I usually avoid the overpriced items sold at Footlocker and its sister company Eastbay, but during a promotion, I bought a pair of shoes from them. During payment, I entered my mobile phone number as usual. I've since received an average of 3-5 unsolicited promotional text messages a month from Footlocker and Eastbay.

There are a number of issues that irk me about the unsolicited messages

1. I did not ask for them. I am extremely careful to uncheck any option for promotional mailings, and I certainly did not see a checkbox asking me whether I wanted text spam.
2. There was no option on my account at their website to stop this service, and there is nothing in their privacy policy acknowledging text spam.
3. I made my purchase at Eastbay, yet I received promotional messages from both Eastbay and Footlocker
4. Most importantly, I do not text much and I get charged 20 cents per message!
5. All messages have a clause 'Reply FOOTSTOP to opt out'. I did this twice or thrice (at 20c each), and IT DOESN'T WORK!

That's not the worst part. After a few attempts, I bite the bullet and called Eastbay customer service. After making me wait the usual 10 minutes, the CSR was nice and all, and assured me I would not get any further messages. I was super-clear that I did not want just the Eastbay messages to stop, but the Footlocker ones as well. She said that would be taken care of.

For a few months after that, I received no messages, but they've started again last month. I vainly tried to send 'FOOTSTOP' again, and surprise --- it does not work. I've finally had enough, and have done the following:

1. Blocked all text messages originating as email (which is the usual case) for my AT&T wireless phone, using http://mymessages.wireless.att.com. I have also set an alias so I can receive text messages that I do want.
2. Reported the company and its practices to the FCC as it is a violation of the CAN-SPAM act at http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm
3. Wisened up to never give a company my real cellphone number again. There are services such as Google Voice which gets you a free SMS number, not to mention better spam filtering.
4. Posted this complaint.

Shame on you, Footlocker.