Remember when I said "Yaari.com Sucks"? Well, they continue to suck. But don't worry - it's apparently my fault they suck, not theirs.

Last week, I screwed up and I signed up for a social site called Yaari.com. 

In the signup process, I was asked to import my contacts.  It's not optional.  Then I was asked to check the boxes for those I wanted to receive an invite to join me on Yaari.  What I didn't realize until I started getting a wave of emails from friends I'd not heard from in some time was that they ignored the one box I checked and sent invites to EVERYONE IN MY ADDRESS BOOK.

Then some of those folks, when they got an invite from me, in turn registered.  And guess what?  THEIR ADDRESS BOOKS GOT SPAMMED, TOO.

So I wrote to Yaari:

"..I sent a single invitation to a friend to join Yaari, but instead, apparently Yaari has sent an email to all the people on my email list. Please RETRACT THE INVITATIONS IMMEDIATELY WITH AN APOLOGY, and notify me when this has been completed.  Thank you."

This is what I got back from Yaari.com's Prerna Gupta (my bolds):

"I appreciate you contacting us regarding this matter. However, please note that we have not emailed your contacts without your approval. By registering for Yaari and agreeing to the Terms of Service, you authorized Yaari to send an email notification to all the contacts listed in the address book of the email address you provided during registration. This is clearly stated in our Terms of Service and on the Registration Page...Based on feedback we are receiving from users like you, we are making changes to our invitation procedure to avoid any misunderstandings in the future. If you send me a comma-separated values list of email addresses that were affected by this, I would be happy to send an apology email."

So a couple of key takeaways: (a) when I checked the one name in my address book to which I wanted to send an invite, that was apparently my "approval" to spam EVERYONE in my address book, (b) I'm not the only one pissed off about the (c) "misunderstanding", and finally (d) they've spammed my friends, many of whom gave me deserved crap about this whole thing. 

Worst of all, I realized in the T+C's that by registering I am also required to provide an email address at which I can receive "commercial emails".

So this was the last letter:

"Prerna, I thank you for your quick reply.  But with all due respect, your assertion that you "had my approval" to spam my address book is inaccurate.  To quote your T+C's:

"The email address(es) that you supply to use this service will only be used to send invitations to connect with you on Yaari. By registering for the Yaari website, and by giving Yaari member's email address and password, a member agrees to the Terms of Service and consents to allow Yaari to automatically send an email from the member to member's contacts, encouraging member's contacts to register for the Yaari website. Invitation emails will be sent on member's behalf, with the 'from' address set as member's email address."

When I imported the list from Yahoo, your interface provided check boxes to select who, from my imported address book, I wished to send an invite.  I selected one. YOU SPAMMED THEM ALL, as apparently you did with my friends' address books as well.  Given that, I'd rather not send you a comma-delimited address book.  Why?  I've got no guarantees as to what you might do with that information,  based on your T+C's:

"Yaari reserves the right to modify or amend this Agreement at any time, for any reason, or for no reason at all, at Yaari’s sole discretion...as a Member it is your sole responsibility to keep yourself apprised of any such modifications or amendments. Should Member object to any terms and conditions of the Agreement or any subsequent modifications thereto or become dissatisfied with Yaari in any way, Member's only recourse is to immediately: (1) discontinue use of Yaari; (2) terminate Yaari registration; and (3) notify Yaari of termination."

You left out (4),"refer you to the Better Business Bureau of Georgia", which is my next step. In the meantime, I'll blog about this and forward your email to the folks you spammed.

I was very eager to check out your service.  I won't make that mistake again.  My account is deactivated as of this email.  I'll be watching with particular interest to see whether I continue to receive 'commercial emails', as also intimated in your T+C's."

Acknowledged - I was silly to give a real address - many friends of mine maintain multiple email accounts for exactly this reason.  I got suckered, and dragged friends into this mess.  Stay Tuned, folks.  We'll see what the Georgia BBB has to say.

Comments

[snemax]

Even I was duped.

Yaari is totally useless spam social networking. I feel like giving the maximum punishment to the CEO and the management involved.

How dare they violate my privacy. They sent emails to from any1 to every1 including my clients and professors.

[brthomas]

I encourage everybody to install the Web of Trust add-on into your web browser software (http://www.mywot.com/). "WOT is a Free Internet Security addon for Firefox and IE that warns you about online scams and risky websites that try to deliver malware or send spam."

The WOT community has given Yaari bad ratings for trustworthiness, reliability, privacy and safety.
http://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/yaari.com

[AwShucks!]

An ounce of protection! I received an invite from someone I don't recall. Rather than answer anything I immediately tagged the message as SPAM. In today's techno slamming world better to err on the side of prudence rather than help thieves victimize you and everyone in your address book. Remember, too, curiosity (answering the "friend" question or visiting the site via the link supplied)is what killed the proverbial cat.

[Patricia]

Uhggh I hate Yaari. I just got screwed by them recently.

[Alex]

A couple of months ago I received an invitation to join Yaari.com from a distant friend I haven't met for a while. I accepted the invitation and I made the exact same silly mistake signing up to Yaari.com.

What a nightmare! They stole my complete address book, and spammed all my contacts. I received mails and calls from family, friends, customers... you get the picture. I cancelled my account immediately and was force to apologize to all my contacts.

Someone appropriately tagged this site as a Spam2.0.

My 2¢ advice: STAY AWAY FROM YAARI.COM!

[Jim Nichols]

Give em Hell! I was wondering why a site for Indian teens was telling me you wanted me to join! I've given you a sympathy post on my little bloggy as well. YMD!

[Cody]

Plaxo used to do this too. Comcast just bought them for $150MM.

Just sayin'.

[Stephen Giem]

Shady, shady. T+C's