Email marketing: You're doing it wrong

I was speaking with a client yesterday who became frustrated when a 'remove me from your mailing list' request was continually ignored.

After several requests, my client sent the following email:

As per my voice mail and reply e-mail sent to you last week, please remove us from your mailing list.  Your lack of respect for this request simply dictates that I will not contact you in the future when I have a need for your services.  If you are going to include the option to be removed from your mailing list (which is the only way e-mail marketing campaigns should be sent), please provide a valid e-mail address.  The address you provided below is always 'returned to sender'.

I probably would have said something quite similar. 

Now, here's how the email 'marketer' responded:

Please don't go there with the whole "we will never call you". It's not my fault, I am just a small business trying to advertise without blowing thousands of dollars on meaningless ads and what not. I will rip my administrators head off first thing Tuesday Morning. You can't win these days: No soliciting-Take me off your list- Remove- Leave us alone. How can anyone ever expand a company that they have invested so much blood sweat and tears into if they have to sit in a welded metal box until they go Bankrupt :(

The business owner has clearly fallen victim to 'immediate email response' syndrome and not given himself time to cool off.  He's also not accepting fault for something that, as a business owner, falls squarely on his shoulders. The best way to handle this scenario would have been to quickly remove the name from the mailing list and follow-up with a brief 'sorry for the inconvenience' email.