Warning: Emma's Diary selling personal contact info

BottomRung

Having dug a bit deeper it appears this is quite common compaint regarding Emma's Diary. Some women are being hassled years later even after a miscarriage which must be a terrible cionstant reminder to them. Seems once you are in you are in and there will be no stopping the constant harassment. I have emailed the ICO and the RCGP to complain about this practice so hopefully they'll at least get a slap. Will speak to my GP, who recommended these aholes (commission?) and ask her to stop doing it as it's counter-productive.

BottomRung

Well Emma's Diary got back to me this morning and claim that both my partner and I didn't opt out of 3rd party contact so should expect calls. I find this hard to believe as we always opt out, however we have no way of proving this one way or the other so will have to endure any calls we get from now on. All I can say is that if you are signing up to make sure to tick no 3rd party contact and keep a screenshot of this for future reference. Also if you have subscribed and want out then email [EMAIL="unsubscribes@emmasdiary.co.uk"]unsubscribes@emmasdiary.co.uk[/EMAIL] . Regardless of who's fault this may be, it still seems a very dubious way of getting details to sell on.

Hmm71

Don't blame yourself BottomRung, sometimes those 3rd party marketing boxes are pre-ticked and you have to untick them to opt out of the marketing. Maybe that's what happened to you.
I've been caught out that way before, it's annoying and a bit sneaky.

bod1467

I thought automatic opt-ins were illegal now? Or at least a breach of a code of practice??

MothballsWallet

bod1467 wrote: »

I thought automatic opt-ins were illegal now? Or at least a breach of a code of practice??

The EU wanted marketing to be an automatic opt-out, but precious Blair and his New Labour pals refused and went with automatic opt-in.

Whether that's since been made illegal/code of practice breach I don't know for sure.

Another tip for numbers - Google "ofcom phone numbers for tv dramas" and use one of the numbers from those - they don't connect to anything as they're reserved for use by TV shows.

Lip_Stick

I've just gone to the site to look at the registration page and the only options for allowing 3rd party calls etc are quite obvious. You'd have to physically tick each one for each company. It's not like you could be tricked by it, or that you'd tick them all by accident.

There's no option to 'opt-out' of 3rd party contact so not sure what Emma's Diary are meaning, unless I'm missing something (quite likely!).

Hope they get caught out with this sooner rather than later, cheeky gits!

Hmm71

bod1467 wrote: »

I thought automatic opt-ins were illegal now? Or at least a breach of a code of practice??

I thought they were as well but I still see them on some websites, UK and US.

nikki_angel

I've been hounded by a photography company who are affiliated with Emma's Diary. Despite the fact that I have been in touch with the company and Emma's diary which seems like a thousand times. I wouldn't mind so much but I lost the baby not long into the pregnancy so each time they contact me it is like a kick in the teeth.

I managed to speak to ED directly once but I stupidly didn't write down the number as I thought the situation had been resolved as promised. Can I find the number again??? Not at all. It seems that you have to go round in circles to get a direct number for them. I can't tell you how much this situation has upset me.