March 3, 2003
Exercising Consumer Muscle
I sent a message to Discovercard objecting to their sponsorship of O'Reilly and got a form letter response. Then I sent an answer to that. It's kind of funny. Here they are:----------
From: DavidCogs@aol.com
Sent: Sunday, March 2, 2003 3:12 PM
To: websupport@service.discovercard.com
Subject: Re: (no subject) [#1007937]
O'Reilly's statement that those who oppose the war should "just shut up" and are "enemies of the state" and will be "spotlighted" is only the most recent of his outrageous and divisive remarks. This man is so extremely bigoted, right wing, pro-war and anti-freedom of speech that I cannot support any company that channels some of its profits to supporting his show.
I now have two Discovercards. I have always been a good customer and I find the service acceptable. But because of O'Reilly, I have pulled my balance off of the cards and if you continue as a sponsor of that offensive program, I will cancel my cards.
David Cogswell
Hoboken, NJIn a message dated 3/2/03 12:16:57 PM Eastern Standard Time, websupport@service.discovercard.com writes:
Subj: RE:(no subject) [#1007937]
Date: 3/2/03 12:16:57 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: websupport@service.discovercard.com
To: DavidCogs@aol.com
Sent from the Internet
I have recently received your suggestion and I wish to thank you for taking the time to write to us. We are always looking for ways to improve our business and serve you better, and I appreciate your interest in helping us achieve those goals. I am forwarding your comments on to the appropriate department for review.
If I can be of any further assistance or if you have any more suggestions, please contact me again. Thank you for choosing to use Discover Card.
Sincerely,
Trevor
Discover, Discover Inter@ctive, Discover Deskshop, Discover 2GO, Cashback Bonus, ShopCenter and SmartCheck are our trademarks. All rights reserved.
--Original Message--
Dear Trevor,
Thank you for your response, I am writing as an experiment because there is no way to tell from your note whether you ever read my note. It looks as though you didn't. It is an answer that could be sent to anyone who wrote to you, almost anyone anyway. But it doesn't seem to have anything to do with what I wrote you.
To say, "Thank you for choosing the Discover Card," is hardly to the point when I just told you I am going to cancel the card. Perhaps you meant, "Thank you for canceling the Discover Card."
If you are looking for ways to improve your business, I will be looking for you to find less offensive TV programs to sponsor. Otherwise I'll find a less offensive company to handle my credit card business.
If anyone reads this, I would appreciate getting a note that indicates that you did actually read it.
Thank you,
David Cogswell