthright and it's business.

 

[pamperedbecky]

Oh no, you aren't coming off as you want the money....at all. It's simply a matter of being honest, forthright and it's business.

I agree! I completely understand it's not about the money, but the principle.

 

[finley1991]

Joy, have you tried googling her e-mail address? Sometimes something can come up with that...

 

[KellyTheChef]

Oh no, you aren't coming off as you want the money....at all. It's simply a matter of being honest, forthright and it's business.

I agree too!

I have been watching this thread to find out who this person turns out to be. Certainly sounds like a consultant to me, and a very unethical one to boot!

I may not be about the money, but she IS stealing from you. You are generous enough to help TONS of us with your free flyers and other things that you put together each season- this person is taking advantage of that and she OWES you the cost of a subscription. Oh, well, sometimes we just can't win. She will be held accountable for her actions at some point...even if she "gets away" with things now.

 

[pamperedharriet]

The first thing I would do Joy is definately drop her from your distribution list. Then delete her or put her address in your blocking list for e-mail. And above all bless and release!

 

[jbachen]

I agree with Harriet that you should delete her from your distribution list, but I wouldn't necessarily block her from email, because then you won't know if she ever owns up to what she was doing. Or, she could even have the gall to ask you again next time, and you would miss it if she was blocked! Oh, and I just emailed you for a sample newsletter, because I am really curious about it, but I admit to being a consultant!

 

[heather223]

I agree too!

I have been watching this thread to find out who this person turns out to be. Certainly sounds like a consultant to me, and a very unethical one to boot!

I may not be about the money, but she IS stealing from you. You are generous enough to help TONS of us with your free flyers and other things that you put together each season- this person is taking advantage of that and she OWES you the cost of a subscription. Oh, well, sometimes we just can't win. She will be held accountable for her actions at some point...even if she "gets away" with things now.

I so agree with Kelly on this! She is stealing from you! Putting all the stuff you do together takes time and your (as well as all of ours) time is $. Look at all the flyers you do that you don't charge for and we all use!!! (Heck you could charge for those but you don't!) Take her off the list!

 

[PampChefJoy]

Thanks everyone. I have taken her off the list -- I really thought I had when I moved everyone over from my Yahoo group to the mail server, but I guess I forgot to do that.

It really isn't that she's gotten that much... that mailing list is my customer list, so she only gets the customer version of what I send out.

I haven't heard anything from her yet...

I'm big on karma, so I can only hope that it doesn't bite her in the bumper... (my DD says they have to say "bumper" at school, lol).

 

[PCMelissa]

I agree, I would ignore her, it seems so odd. I know email it is easy to be vague, but you have asked all the questions you can to be direct, and it has become obvious she is dodging answering those questions.

Odd. When I first became a PC consultant I just goggled PC and your site came up, so she could have gotten your info from just a google search.

 

[PampChefJoy]

I should clarify... she was added to my Yahoo group mailing list originally, over 3 years ago when I was a consultant. At the time, I was sharing my newsletters with other consultants - they just had to be added to my Yahoo group. When I started charging, I went through and removed everyone I could tell was a consultant (chefxxx in the email is a big giveaway....) but I missed hers, probably because it's not a chef-y email and because I'd done some fairs and had random people in there that I didn't recognize.

This list has nothing to do with TT; however, there are many in the consultant community who knew me at my humble beginnings and know that I (chefjoy) and Tasty Tidbits are the same....Most of those consultants are from way back in the day when we were all on the MSN group WeLovePamperedChef... which imploded and is now WLPCtoo. She may be on here as well, but I figure that if she wanted to skip out on buying a subscription, she probably wouldn't fork out the money to join this site either...

 

[vwpamperedchef]

I agree Joy, that karma will come back to bite her in the "bumper" sooner or later. And I am intrigued about your newsletter now, seeing how she pawns it off as her own (probably). Your instincts are presumably right, and I would be acting the same as you --- miffed that someone is taking advantage of your services. I mean really, how much could the newsletter service possibly be that this "customer" didn't want to pay.

Obviously, she pretends to be a customer, and really if she were, she would have ordered something by now. At this point, I would have been up front to her and said "wow saw you opened my newsletter a gazillion times, you should be a consultant! or let me get that order placed for you"

Good luck, it isnt easy I am sure.

 

[K_Jurich]

I really can't believe people but. . . anymore people never surprise me at some of the things they do. Joy you do WONDERFUL work, and no it doesn't sound at all like you are whinning about the money it is the point just like oyu said.


But it is a real nail bitter reading this thread . . .I can't wait to find out if she does respond or not which is probably not.

 

[PampChefJoy]

Is there any way home office would give me contact info if I gave them an email address? I already googled her and the addy returned nothing. I suppose I could email her pretending to be referred by one of her customers...? Two can play at that game... But I don't think I have the nerve to pretend. SOME of us have a conscience.

 

[kspry]

Joy, drop her like a hot potato.

edit - she is using you somehow, call it woman's intuition.
Plus, you do that newsletter thing for lots of folk here.

If it feels skinky, it probably is.

 

[pamperedlinda]

Hey Joy, If she is a consultant (and she probably is) she's using an alternate email address and HO probably won't have that one either. You can always try it though. Good luck, it would bug me too!

 

[PampChefJoy]

Okay, no response from her so far...

I am confused by these stats though... so the newsletter has been opened over 100 times, but the link to the online catalog (the one she has asked me for every 6 months) has only been clicked through about 5 times from her email address...

So if she is forwarding this out, it is getting opened by her customers but most are NOT looking at the online catalog link... which is what she has been bugging me for all the time... weird?

I have a nasty email typed up but I'm saving it in my drafts. I don't know that I'll ever send it, but it makes me feel better to have written it. Say it with me... bless and release... bless and release.... bless and release....

 

[mpkegley]

Bless and release Joy!

 

[hperschnick]

Maybe people aren't clicking through to the catalog on her email because they don't like dealing with her... if she is being dishonest and shady with you, chances are she is that way with her customers also.

She is dishonest and you are letting her take up a lot of your time by fretting over it. Bless and release so you can move on to more important things! If she contacts you again tell her you charge for the service she has been taking from you and leave it at that.