April 24, 2006It’s a Required Question
I hit the link to decline an emailed invitation from a vendor I didn’t know. The link took me to a form that I filled out, but I did not fill in the reason for declining because the options did not include the reason I wasn’t attending. It struck me as funny when the new page said:
- It’s a required question: Reason for declining.
I figured I was filling out this form as a courtesy, so what business do they have requiring anything of me? I did fill in the reason, but I also got a Poison Phrase out of it.
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I think this situation also links into your question about whether you take the time to follow through on declines, etc. After an experience like that you might think twice about investing your time in a similar situation. The vendor clearly took advantage of your courteous behavior. The “funny” thing is that they shot themselves in the foot as I doubt that you will invest any more time in future contact with this vendor, even if they contact you again. They either didn’t care or didn’t think about keeping open future lines of communication.
Comment by Christine — April 26, 2006 @ 9:12 pm
I get many invitations to attend online meetings as well as training related coventions. If I don’t know the vendor I treat the email as SPAM and simply delete it.
Comment by Robert Harris — April 27, 2006 @ 7:29 am
I am the one who pays for my telephone services and my internet hookups. So just as when someone comes to my front door, I expect the initiators of such contacts to understand they are on my “turf” and my time. No business has any business putting unnecessary demands upon their customers in the way described on this website invitation. I would not have responded to this demand, even if it meant powering down my computer. The company would not get the response they hoped for, and they would have succeeded in creating a response they definitely DIDN”T want. If there were another avenue for emailing them my opinion about their demand, I might have considered letting them know how it affected me. They may just have a bad web designer or myopic decision maker in the company.
Comment by Kathleen DuBois — April 27, 2006 @ 7:41 am
Sometimes people need to know why you declined maybe they can improve on the reason you gave.
I always tried to find out why I wasn’t hired for a job, so I don’t do the same thing for other interviews.
Comment by Rickie Jones — June 13, 2006 @ 11:07 pm
Sometimes a simple’other’ option can ease this type of situation, it really takes the biscuit when yu are courteous enough to take the time to reply and you are manipulated in this way to the point of frustration
Comment by Beatrice — February 26, 2009 @ 11:32 am