Say No To Compulsory Sign Ups !!!!!!!!

yeslek

i think it should be optional

i tend to use the same sites again and again so having accounts are benificial but it isnt always as easy as just going somewhere else.

what if your buyin a gift and M&S are the only ones that do it? (for example)

marleyboy

When I go to the local shop to but a can of coke, I dont want to have to register with them, or give all my details to the assistant, just in case Pepsi want me to take the Taste Test Challenge

olly300

MothballsWallet wrote: »

What really gets under my skin are these idiot companies (and I know of some, but unsure as to whether I can name and shame them) who refuse to update their records when you contact them to help them comply with principal 4 of the Data Protection Act (DPA) and they still contact a previous occupant. They then quote the DPA as why they can't update their records!

I suggest if you are really bothered you write a nice letter/enail to them under the Data Protection Act telling them that their behaviour is a breach of the principles of the Act and you will report them to the Information Commissioner if they do not desist in their behaviour within 28 days.

I've emailed this to companies on a few occassions i.e. Thames Water and they suddenly change their attitude.

olly300

thriftymanc wrote: »

But that's not always true is it? I've had people keep my debit card details without my permission and sometimes even without my knowledge (hello, Lovefilm! They had my card details on file over two years after they'd supposedly deleted my account the first time around - never using them again). And when I contact them to tell them what I think about this and order them to remove them, they ignore me and then have the cheek to send me emails advertising things.

At the end of the day it should be down to the consumer to decide if they want to sign up or not, and even then they should be allowed to choose the level to which they sign up (for example, just your name and address, or card details too?).

Edit: sorry I've just realised what I've said doesn't make sense in relation to that quote! I can't read, obviously - thought you meant that's the only information the company keeps. But what I said's still true!

Send a letter to the company by recorded delivery requesting that under the Data Protection Act 1998 they are to stop processing your personal data within 28 days otherwise you will report them to the Information Commissioner.

I have done this to some companies i.e. Egg, received an apology and no marketing from them.

I have yet to report any company to the Information Commissioner for marketing material as these letters seem to work.

stacey21_2

Aaahh I see thanks ...
It was at Goldsmiths which I thought was a pretty 'upmarket' sort of jeweller (i.e expensive!!!) for my Gucci watch...

And if people are selling batteries at £2..please tell me where to get them - they charged me a tenner!! lol

MothballsWallet

olly300 wrote: »

I suggest if you are really bothered you write a nice letter/enail to them under the Data Protection Act telling them that their behaviour is a breach of the principles of the Act and you will report them to the Information Commissioner if they do not desist in their behaviour within 28 days.

I've emailed this to companies on a few occassions i.e. Thames Water and they suddenly change their attitude.

Unfortunately, I've tried that - even contacted the Information Commissioner, who told me it's within the Act (you can imagine my response when I read that) as only the account holder can update their data...

An account holder who doesn't speak English, told said supplier that they had my permission (they were tenants - they didn't have and they didn't ask)...

RadoJo

I was told by the National Trust that they couldn't send me a new membership card, even though they knew that they had failed to send the originals, as I was only the 'secondary account holder' and my OH was the 'main account holder'. This was due to Data protection she said. I asked her which part of the data protection act covered this, and after 5 minutes on hold she came back with 'the one from 1998'.

I had to explain to her that the act itself covered quite a bit, but as far as I was aware, didn't extend to failing to provide a service which had been paid for because they, ARBITRARILY and without asking, assigned one of us to be the 'main' and one the 'secondary' account holder. And I wasn't even asking for any info, just to have the cards re-sent. There is something inherently annoying about someone who should understand the DPA for their job, but doesn't, and it sounds as though plenty of these web-sites fall into the latter category!

codger

Just wondering. . .

In light of the recent posts on this thread, is there

ANY

consumer protection machinery in the UK which actually. . .

WORKS???


The phone regulators are hopeless.

Now the Information Commissioner seems precisely the same.

Gawd knows how many consumer protection quangos, tangos and no-nos are functioning in this benighted country but the betting must be the collective salary bill's running into £millions.

And for what????


Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh.

Addiscomber

OP (Codger)

If my current experience of Marks and Spencer online is anything to go by you had a lucky escape!
It is a total shambles, one error after another. They have apparently credited my account with £10 to show their genuine concern, after I told them how disappointed I was with the service. There appears to be no way of seeing whether this is off my current order, or as an inducement to place a further order. If it is the latter it is just going to sit there because there is no way that I would order anything else from them after this.

codger

Thanks, addiscomber, for turning a sense of annoyance into a feeling of relief!

If ever there was an persuasive argument for NOT agreeing to compulsory online registration, your post is it.

:T