When a company won't stop emailing you

What to do after a company kept emailing you despite an unsubscribe or data-rights request.

Why this is a real violation, not just annoying

The CAN-SPAM Act (15 U.S.C. Section 7704) requires commercial email senders to honor an opt-out request within 10 business days, and bars them from selling or transferring your address to anyone else afterward. Once that window passes, continuing to send marketing email is a federal violation, not a gray area.

It's also relevant under Section 5 of the FTC Act (15 U.S.C. Section 45), which prohibits "unfair or deceptive acts or practices." A company that gives you an unsubscribe link and then ignores it has represented that the link would work when it doesn't, and regulators have treated that as deceptive. The FTC can pursue significant civil penalties per violation, and each individual email can count separately, so repeated non-compliance adds up quickly. This isn't legal advice, just the actual statutes this is built on.

A sample email you can send them first

Sending this creates a paper trail and gives the company a documented chance to fix it before you escalate. Fill in the bracketed dates using your own unsubscribe or request history right on your dashboard.

Subject: Formal Notice - Unresolved Unsubscribe Request (CAN-SPAM Act)

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to formally notify you that I unsubscribed from your marketing emails on [DATE(S) YOU UNSUBSCRIBED], but continued to receive commercial email from [COMPANY NAME] on [DATE(S) YOU RECEIVED MORE EMAIL].

Under the CAN-SPAM Act (15 U.S.C. Section 7704), commercial senders are required to honor opt-out requests within 10 business days, and may not sell or transfer my address to anyone else afterward. Continuing to send marketing email after that window is a violation of federal law.

Please confirm that my email address, [YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS], has been fully removed from all marketing lists. If I continue to receive unsolicited commercial email from [COMPANY NAME], I will file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at reportfraud.ftc.gov and, where applicable, my state Attorney General.

Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]

Filing with the FTC

If the emails keep coming, file a report at reportfraud.ftc.gov. Have ready: the company name, the date(s) you unsubscribed or sent a request, and the date(s) you received email afterward, all sitting in your own history on the dashboard.

The FTC generally doesn't follow up on individual complaints one-on-one, but complaint volume and patterns are what drive its enforcement actions, so filing genuinely matters even without a personal reply. Many states also have their own consumer protection office or Attorney General complaint process worth checking alongside this.