FeedsGreendimes and Townhomes with a View
I get a decent amount of junk mail. Not a prodigious amount, mind you, but enough that it annoys me. One of the most prevalent forms I get is from a housing complex called Townhomes with a View located in Clackamas. Their flyer looks expensive and somebody clearly put some effort into this; unfortunately, they're targeting it to completely the wrong people. I live in inner Southeast Portland in a great neighborhood that's walking distance to almost everything. This area has both young, fairly mobile people and also older folks that have very nice, large homes. I suppose their hope with targeting this area is to catch people in my demographic hoping to move up in the world.. but I'm not sure anybody living in this area considers moving to someplace called 'Townhomes with a View' moving up. It's pretty much the opposite of this area.
I also got these flyers in my old place. Whereas in my current building, I have a beautiful view of downtown Portland, the old place was built into a hill and, as such, had no view to speak of. Unfortunately, the views offered by Townhomes with a View - that of eastern Clackamas - aren't really appealing. But, I digress.
Having lived with these flyers for quite some time, in addition to the innumerable other pieces of junk mail, my curiosity was piqued when I saw jwz's post on the effectiveness of a service called GreenDimes. In addition to being massive hippies, they also (for a fee) stop junk mail from getting to your address. It seems to work well for all of them, and jwz is no longer plagued by "goateed realtors" which I can only imagine is the San Francisco equivalent of Townhomes with a View.
GreenDimes, in addition to stopping your mail, also plants a few trees. I suppose that they realized that actually stopping the mail being sent to you would do nothing to help sooth their enviro-oriented consciences as the companies will just use that money to probably print more of this glossy bullshit. I've always wanted ten trees planted on my behalf. I would especially prefer it if they were named and I could get pictures of them every month since watching trees grow would be way less guilt-provoking than watching a small African child eke out a crappy existence on the few cents a month you give, you disgusting person.
At any rate. This has been a long-winded public service announcement. If you too are tired of Townhomes with a View, and other such things, or just want to torture some trees, I suggest GreenDimes.
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Comments from site editors have a darker background than comments from everybody else.I think I understand why they might be targeting you and the area, however.
The bottom-model price for these townhomes, at least on the flyer, was just over $100K. That's dirt cheap, no matter how you slice it. The young professional types might be convinced to give up the inner SE for a piece of real estate pie, if the price is right. They must be hoping it is.
But it's too far out for me. I'll go with my prospects in the mid NE.
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If I'm going to move out to the boonies, it'll be for a real house with land for dogs and goats. Maybe a little white pony.
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Maybe I'll try GreenDimes. Here's my "Townhomes with a View" saga:
I decided to do a little anti-junk-mail campaigning against this particularly horrendous piece. So I called World Class Homes, who sent it, and a nice lady told me I had to mail the thing to the Direct Marketing Association, from whence they buy their mailing list, and request to be taken off their list. That seems stupid and just a way to deter me from actually following through on it (Val-Pak tells you the same thing in their automated phone tree; but if you press 0 and simply ask to be removed, the operator will do it).
So I did the DMA opt out online (it costs $1) and it's supposed to take effect in 60-90 days. But I am still getting these stupid Townhomes with a View mailings.
I call the DMA, who tell me that World Class Homes is NOT a DMA member and therefore is probably getting their mailling list from a middle man. Who knows whom.
So I call World Class Homes again to ask where they really get their mailing list, and they clam up big time. Won't tell me, they say "The owner does the marketing" and "Corporate deals with that." So I ask for the phone number for corporate, and they say they don't give that out. But if I give this lady (not nice) my address she'll send it to corporate.
I explain that that won't help (not that I believe she'll do it anyway) because they are buying this list from someone else, but she refuses to budge. She says she'll forward my address to the boss but no, she doesn't need my phone number, because no, I shouldn't expect a call back confirming or explaining.
This is starting to remind me of the great This American Life episode about one woman's battle with MCI (http://thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=253).
Anyway, I hate these stupid mailings. I bought an ACTUAL townhome last year. I sure as hell don't need another one. I know dozens of people, just within my network, who get these mailings and hate them too.
If you want to call World Class Homes and ask to get off their mailing list (don't let them tell you to mail the DMA!) call 503-786-5000. And the owner, who supposedly does the marketing, is Dave Raymond, 503-866-3848.
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Greendimes has worked like a charm for everything EXCEPT the townhomes mailers which is extremely depressing.
I just called Townhomes with a View using the first number you gave me and asked politely to be taken off of their list. The lady took down my information and said they would remove me... we'll see if that actually happens.
Thanks very much for your extremely helpful information! Good luck, and keep us updated!
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As I mentioned in another comment post, you might try filing a USPS Prohibitory Order against them. If they don't comply, they are prosecutable. I definitely plan to fax/send them notice that I have filed the order and I do plan to sue them if they don't comply. Now, don't tell them, but I might not actually do that...but I am certainly willing to threaten it.
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Looks like you don't allow html links...here are the links I was trying to include:
http://chatterbox.typepad.com/portlandarchitecture/2007/08/postal-blitzkri.html#comment-95880370
http://www.junkbusters.com/self.html#prohibit
http://www.junkbusters.com/dmlaws.html
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Thanks for the links and more information.
We use markdown for links, so to create a link you do this: [I want this linked](http://www.example.com).
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The owner of townhomes with a view is Lawrence Kates(wood river woods,LLC, an oregon limited liability company) having an office at 1111 Bayside Drive,#111,Corona del Mar,California 92625. and also the owner of center bay management corparation PO box 2400 Santa Monica,CA 90407. The phone #503-786-5000 is the number to townhomes with a view when it was an apartment complex. So i must tell you if you didn't already know townhomes with a view is nothing more than a 20 year old apartment complex now being sold as condos.
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