How to escalate an issue when a website's support team is ignorning me?

May 15, 2014 5:45 AM

Someone (?) registered and account on Thumbtack with my e-mail address. I've sent multiple e-mails to support and only really gotten a "your message has been forwarded to IT Support" response (via ZenDesk). Is there anything else I can do to get their attention? Any other avenues to pursue?

The site seems legitimate enough. At first I thought it was a scam of some sort but I think what happened is someone meant to register the e-mail [e-mail] but instead registered [e-mail] which is my e-mail address. I can't delete the account because while the flood of automated e-mails log me in automatically I need to provide a password to delete the account.

As I said I'm not too concerned this is a scam, however, it is weird and annoying. I searched my e-mail and I don't have an e-mail verification e-mail from the site. Which is a little troubling in itself.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

posted by The Radish to Computers & Internet (11 answers total)

Mark the sender as spam and wash your hands of it.
posted by Andrhia at 5:51 AM on May 15, 2014

Have you tried resetting the password on the account so you can delete/disable it?
posted by drlith at 5:52 AM on May 15, 2014

If Thumbtack Support won't respond to you, you could reset the password for the account attached to your e-mail address.
posted by RichardP at 5:52 AM on May 15, 2014

(via the "forgot your password?" link, to clarify)
posted by drlith at 5:53 AM on May 15, 2014

You could try contacting them on Facebook or Twitter though their traffic on each seems to be a bit one-way. Posting a complaint to their Facebook page might get some attention though.
posted by yerfatma at 5:54 AM on May 15, 2014

Reset the password then have a look if there is a way to delete the account or at least unsubscribe from the emails.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:02 AM on May 15, 2014

Posting a complaint where other people can see it has often been effective for me in the past.
posted by Solomon at 6:03 AM on May 15, 2014

Nthing that if yours is now the primary email address on the account, you should be able to do a "forgot password," get a reset, change the PW and then delete the account. If that doesn't work, besides the support email, the site also lists a contact phone number: [phone]. Or, email the CEO directly, Marco Zappacosta, at [e-mail] (he posted it in a Tweet last week).
posted by beagle at 6:06 AM on May 15, 2014

Assuming it's not a site you ever want to use, mark as spam, then filter any future messages from the site straight to the trash.

someone meant to register the e-mail [e-mail] but instead registered [e-mail] which is my e-mail address

If domain = gmail, then just fyi, those are the same addresses. GMail ignores periods within email addresses.
posted by inigo2 at 6:14 AM on May 15, 2014

[Comment deleted. Let's keep things reasonable, please; this isn't a revenge scenario. ]
posted by taz at 6:55 AM on May 15, 2014

Thanks for the advice everyone. I didn't even think of the password reset route. Reset the password, then was able to delete the account.

The Facebook / Twitter suggestion was something I had not considered either. However I don't have an active social media presence so probably don't have the influence to get noticed.

Also, just because the entire thing was so strange to me I sent Marco Zappacosta an e-mail briefly outlining my experience.
posted by The Radish at 11:25 AM on May 15, 2014