Addressing unknown people in business

It depends how they have set up their address database and software. Amazon always addresses me as Dear Ms. I can see why but it doesn’t bother me 😊

Is there any way you signed off with your surname first?
I ask because I believe you live in France and I have heard Frenchmen introduce themselves as “Dupont, Marcel” for instance.

petra

ViceVersa

That is a strange way to address someone in a business email, I must say. I'm wondering if it has come from someone for whom English isn't their first language.

I would suggest it’s not a human sending the email.
Billions of correspondents are conducted by AI.

That thought did cross my mind too, petra. More and more firms are using AI in their correspondence now.

ViceVersa

That is a strange way to address someone in a business email, I must say. I'm wondering if it has come from someone for whom English isn't their first language.

I would suggest it’s not a human sending the email.
Billions of correspondents are conducted by AI.

I do have a problem with people using my first name without permission. It presupposes a familiarity which does not exist.

Grantanow

Utterly trivial.

But none the less important to some GNetters.

My christian name can be shortened, something that irritates me immensely and I do not respond to it when called by it.

We all have a name and a title, and we have the right to expect to be addressed correctly.

I had to write a letter of complaint to a local business last week.
I wondered about how to address them but in the end just put Good Morning.
They got back to me straight away. I don't even know if they used my name or not. These days it is all about the content...

Using someone’s surname only is rather redolent of old-fashioned boarding schools. ‘Brown Minor, to my office!’

I once had a letter addressing me using my incorrect postal address - Mrs Pineapple Avenue!!

I think we should each be able to choose how we are addressed, it’s not for others to poo-poo our choice. Imagine if you were called Jane but someone started calling you Mary instead, because they didn’t like Jane! You’d be rightly put out.

Just a harmless thread Grantanow.

My given name can also be a surname, so I often it used in both ways. Doesn’t bother me really.

HelterSkelter1

That sounds rather like a scam email, but I assuming it isnt as OP says she is dealing with 2 English companies. Seems strange that if they are using just the surname and know her first name they don't use at least a Ms Surname.
I don't think this is common.

Using Hello First Name is more common and I don't mind that at all. I shall have to look at recent emails from for example the bank and remind myself how they address me. It would be strange if they said Hello and then my Surname only and not 1st name and surname.or just 1st name.

One is a car hire company and the other is the management company of my block of flats and both can se my email address which contains a well know person’s Christian/ first/given name and surname/family name, so there should not be any problems

My son is in correspondence with his local council and is addressed as -

Dear Mr. (forename)

I've no idea how they came up with that form of address.

And although I've had correspondence starting Dear Surname I would argue that it is not standard business practice at all. It indicates to me someone who does not understand business etiquette or basic courtesies and maybe (if it were a choice) I shouldn't be doing business with them!

Perhaps you filled in a contact form and didn't fill in the Mr/Mrs/Ms bit

I disagree that Dear Jones is standard practice and think it sounds quite impolite. Dear Customer would be better.

My given name is neutral , and is a fairly uncommon surname , so no one who hasn’t met me knows whether to use mr or Mrs , so I get nothing before my name unless I ask for it

That sounds rather like a scam email, but I assuming it isnt as OP says she is dealing with 2 English companies. Seems strange that if they are using just the surname and know her first name they don't use at least a Ms Surname.
I don't think this is common.

Using Hello First Name is more common and I don't mind that at all. I shall have to look at recent emails from for example the bank and remind myself how they address me. It would be strange if they said Hello and then my Surname only and not 1st name and surname.or just 1st name.

This is absolutely normal. Companies value time above all else, and they certainly don't need to monitor whether absolutely all the rules of politeness have been applied. And this is the standard format of address for everyone.

I love that quote Calendargirl. It fits my DH perfectly. He resents being addressed by his first name by people he doesn’t know. I am easy either way.

Utterly trivial.

That is a strange way to address someone in a business email, I must say. I'm wondering if it has come from someone for whom English isn't their first language.

I remember a school teacher saying, (not addressed to his pupils),

“My surname is yours to take, my Christian name is mine to give”.

mokryna you remind me of my late MIL, i had to call her mrs for 3 years after my son was born because she did not approve of our relationship, i really can't stand people who do this, i am happy for everyone to call me by my first name, even all the kids in the family use my first name, i prefer this to aunt, i have spent a lot of time in hospital and have asked staff to use my first name, i did get into trouble at a job years ago because i would not call an american sir, i told him he was no better than me and he could call me mrs and i would call him mr. the only thing i have a problem with is people who read my name and say it wrong, my name has a lyn at the end not an ine and if they can't they can call me mrs.

So long as they spell my name correctly…!

I'm getting a lot of plain Dear Mrs these days.
🤷‍♀️

Churchview

I can't work out if they used your surname/familyname or your first name?

Dear Jane might be ok, but Dear Jones would be a bit odd without the Mrs.

Both businesses address the mails as
Hello Surname,
No ‘Dear’ .
I note who has written the mail to me seeing the name gives a hint and reply
using Mr. or Ms surname.
They could write Dear Client, couldn’t they?

If I'm asked how I'd like to be addressed I always say, 'madam'.