
Tell HN: Triplebyte ignoring account deletion, unsubscribe requests - throwaway413
I have “permanently” deleted my account thru the formal process given by Triplebyte on their website when the last Triplebyte drama occurred a few weeks back. I have also unsubscribed from their corporate emails, their community newsletters, EVERYTHING, multiple times.<p>And yet, this morning, I receive yet another email from Triplebyte with this text at the bottom:<p>“You received this email because you have an account with Triplebyte.”<p>Screenshot proof (see date on deletion email vs the one I just received this morning at 8:40am): https:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;a&#x2F;BmrirNH<p>Edit: issue identified and supposedly resolved - will be sure to post again if I receive any more emails.<p>Thank you.
======
ammon
OK, here's what I think happened here. The email above was to a user who
applied directly to a company, and that company give them a Triplebyte test (a
feature we call screen). This was represented in our system as a separate
account. This separate account should _absolutely_ have been deleted when you
deleted your account. But it looks like our deletion code was not doing that.
Fix is going out now. We're also pulling server logs to see if we can find any
other accounts in this state.

~~~
throwaway413
Post updated. I appreciate the fix.

------
enumjorge
A little off topic but I’ve noticed a similar trend with other websites where
I select to be removed from their newsletter and then later, sometimes many
months later I start receiving email from them again.

The current model we have online for sharing personal information with
companies where we give them information irrevocably involves a huge amount of
trust. Because no matter what we ask them to do, it’s basically up to them to
really delete our data. I wish we had more tools to correct bad behavior
beyond public shaming on social media.

~~~
Lammy
This is the reason I always inwardly sigh when I unsubscribe from something
and the confirmation page says I unsubscribed from a list named like
“${COMPANY_NAME} (${CURRENT_MONTH})”. I know they’ll be back.

------
throwaway413
Here is a clickable link to the proof:

[https://imgur.com/a/BmrirNH](https://imgur.com/a/BmrirNH)

~~~
kwi
Hey, this is bad. Do you mind sharing some of your information with me by
email at guillaume@triplebyte.com so I can investigate what's happening? Is it
possible you have multiple accounts with us? Thank you!

~~~
throwaway413
Thanks for trying to help out.

Definitely not multiple accounts. It is clear what has happened here.

This is beyond bad. It’s criminal.

~~~
jki275
So a person at the company offers to help you, and your response is to call
him a criminal while he's trying to help you?

Come one now. Don't be absurd. It's very likely there's a mistake in a
database somewhere that needs to be sorted out, not some "criminal" behavior.

~~~
throwaway413
I actually thanked him for his help.

The company’s repeated actions are indeed criminal - it is illegal to not
comply to unsubscribe requests, and I’m clearly not the only one here who has
experienced this.

It isn’t some one time slip up. These things are designed, implemented, and
signed off on.

Edit: not to mention, my account 1) has been deleted and 2) is still receiving
emails. How much more info do you need from me? Anyone who matches that
criteria is also clearly having the same issue.

Regardless, it’s hopefully resolved now, and I appreciate that. All I want is
to stop getting freaking Triplebyte emails.

~~~
jki275
You “thanked him for his help” at the same time as calling him a criminal.

No, it’s not generally criminal to make a mistake, and you’re assuming
everything else you’ve written.

~~~
throwaway413
Ok, can you please quote where exactly I call him, Guillaume, a criminal?

If it wasn't clear, what I was meaning is that the behavior of ignoring
unsubscribe requests is criminal. The "this" that he and I both refer to -
being the event at hand.

I do apologize if that is unclear. I stand by the fact that ignoring opt-out
requests in a timely manner is indeed illegal as defined by the CAN-SPAM Act
[1].

> No, it’s not generally criminal to make a mistake

I disagree with your statement here, and actually, this is a perfect example
where yes, it indeed can be criminal to make a mistake, if that mistake is
failing to oblige by your users' opt-out requests. Even more so in the EU than
in the states.

Mistake or not, I was at a point of frustration, having attempted to
unsubscribe many, many times now, with and without the help of their support
dept, to where I felt the need for this post as well as the language used.

And again, I'm just happy and appreciative it's resolved for myself as well as
anyone else in that situation. I hope you have a good rest of your week.

[1] Overview of Act - [https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-
center/guidance/can...](https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-
center/guidance/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business)

~~~
jki275
You're confused about criminal and civil code, making a mistake in such as you
claim is a civil, not criminal violation.

So don't make up stories about things you don't understand because you need to
be a crybaby on the internet.

~~~
dang
Please don't cross into name-calling. I appreciate that you were standing up
for someone you felt was unfairly treated, but please make sure to stay within
the site guidelines while doing so.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

------
mikecoles
I took the TripleByte quiz, out of curiosity. I'm a network admin / linux
admin and security engineer. You need to know the basics of programming for
each of these jobs and that is increasingly so. I'm not a coder or developer
though so when TripleByte said I scored exceptionally well, I started to
question how reliable and trustworthy the site was. I think they give everyone
the same form response to their quiz. Stunts like the one that started this
thread solidify that belief.

------
chrisabrams
Thank you for posting, glad to hear I am not alone (tried it years ago, cannot
unsubscribe).

------
gtt
The same experience, had to write manual filter.

------
marcus_holmes
Deleted mine after the mayhem, haven't heard from them since. Just checked my
trash and spam.

------
throwaway413
Dang, why was this taken down from Ask HN as well as the front page at 9:26am
PST?

------
ykevinator
Why did you delete your account? I'd be interested in knowing why you left.
(not affiliated just curious)

~~~
the-peter
Unless I'm behind the news, I think the incident people are referring to is:
Triplebyte added a new feature to have a public profile highlighting your
skills for your job-hunt. They didn't think it through and made the new
profile public by default. Many people who were job-hunting discretely were
understandably upset by this.

~~~
ykevinator
Thanks for clarifying, Im definitely behind the news (had never heard of
triple byte)

------
Savageman
FYI, the email address is not properly redacted.

~~~
throwaway413
Thanks for the heads up. Edited the URL, but I guess you’re seeing the old
link still? Oh well.

