# Audi TT Spares - Pulled Thread



## Jae (May 6, 2002)

All,

So that you know, Ive been speaking with Leigh for the last 2 months about becoming a sponsor on the site, and he had just agreed 2 weeks ago to go ahead.

Their recent email activity was undertaken in good faith (but not to the knowledge of the TTF), albeit not complying with Spam regulation now in place in the EU. When ever an email is sent to their info account, it traps a copy of the email so that future communication can be made. This was the list that was used, and to is legal, as they were in contact with each of the recipients with information about their products and services, in response to a previous enquiry. A total of 55 emails were sent out, 27 of which were returned undelivered. They did manage to convert 10 emails into sales, which is a good return on such an activity.

What did they do wrong? In all e-marketing emails, the option has to be provided to unsubscribe from the mailing list, and also a description of where the email address was collected from. Because previous communication had been made by the email recipients, they had technically Opted In to receive communication from the company ONLY. This is not deemed as Spam, but because of the lack of Opt Out in the email, it does break rules. They are now aware of this.

Now, some have complained that they never contacted Audi TT Spares. I request that anyone who has recieved this email, to forward it to me ASAP, as an attachment (not as a forwarded email) so that I can look at this in detail.

The resulting abuse that was received was not welcomed by the TTF, and nor by Audi TT Spares. I therefore request that ALL comments about the company stop, and that includes any PMs / emails that are being sent directly to them. It is defamitory and completely unnecessary, and will not be tolerated in any form. It can also result in legal action against both the individual and the TTF, which is not an option.

Audi TT Spares have a good following behind them here on the TTF, and as such provide a good service. So far Ive not heard a complaint from ANYONE about their service, which is both unique and beneficial to the TTF users. They did break some rules in the beginning, but have ceased this since being requested by me.

And before anyone attacks me for doing this because they were going to advertise, Im not. They DO have a good business, and are recommended on the TTF by its users. They have been subjected to personal attacks both on and off the forum, which is in breach of the rules.

Regards

Jae


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## CH_Peter (May 16, 2002)

Jae,

I have not driven a TT for a good couple of years, and by their own admission on their website, "Audi TT Spares was established in early 2005". I've had no reason to contact them, never contacted them and had never heard of them until the email arrived.

I didn't email or PM them, but on the thread just stated the above, and since a couple of other people are of the same opinion I think that makes their "inadvertant mistake" line a bit dubious. I can't give them the benefit of the doubt, because there isn't any.

It's a great forum and I wouldn't care that much, save that the above post states outright you take their word over mine (and several other longer standing forum members). You have to ask, would we all independently be so annoyed, if we didn't all have a point?

i'm not looking to start a fight or re-open the debate, but I think there are two sides to this, and the above is only the one.

Peter


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## jampott (Sep 6, 2003)

Jae,

If your Forum members tell you they didn't email TT Spares, are you saying they're lying, or have "forgotten" or something?


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## Jae (May 6, 2002)

Im looking into this right now. Im not dismissing these comments, and this is open at the moment. Anyone else that has received an email from them, I request that you forward the email to me at [email protected]********.co.uk

Jae


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## mighTy Tee (Jul 10, 2002)

jampott said:


> Jae,
> 
> If your Forum members tell you they didn't email TT Spares, are you saying they're lying, or have "forgotten" or something?


As far as I am aware (99.99999999% certain) I have never Emailed this company, however I have visited their web site. I too got the email.


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## Jae (May 6, 2002)

there is no way a website can pull your email address from your PC. (Correct me if Im wrong).

Best Regards

Jae


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## scoTTy (May 6, 2002)

mighTy Tee said:


> jampott said:
> 
> 
> > Jae,
> ...


Same here. IF the email was meant to be to existing interested parties/customers then it's quite strange. It reads as a "cold calling" email :



> Hi.
> 
> We at, Audi TT Spares offer a unique service to the TT Owner. We can supply
> new and used parts for all models of TT's. All items are cleaned and
> ...


I'll forward it to you Jae.


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## dj c225 (Nov 3, 2004)

Shows how professional they were making snide comments directly at members! hmmmm... :roll:


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## justtin (May 6, 2002)

Jae said:


> Now, some have complained that they never contacted Audi TT Spares. I request that anyone who has recieved this email, to forward it to me ASAP, as an attachment (not as a forwarded email) so that I can look at this in detail.


Jae,

You have mail.

Justin


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## mighTy Tee (Jul 10, 2002)

Jae

Mail sent

Richard


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## justtin (May 6, 2002)

justtin said:


> Jae said:
> 
> 
> > Now, some have complained that they never contacted Audi TT Spares. I request that anyone who has recieved this email, to forward it to me ASAP, as an attachment (not as a forwarded email) so that I can look at this in detail.
> ...


Any update on this.



> I replied to ALL the old/junk emails in our old folders, with this message..


I guess they can prove this......

Justin


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

I've made use of Audi TT Spares service and found it both professional and good value for money. If they did break the rules on spam, I'm sure as it's now brought to their attention, they will be more careful in future. I get the impression the company is run by some decent albeit enthusiastic people. We should support them.

I'm suffering from spam but not from them. I believe it came about from the profile/gallery area of this forum being "public" for a time and was even being indexed by Google, as I could find my e-mail address and profile/gallery information from a Google search. That's now been fixed but the genie is out of the bottle. I am very careful where I put my e-mail address. Spiders crawl over open servers looking for e-mail addresses. I think I got harvested :? In fairness it could have leaked through another server but if Google found it...... It's just one of those things  Do a Google search for your own e-mail address and see if you're exposed anywhere :wink:

I get all sorts of stuff about viagra, pharmaseuticals, watches, software, slimming etc. Most has spoofed sender information and hops domain from one send to the next. I'm getting about twenty per day and rising. I know others on this forum have received the same stuff too.

I wouldn't trust any "remove" links on the e-mail as this will only confirm your e-mail exists and you'll get more as the spammers sell the mail list on. Even opening the e-mails graphics can signal back to the spammer that you exist because of a unique identifier code that gets sent with the e-mail. I'm currently reporting each one to www.spamcop.net but this is becoming too big a chore and I'm going to have to filter and possibly make use of the services of www.spamhaus.org.

Perhaps, people who have become angry at Audi TT Spares, have really been angered by the other spam and Audi TT Spares have got it in the kneck because they are traceable?

Anyone recognise the following small sample of spam?:

*From:* Polluters M. Togetherness *Subject:* The Ultimate Online Pharmaceuticals
*From:* Flora Mosley *Subject:* re [16] ... (Rolex watches, University diplomas etc.)
*From:* Tyson Taylor *Subject:* Your partner will worship you for it
*From:* Harry Q. Deng *Subject:* Premier
*From:* [email protected] *Subject:* RE: Auto iXP - www.autoixp.com 
*From:* Billboard P. Stomp *Subject:* International Legal RX
*From:* Whaled F. Thereabouts *Subject:* OEM Software
*From:* Herschel Greer *Subject:* Want to live forever?
*From:* Geoffrey *Subject:* Licenced online pharmacy! Best prices! 
*From:* Colin Jenkins *Subject:* Need S0ftware?


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## genocidalduck (May 19, 2005)

John-H said:


> Anyone recognise the following small sample of spam?:
> 
> *From:* Polluters M. Togetherness *Subject:* The Ultimate Online Pharmaceuticals
> *From:* Flora Mosley *Subject:* re [16] ... (Rolex watches, University diplomas etc.)
> ...


I've been getting a few for Rolex watches of late. Always get pharmacy spam. :roll:


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## thehornster (Apr 29, 2005)

genocidalduck said:


> John-H said:
> 
> 
> > Anyone recognise the following small sample of spam?:
> ...


Kamagra?? :lol: :lol: :wink:


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## genocidalduck (May 19, 2005)

thehornster said:


> genocidalduck said:
> 
> 
> > John-H said:
> ...


 :lol: No i woudlnt buy them of the net. Trust man in pub alot more :lol:


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## QuackingPlums (Mar 10, 2004)

I'm sure I've mentioned this before in another post, but the one thing in common across all the above members is that you all have your email addresses showing in your profiles. I know it's only a very small sample set for it to be conclusive, but if you have email addresses showing in forums then you're asking for spam.

There are scripts/utilities easily found on the web that can leech all the unhidden email addresses from phpBB (by far the most popular forum software on the web, and yes, used by TTF) and it's a pretty dead-cert that if you're a member of this board then you'd be interested in cars. Even if AudiTTSpares didn't do this themselves, there's nothing stopping an unscrupulous marketting company doing it and selling on the list as genuine. It happens all the time, and the only way to stop it is to not have your email address hidden.

Jae: phpBB allows members to send email to each other without revealing your email address - is there any reason why that isn't turned on? 
It is a useful feature to be able to contact members directly, but there's both the PM system and "User Email via Board" option - there really isn't any need to have members' email addresses being shown in their profiles.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

QuackingPlums said:


> I'm sure I've mentioned this before in another post, but the one thing in common across all the above members is that you all have your email addresses showing in your profiles. I know it's only a very small sample set for it to be conclusive, but if you have email addresses showing in forums then you're asking for spam.
> 
> There are scripts/utilities easily found on the web that can leech all the unhidden email addresses from phpBB (by far the most popular forum software on the web, and yes, used by TTF) and it's a pretty dead-cert that if you're a member of this board then you'd be interested in cars. Even if AudiTTSpares didn't do this themselves, there's nothing stopping an unscrupulous marketting company doing it and selling on the list as genuine. It happens all the time, and the only way to stop it is to not have your email address hidden.
> 
> ...


Good point, only mine was never on display in the profile - only the "private" info "gallery" section, so the forum can contact you - only for a while it was "public" if you typed in the correct URL and I think that's how it got harvested.


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## CH_Peter (May 16, 2002)

QuackingPlums said:


> I'm sure I've mentioned this before in another post, but the one thing in common across all the above members is that you all have your email addresses showing in your profiles. I know it's only a very small sample set for it to be conclusive, but if you have email addresses showing in forums then you're asking for spam.
> 
> There are scripts/utilities easily found on the web that can leech all the unhidden email addresses from phpBB (by far the most popular forum software on the web, and yes, used by TTF) and it's a pretty dead-cert that if you're a member of this board then you'd be interested in cars. Even if AudiTTSpares didn't do this themselves, there's nothing stopping an unscrupulous marketting company doing it and selling on the list as genuine. It happens all the time, and the only way to stop it is to not have your email address hidden.
> 
> ...


This is what I suspect, but AudiTTSpares say they've all been emailed by us... I want to know who's telling porky pies.


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## jonah (Aug 17, 2002)

CH_Peter said:


> QuackingPlums said:
> 
> 
> > I'm sure I've mentioned this before in another post, but the one thing in common across all the above members is that you all have your email addresses showing in your profiles. I know it's only a very small sample set for it to be conclusive, but if you have email addresses showing in forums then you're asking for spam.
> ...


FFS haven't you all got anything better to do :? I can't belive you all are making such a song and dance about one bloody e-mail. 
I get hundreds of mails and they've been directed from here and my e-mail has never been shown, so i put that down to either the forum selling them on from their database or as i suspect when the site was hacked :evil: reason i know they've originated from here is they all use the name "Jonah"


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## CH_Peter (May 16, 2002)

jonah said:


> CH_Peter said:
> 
> 
> > QuackingPlums said:
> ...


You're right... a couple of posts in a couple of weeks on this thread. I don't know where I get the time to get anything else done.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

jonah said:


> FFS haven't you all got anything better to do :? I can't belive you all are making such a song and dance about one bloody e-mail.
> I get hundreds of mails and they've been directed from here and my e-mail has never been shown, so i put that down to either the forum selling them on from their database or as i suspect when the site was hacked :evil: reason i know they've originated from here is they all use the name "Jonah"


Well I'ts not one e-mail in my case it's 20 per day. I think it's because the gallery wasnt "private" for a time by accident. I certainly know the Forum didn't sell the e-mails on.


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