Catalogue Companies - Is this legal??

Milky_Mocha

My Mum wants to browse through the SimplyYours catalogue as she liked the styles they advertised on TV. When I phoned to request a catalogue they asked for my date of birth and previous addresses. I said, "I'm not placing an order, I simply want a copy of the catalogue. If and when I'm ready to place an order I'll give you that information". The man on the phone said "By law I have to obtain this information before I send you a catalogue".

Only after I pressed further with a number of questions did he say they would use that information to run a credit check.

My question is, is it true that the law now requires companies to obtain such personal information before allowing them to browse their items for sale?

I smell a very bad rat here.

MiM

JoeHel

My only experience with catalogues is that, if they send you one, they send a pre-agreed "credit limit" as to what they will allow you to order. I've had that with Next and Simply Be. Whether or not you order anything, you are sent the catalogue with a letter saying how much they will let you order without pre-payment. I don't know if it's a legal requirement, but it's certainly how these catalogues have worked.

getting-sorted-sarah

I would steer clear - I noticed a credit account with Studio cards on my credit record when I looked at it - I had a catalogue but I never ordered!

getting-sorted-sarah

If this is the lingerie company you are talking about - your mum can browse online here: http://simplyyoursuk.drct2u.com/home.jsp

YorkshireBoy

ts_aly2000 wrote: »

Regarding insurance (and a few other non credit things), I actually object to be credit checked when I don't even want credit. I'm sufficiantly competent with money to be able to pay up front.

It's (probably) just an "ID Enquiry" or "ID - Money Laundering" search.

After all, would you want to sell insurance to someone with an 'Material Falsehood - Application Fraud' CIFAS marker on their file?

balmk

It's been standard practice for yas far as I can remember for catalogue companies to do a credit check before sending out a catalogue. This is always in the small print on their printed ads, and a notice appears on screen during TV ads.

Hope that helps

Milky_Mocha

Thanks for your posts. I think the financial world is getting out of control. Why can't they have two options for issuing catalogues - one where you can request no credit search as you will pay upfront and another where you have pre-determined credit limit. At this rate they'd be credit searching customers at shop entrances before allowing them to browse. I really can't understand it. I don't mind them doing the search before I'm allowed to place an order.

Milky_Mocha

getting-sorted-sarah wrote: »

If this is the lingerie company you are talking about - your mum can browse online here: http://simplyyoursuk.drct2u.com/home.jsp

Thanks Sarah. My Mum is not computer literate unfortunately and I barely have the time to sit with her as we navigate through the whole site. I feel so sorry for her. Due to arthritis she can't go out to the shops anymore and loves to browse catalogues. Its sometimes a pain though, to keep doing her returns when an item doesn't fit or is faulty etc.

Bagpuss1973

Probably because it is easier for them to do the checks first.

At the end of the day they are a business (I appreciate it is a hassle for you/your Mum) and they have probably lost so much in the past due to people not paying (I am not suggesting you and your Mum wouldn't - but the company do not know that)

It is the way our society is going I'm afraid. Due to a few not paying (for various reasons - have a look at the Aussie who is going to skip the Country thread!) some ligit some not everyone gets tarred with the same brush.

I would just go with the credit check - if you are upfront I cannot really see what the problem is.

Scaredy_Cat_3

Can't you go to the website and reuqest a postal catalogue that way? I have a feeling I've done that with other catalogues and they only ask for name and address - I think!

Alternatively, I don't know about you, but I'm always getting these little 'INFO' brochures (at least once a week) where you tick the catalogues you want to see and send off a postcard, then they send out what you've requested. Again, they only ask for name and address on that postcard.

karatedragon

I steer well away from Catalogues now. They are cheeky so and so's.

I wont mention the catalogue name but I ordered and paid in full on my Debit Card but when I got a copy of my credit record there was an entry for an account with the catalogue yet I did not want one.

I managed to get a number to call thier "credit underwriting" department and roared at them down the phone to remove the entry and close the account that I had not asked for. They did not want to play ball so I told them I would visit thier offices to discuss the matter.

About 2 weeks later I got a letter saying the account was closed and the entry removed from my CRA file along with the searches.

So unfortunately that one catalogue has ruined potential customer form me to all of them as I avoid at all costs.

Why cant these people grasp the fact that there are some people still around that don't want to live on their poxy credit deals and prefer to pay upfront???