personalization gone bad

I knew this would happen at some point. I warned Miles that one day, 1-800-Flowers or ProFlowers or any number of eGifting shops we shopped at for our grandmother(s) would send me email reminding me to send her flowers on her birthday, Mother’s Day, etc.

So, here we have it in the image of my Y! Mail inbox above. A wonderful example of how personalization can really go wrong. ProFlowers tells me to "Send Sandra 36 Petite Roses".

Here’s the problem:

• Sandra (my paternal grandmother) died in December 2006
• Even if Sandra (aka Nana) were alive, I would *never* buy her petite roses — just not her style!

C’mon folks, it’s 2007. Let’s get personalization right even if you are not a global media platform.  Please don’t act on my personal order history without my consent.  It’s as simple as asking your users what info they’ don’t mind retaining. 

Would be an entirely different story here, if the email suggested I send flowers to  someone  (a) alive and (b) someone I know who actually likes petite roses.

{sigh}