TomTom goes Jock to abuse English 'bas'

We're very much obliged this afternoon to the shocked Reg reader who got an email from TomTom regarding a map update and addressed to "Dear English Bas". Helpfully, TomTom directed Mr English Bas to an online confirmation of his good fortune: TomTom map update addressed to "Dear English Bas" For those of you not up to …

[Anonymous Coward]

this would be a shocked reader...

who probably registered his account under the name Mr English Bas as he thought it would be funny?

I can't remember the number of forced registrations, i've had to complete to download something, where i've put in allsorts out of annoyance, usually incorporation "f*ck right off" somewhere in the name or address.

[Ian North]

Meh

I got an email about three hours later from a Bas Komen apologising for the Dear English Bas mail. Seems to me that someone got their Mail Merge fields badly mixed up...

[a53]

TOMTOM GOES JOCK TO ABUSE ENGLISH 'BAS'’

Lucky me got 1 of those as well, he must have sent a batch of them. According to the apology I was sent, his 1st name is Bas.

[Anonymous Coward]

Well...

Given our government is run by sweaties, it's clear our satnav knows which surface has the dairy product on.

[Anonymous Coward]

And the name of the Reg reader is... ?

- I mean the one registered with TomTom.

If you need the material then I can always hop off and register on websites with some fruity names.

[Paul Buxton 2]

Pukka email??

I received this, but I'm not convinced that its a valid email. I have a current subscription, and Tom Tom Home updated itself. However, there were no new maps available. Just GPSFix update and Mapshares. I updated back in August when the last map update was released

Apart from the above, usually notifications come from tomtommailer.com.

[Anonymous Coward]

Apology

I got one of those, followed 4 hours later by an apology:

You have just received an email which was not up to the standards of TomTom. The greeting (Dear English Bas) was in fact specifying the language of the mail followed by my first name, this should have been personalised with your name.

We apologize for this error and for any inconvenience this might have caused. Underneath you will find the correct email.

[Anthony Hegedus]

It's OK, they've cooked up an excuse.

This excuse is straight out of blackadder or something. I got that email too. About 5 hours later I got another email. It said:

"You have just received an email which was not up to the standards of TomTom. The greeting (Dear English Bas) was in fact specifying the language of the mail followed by my first name, this should have been personalised with your name.

We apologize for this error and for any inconvenience this might have caused. Underneath you will find the correct email."

and was signed :

"All the best,

Bas Komen

TomTom team"

Now doesn't that just sound a little, er, "made up". The funny thing is that if they hadn't sent me the apology email I wouldn't have noticed.

[Nicholas McGee 1]

WTF?

Someone used the wrong variable in an email. Slow day?

[Graham Marsden]

Apology from TomTom

I also got one of these messages, but, fair do's to Tom Tom, they followed it up a little while later with an apology from Bas Komen the guy who sent it

See: http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh247/Grahamm_photos/apology-1.jpg

[Richard Brown]

Errrr .... No

TomTom is a Dutch company, so what has alleged Scots slang got to do with anything.

[Saucerhead Tharpe]

I don't think i've seen/heard "Bass" used in 30 years

The classic era, at least in Glasgow, for that was in gang graffitti of the 70s (I didn't learn to read until 4 in 69, so it may be older)

And then it was "Bass", not "Bas" as in "Tongs, ya Bass!".

My guess is this is really a truncation error rather than a shortening, but still, f***ing stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

Jock?

Oh my fucking god, someone called him an English Bas, lets send him some hurty feely money but not before offending half of scotland.

Prick

[Anonymous Coward]

Did they forget the tard?

Nothing to see here.

[Anonymous Coward]

So in El Reg-speak,

... someone who prattles on and on talking rubbish about "english bas", would they be an "english bas-tard"?

[Anonymous Coward]

@Dick Brown

And it's impossible for a Dutch company to employ Scotts, or to have an office in Scotland then?

[chris 177]

Bas Komen is at least real

They didn't make up a name to match the emails.

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/bas-komen/3/65a/815

If you are registered with Linkedin you can see his complete profile, which lists him as "Manager Online & Direct Marketing at TomTom".

[Badbob]

But I'm Scottish, ya bass!

I got one of these here emails also, and I am in fact Scottish. Born and bred in Lanarkshire.

OK, I have lived in England for about 4 years in total now, and my accent has adjusted accordingly, but I'm still not English.

I'm currently composing a reply to TomTom... "Wha ye caw'in English, ya Raj? I'll come doon to yer HQ the noo an' pummel yer face in! All the best, Chris."

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps Afrikaans?

Maybe it was just a ms-spelling for "English Baas" meaning "Boss"?

[Anonymous Coward]

Totally Offended!

OUTRAGE !

It's not the Bas I object to, it's being call English !!!!!!

(I can't help laughing at the people who are making serious comments about the etymology of the term and the technical possibilities of amilmerge. Take the article in the spirit El Reg published it - its just a bit of Friday afternoon humour).

And just to clarify - we Scots wish England every success in the 2010 World Cup - ya Bas^&$£s!

(and for those who's humour glands have been removed, that was also meant to be lighthearted)

[treboR]

to which i reply

Bolt, ya rocket.

[Colin Miller]

@Richard Brown

TomTom have an office in Edinburgh, although I though "Ya Bast" was associated with The Dear Green Place, not Auld Reekie.

[Menno]

I wonder....

If they also sent out e-mails to German Peter and French Jan. Looks indeed like a mail merge f*ck up, as in "Peter does the mails for our German customers, Jan for the Frenchies and Bas for the Brits". And yes, Bas is a pretty common Dutch name, short for Sebastiaan.

[Scottish Bas]

I'm Scottish

My Mummy and Daddy were married when I was conceived and born. If it's alleged to be a fake then how does the sender know my first name? Perhaps he/she hacked the Tom Tom database.

There's plenty of unemployed to take up this person's job.

[Anonymous Coward]

@Richard Brown

A former colleague left the company we worked for to work for TomTom in their Edinburgh Office.

Of course, Bas is also a legitimate Dutch name.

[Durosity]

"Tongs, ya Bass!".

"Tongs, ya Bass!".... Rikki Fulton?

[Seán]

Nice

Mr English Bas-Tard is probably related to Miss Fiona Likes of Tillit in Hertfordshire who lives in a delightful hostelry.

[Anonymous Coward]

Bas Komen

As a Scot, I've lived in the Netherlands for years, Bas Is a very common name here. Komen less so, but typically Dutch.

As to the Anonymous Coward making the gratuitous, 'Sweaty', reference,

We've got your number, ya bas!

[cor]

And so does this explain the

100% + increase in share value that TT has enjoyed in the last few weeks?

The plot thickens.

[Jonathan McComb]

Apology before the main event

I ended up receiving the apology about an hour before the naughty email, TomTom home had an update waiting, and the map update service I had subscribed to had a brand new, shiny, non-fingerprinted map waiting to be downloaded.

Bas Boobed it seems..

[Cliff]

Bas Komen

http://www.linkedin.com/in/baskomen

Could it be him?

[Mothballs]

Humble Pie, or Pork?

TomTom have now apologised - fair enough. However, since the explanation given in their apology differs from the explanation they gave in their original excuse, would it be terribly uncharitable of me to assume that at least one of those explanations must be a porkie?

I could forgive a little bit of creativity from their PR department after such an almighty b*lls-up, but even the new map they were announcing now seems to have been nothing more than a figment of someone's fevered imagination over there at Muppet Labs.

Paris - because that's where you'd end up if looking for Bristol.

[bothwell]

@saucerhead tharpe

No, no, it's still used widely in the more scummy estates in Pictland, in exactly the same way for exactly the same reason. I'm from Livingston, lower east side, if you will. Our local lot were "CYT, YA BASS". Of course they were all about 12. Who trains these people?

Poor old Bas Komen, though, lolz.

[Jason 71]

Re: Meh #

I got both emails too...

Wonder if he still works there

Ha Ha

[Stevie]

Bah!

So, no-one pointed out the essential rudeness of addressing a customer by his or her first name then?