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Annoying Advertisements? Fight Back!

April 11, 2016 / 10:00 PM CDT / CBS Texas

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NORTH TEXAS (CBS11 I-TEAM) - Have an inbox or cell phone full of annoying advertisements? Some customers are fed up and fighting back by filing lawsuits.

A Florida man is suing Facebook for sending those unwanted birthday reminder tests. A New York pizza parlor had to pay a customer $14,000 for sending unwanted faxes. And now, a Dallas professor is pretty furious about what just happened to him.

Dr. Dan Howard has been teaching marketing for nearly three-decades at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. You might think he would be the last person to fall for an advertising trap, but after visiting the Improv Comedy Club in Addison, he said that is what happened to him.

"I gave them my email address at work so I believe it was on my business card and, because, I was promised an opportunity to win this or that," said Dr. Howard.

That is something we've probably all done at some point, but here comes the problem, according to Dr. Howard.

"I started getting email. I would cite it as junk. I would say block the sender… and page after page after page I keep getting." Dr. Howard flipped through the email advertisements he had printed from the Improv. He showed CBS11 the dates they were sent— February 16, February 23, February 24, March 1, March 4, March 8, and March 9.

On March 9, Dr. Howard showed us how he wrote back, again, "Unsubscribe me… You disgust me." But, he still received another email, before he finally figured it out.

"…for everyone [email] they send out, what they do is change it ever so slightly, so, even when you try to block it, you cannot."

As the I-team looked closer at the emails, you could see each time how the address of the sender changed by one or two characters. The first email came from info@bmail3.shb41.bmsend.com. The next email came from info@bmal6.shb41.bmsend.com. It was almost unnoticeable.

And, according the Federal Trade Commission, it is unacceptable. By federal law, you cannot do that. A spokesperson with the FTC tells the I-team " Once people have told you they don't want to receive more messages from you, you can't sell or transfer their email addresses, even in the form of a mailing list."

When the I-team visited the Improv in Addison, the manager was also quick to tell us this was unacceptable. She said she was unaware this was happening and she would dig into it immediately.

The Improv soon sent CBS11 the following statement:

"Regarding Dr. Daniel James Howard's request to be unsubscribed from our e-mail list, we did find a problem in how our unsubscribed list was being handled and we have corrected it and will monitor it more closely in the future. We appreciate you bringing this to our attention!"

But the I-team has learned customers of other businesses have made similar complaints in other places. Dozens of lawsuits have been filed against some big name retailers.

The most recent case is against Abercrombie and Fitch Company. If you shop at Abercrombie and Fitch, Abercrombie Kids, Hollister, and Gilly Hicks, and you received what customers called "offending" texts, with no way to opt out, you can now opt in to a $10-million class action lawsuit.

Click Here For More Info On The Lawsuit

Dr. Howard is hoping the costly slaps-on-the wrists will serve as lessons to other retailers. "It is so huge that upper management must not have been cognizant of what is going on, because anyone who knows consumer behavior would realize this is dumb!"

According to the federal rules, places people do business with can solicit with texts, emails and phone calls, but they must provide you a way to say "leave me alone." You must be able to "opt out" or "unsubscribe." Once you do that, the business has 10-days to stop sending you information. And the business cannot contact you from another number or address.