Fool’s News

For a company which claims to be a leader in information services, West, a Thomson Reuters business, is kind of pathetic.  I recently renewed my Westlaw subscription with West.  I received an email with the following subject line:

Order Confirmation 0005XXXXXX (PLEASE DO NOT REPLY

Yes, the omitted closing parenthesis is their mistake.

And here is the header of the email they sent:

Please note the “From:” address.  Then, in the body of the attachment, the following paragraph appears:

If I hit reply, my email will go unanswered because this mailbox is UNATTENDED!  What’s the email?  west.customer.service@thomson.com.  Say it with me.

In the same .pdf file/letter that informs me I should not reply to this email is the following:

Whoa!  What’s that email address?  Wait.  Isn’t that the same email address that I was told to not reply to?  Why, yes it is.  It is also the same email address I was given over the phone when I was renewing my subscription.  I would scan in my hand-written notes and upload them, but I’m too lazy at the moment.

So, West, is west.customer.service@thomson.com an attended or an unattended email address?  Given American corporate culture presently, it would not surprise me if a company would in fact name an email account “customer.service” and leave it unattended.  Am I too cynical?

And these are the guys we trust to provide us with up-to-date, current and accurate legal information?  Anyone else having second thoughts?