(Edited to reword just about everything, since I really screwed up).

OK, I really blew it. I've asked Coffee Cup to nuke this whole silly thread.

No spam took place. I simply forgot I had purchased MP3 some time ago.

My apologies to the forum and staff.

Hi. Looks like an email got sent your way that you did not want. What a shame, but It does happen. No, I am not speaking for CoffeeCup. I don't work for them.
In my experience, I have never received a reply that said "that my message would never be seen by a human", or anything close to that.

I have been a customer of CoffeeCup for many years, and have never known them to "Spam" anyone. Is there ANY chance at all that this was some sort of mistake? Maybe some customer misstyped their emial address, so the email went to you instead?
As for their business hours, it's a big world. Could there have been a time difference? I know that CoffeeCup would be happy to speak to you, and I'm sure the issue with the phone could not have been personal.

You took great actions for someone who got an email. I hope you don't reply to my response in such an agressive manor.

Oh yes, I almost forgot....you say CoffeeCup markets anti-spam software? Really? I've never seen it. I'd be interrested in it myself if it existed.

If you would like, you could send a copy of that email to CoffeeCup. I'm sure if it was not legit, they would want to know about it. Of course, since you blocked them, they can't be held responsible for you not recieving their email replies, now can they?

Let's be fair about this. You posted in this forum, and you got my attention (and I say it again, I am not a CoffeeCup employee). Is there anything that CoffeeCup could do to help you contact them about this. I know they take complaints seriously, and they would want to know what the email was and why it was sent to you in the first place so that this does not happen again. Obviously, they can no longer email you.

Hi, Cliff,

I appreciate your reply even if you don't work for the company. Let me address your points in sequence.

First off, here's a copy of the automated reply I received from sending a message to 'customercare@coffeecup.com.' I have edited my address in the headers slightly to make it tough on spam-bots, and clipped a bit to save space, but nothing else was changed.

Pay particular attention to the paragraph that begins with "NOTE: This is an automatically generated message..."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Return-Path: <>
X-Original-To: kyrrin (at) bluefeathertech dot com
Delivered-To: kyrrin a-t bluefeathertech dot com
Received: from nf-out-0910.google.com (nf-out-0910.google.com [64.233.182.185]) by willy.bluefeathertech.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7C9AE5C56 for <kyrrin at bluefeathertech dot com>; Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:01:03 -0800 (PST)
Received: by nf-out-0910.google.com with SMTP id b21so458778nfd.10 for <kyrrin at bluefeathertech dot com>; Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:01:02 -0800 (PST)
Received: by 10.220.75.136 with SMTP id y8mr973414vcj.26.1235494857152; Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:00:57 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <89bbd5f40902240900t30ddeb97u@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:00:56 -0800
From: "CoffeeCup Customer Care" <customercare@coffeecup.com>
To: kyrrin at bluefeathertech dot com
Subject: [CoffeeCup Support] Your Support Request Re: Spammer spew from your customer
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline
Precedence: bulk
X-Autoreply: yes
X-Antivirus: AVG for E-mail 8.0.237 [270.11.3/1967]

Hi there,

Thanks for contacting us. There is now a much better way to get
support for your CoffeeCup products and services.

In December 2008 we launched an entirely new Website with some snazzy
new features designed to help you get the answers you are looking for
faster than ever.

Check it out: http://www.coffeecup.com/help/

(snippage to save space)

NOTE: This is an automatically generated message. We will not see or
read the email you send to this mailbox so please use your support
room linked above for all questions.


Thanks a lot!


The CoffeeCup Team

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I don't know about you, but an auto-response saying that "We will not see or read the email you send to this mailbox" strikes me as pretty cut-and-dried.

On anti-spam software: Sorry about that. My mistake. I had been doing some web-hunting to see if the company had been accused of spamming in times past, and a couple of the links pointed to anti-spam products that I thought came from Coffee Cup.

Was it a mistake? No. Here as evidence is the spam in its entirety. Again, the only alterations I've made are to tweak my address to make it harder for spam-bots.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Return-Path: <return-1-newsletter40-kyrrin=bluefeathertech.com@newsletter.coffeecup.com>
X-Original-To: kyrrin at bluefeathertech.com
Delivered-To: kyrrin at bluefeathertech.com
Received: from smtp3.newsletter.coffeecup.com (smtp2.newsletter.coffeecup.com [209.18.103.46]) by willy.bluefeathertech.com (Postfix) with SMTP id C8D065C55 for <kyrrin at bluefeathertech.com>; Tue, 24 Feb 2009 06:54:40 -0800 (PST)
Received: (qmail 3754 invoked from network); 24 Feb 2009 14:54:39 -0000
DKIM-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=coffeecup.com; s=newsletter; h=Comment:DomainKey-Signature:Received:To:From: Reply-To:Subject:Content-Type:MIME-Version; b=G+dgd/xopqLhs8m4J9 iekzuwOJjmWtBgo8f4hvqrj+MuWYvYBi2RxIH10e+Ld5oS
DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha1; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=coffeecup.com; s=newsletter; h=Comment:DomainKey-Signature: Received:To:From:Reply-To:Subject:Content-Type:MIME-Version; bh=rm1/rIxJQmHHaDk/LNMEjdttHFk=; b=g5EhL4RBUcFBfynD8AzW8PiwjsFZn TaHV3gOmQXaRaUE+bs3sGB2ndKmoLIftR0t
Comment: DomainKeys? See http://antispam.yahoo.com/domainkeys
DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=newsletter; d=coffeecup.com; b=TVSYkqA7p25vveLgQ81Ffa0G9TusVkXvlAjL5b5X5Muzmcr7SZsAd3vrFFwDfvwE ;
X-Mailer-Info: ZQEypzqapayznaWuYUcvpP51pUWaMKW1M25lp3WbrJ9NLKMyMJk4YQR
Received: from unknown (HELO localhost) (209.18.103.5) by newsletter.coffeecup.com with SMTP; 24 Feb 2009 14:54:39 -0000
To: "Bruce Lane" <kyrrin at bluefeathertech.com>
From: "CoffeeCup Team" <newsletter@coffeecup.com>
Reply-To: newsletter@coffeecup.com
Subject: Something revolutionary (and cool!) for everybody who has a Website!
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; charset="UTF-8"; boundary="=_bc53880166170122e6b2163c03777708"
MIME-Version: 1.0
Message-Id: <20090224145441.C8D065C55@willy.bluefeathertech.com>
Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2009 06:54:40 -0800 (PST)
X-Antivirus: AVG for E-mail 8.0.237 [270.11.3/1967]

Hi there!



You might not realize it just yet, but we just saved you from an almost certain headache. How is that, you ask? Read on and we’ll tell you all about something revolutionary (and cool!) that makes managing password protection and restricted access for your Website as easy as 1, 2, 3!



It's our our newest creation, CoffeeCup Website Access Manager. One of the few people who have had a chance to try it out called it a revolution. We think he's right!



Check out what he was talking about - take CoffeeCup Website Access Manager for a spin. http://newsletter.coffeecup.com/click.p … 9998/t223/





Take Control Over Your Website.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For anyone who has a Website, this question comes up sooner or later: How do I restrict access to specific sections of my site? The answer would almost certainly cause a stinging headache. Until now, that is! With CoffeeCup Website Access Manager, you have the tools to easily create detailed user profiles and choose which users can access which portions of your site.



You can easily manage access for hundreds or even thousands of users. You can automatically notify your users when their login information has changed. You can allow or block access by IP address, IP range, or domain name. You can make sure only family or friends view your holiday pictures. You can temporarily restrict access for testing purposes. You can - well hey, you should just try it and see for yourself



Check out Website Access Manager today and show your family, friends, customers, and everybody else that YOU control your Website.



Download the Free Trial Here: http://newsletter.coffeecup.com/click.p … 9998/t223/

Your CoffeeCup Team

---------------------

www.coffeecup.com


------------------------------------------------------

This message was sent to: kyrrin at bluefeathertech.com



You received this message because you opted-in this address

to our newsletter via our Website or when you downloaded or

purchased our products or services.



To change your newsletter settings go here:

http://newsletter.coffeecup.com/click.p … 9998/t224/



All requests are honored but may take up to 72 hours to

process. To learn more about how we use your information,

please read our privacy policy or contact: abuse@coffeecup.com



http://newsletter.coffeecup.com/click.p … 9998/t225/





------------------------------------------------------



CoffeeCup Software, Inc.

165 Courtland Street

Suite A, Box 312

Atlanta, GA 30303

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

As for that paragraph about receiving it because I "opted in," that's an outright lie. I never "opted in" to anything. As mentioned, I hadn't even heard of the company before receiving their so-called "newsletter" today.

On business hours: They are, as far as I can tell, a US-based company. I tried calling around 09:30 Pacific time. Even if they were on the east coast, that would still be well within prime hours.

As for my actions: I make no apologies, and I absolutely stand by everything I did. The reason is simple. I'm self-hosted for my Internet presence. This means that my upstream provider gives me six static IP addresses and a DSL pipe, and that's it. I own and operate every single server, including authoritative DNS for my domains, mail, web, and FTP.

When someone spams me, they're committing theft-by-conversion of my bandwidth, disk space, etc., that I pay every cent for out of my own pocket. Given that, is it any surprise that I would take it so very seriously?

If Coffee Cup wants to say anything to me, they can say it in this forum. I posted here because I could not find any other way, at the time, of letting them know how badly they screwed up. If you want to forward any or all of this post to them on whatever E-mail address(es) you may have, please feel free to do so with my blessing.

I should never have to "log in to change my newsletter preferences" to get rid of unasked-for E-mail. Ever. Their domain remains blocked out of my mail system until I decide otherwise.

I'm sorry you had to find out that they're spamming.

The case could also be that someone used the guest's email to post in order not to use their own and that is how CC got his email. Just a thought as there are people who would do that.

Good god...

First, I want to thank you for replying. So many people never come back after their first post.
I have to side with ad99wd. I've never known CoffeeCup to spam. That email you got is a legit newsletter email that they sent out to registered users who did actually "opt in" to the mailing list. It would seem to be a "mistake".

Yes, CoffeeCup has a new system, new forum and many updates to their online presence. Some errors have occured, even with forum posts and they have been correcting these errors as fast as they can once they are reported. I think the response you received is a new one, and it looks like it is geared towards existing customers. Their "customer care" area is superior to almost any I have used for any onilne company, in all my time on the Internet. It does require the user to log-in, and I can see where that is a problem if you are not a customer and do not intend to create login information.

I will do my best to pass your concerns along to CoffeeCup. I will ask them to view this thread, but I do not guarantee they will reply in a public forum to accusations of 'spamming'.

I trust CoffeeCup, or I would not deal with them. I hope from our honest attempts to help you with communicating with CoffeeCup that you will get a reply that explains what happened. I hope that you will try to call them again. They can miss a call or have phone problems like anyone else.

I respectfully add that since Bruce has nothing useful to contribute to this forum with regards to the software itself, that his posting and account be banned just as he has done. I dont wanna read thru all his complaining when

A) I am looking for useful helpful information in this forum

B) It is much more likely that he DID get signed up somehow whether he voluntarily did it and forgot, or that someone else did it for him (either innocently or otherwise), than it is that CC somehow dug up his info and decided to spam him.

C) He has stolen valuable time, resources, and interest from me in having to wade thru the compaints that arent relevant to this forum. I want my money back.

Hi Bruce!

Thanks for taking the time to contact us. I'd like to sincerely apologize to you for any grief this situation has caused you. Please rest assured that we have a strict anti-spam policy and we would never spam anyone or prevent anyone from being removed from our mailing lists.

Under further investigation it looks like the email address that you feel is being spammed was used to buy software on May 16th, 2006. The software was purchased with a credit card that has your name on it and the account even has a registered support ticket attached to it.

If you are interested in recovering this account to review the order that was placed or the support ticket, please enter the email address in question at our password recovery page:

http://www.coffeecup.com/login/forgotPassword/

Please also note that there is no need to jump through hoops to get off of our mailing list. At the bottom of each newsletter you will find a link to your account settings page (as we only send email to people with registered accounts) and an email address to respond to if you believe you are receiving this email by mistake.

Additionally please note that customercare@coffeecup.com is no longer a valid way to contact us. This email address is not posted on our official contact page and is not provided in our newsletter.

Rest assured I have removed you from our mailing list and you will no longer receive emails from us unless you decide to opt back in.

Thanks for your time and patience Bruce. I hope I have helped alleviate some of your confusion.

Hi Bruce,

We at CoffeeCup pride ourselves on providing quality software at a low price and prompt, friendly customer service. With over 12 years in the business we have established ourselves as an honest, fair, and reputable company.

As Jeff said, we are sorry for any trouble receiving an email from us has caused you. We do show that you placed an order with us for our MP3 Rip and Burn software on May 16th, 2006, that the credit card used to place that order belongs to you, and the physical address provided matches the address shown on the WHOIS records for the "bluefeathertech.com" domain name (which you own) where you received the email.

Further, rather than use the account you already had with us under your bluefeathertech.com email address to make this post, you created a new account with the address coffee dot 3 dot kyrrin at spamgourmet dot com. I find this contridictory to your claim that you "don't jump through hoops" to get off of a mailing list since creating an account requires you to visit our Website, find the 'create an account' link, fill out a form, receive an email with a validation link, click that link, then login with the new information. You did all of this to launch a public complaint for receiving an email when you could have simply logged in using the link in that very email and removed yourself from the list in 2 clicks.

Also; in the auto-reply you received when you emailed customercare@coffeecup.com we gave you a link to follow that goes directly to the support center. You chose not to follow that link. What I also find curious is that you sent an email to that address in the first place. That address has not been in use for over 3 months. According to your post above "I had never even heard of the company". If that was true then you would have no way to know that email address existed. In fact, the only place that email address would have appeared would be on your sales receipt, a support request reply from over 3 months ago, or in the software itself.

Bruce, I hope you can see from this and the other replies to this thread that we really do try very hard to be fair and keep our customers happy. All we ask is that you be fair to us too. The true irony here is that you claim to have been spammed and have gone to considerable lengths to complain and take action against us, when in fact you were not spammed at all.

Please feel free to reply here or email me directly at headhoncho@coffeecup.com with your thoughts, and whether you would like us to disable your accounts (both the legitimate one and the bogus one you used for this thread) or you would like to continue to use the software you purchased. Either way we will be more than happy to help.

Best,

- J.

I have irony for you all...
My Dad called me today. I set him up with CoffeeCup Visual Site designer (couple years ago) so that he could have control over his website. In his 'junk' email folder was an email containing information about the CofeeCup Web Access Manager. Since he never received any email newsletter sort of things from CoffeeCup before now (to the best of his knowledge), he felt that it might me 'spam'. I assured him it was fine to open and transfer to his 'inbox'.
My thinking is that emails are now being directed to all previous customers, and it is creating some confusion for those customers who were not used to getting them, or who don't remember they have purchased CoffeeCup software and can't figure out why they are now getting emails.

Jeff and J. C.
I want to thank you both for your information and patience. What a team! Your record keeping is proof of a company that does it's very best at customer service.