No you are NOT having my personal details.

elvis_bloggs

My local Aldi was thinking of re-locating to another part of town and for about a week as customers came through the checkout they were being lobbied by a group of young ladies who were asking questions as to what the customers thought about the move and would they still shop at the new location, etc. etc., anyway at the end of the survey they wanted, names, addresses, age and even if you had a car or not, at that point I did not give anymore information.

ben500

zappomatic wrote:

All they were doing was trying to find out how far their customers travel to shop with them. Is that really so bad? The John Lewis Partnership is not the sort of business to sneakily sign you up for junk and sell your details.

The problem with this particular question is it is usually followed by the inevitable "and can I have your door number please" and now you are immediately identifiable by a quick check of the electoral roll.

As a purchaser the store does not generally NEED any information about you, they may WANT it but do not need it, unless of course you have opted for some kind of extended warranty on your pint of milk and two packets of rich tea!

Providing this information to such organisations merely allows them to pigeonhole you as a customer into one of their comfortable categories and enables them to discriminate against consumers merely because of their postcodes. Why become a willing party to such discrimination? bearing in mind that more often than not they have no right to solicit such information, and just as often they are specifically prohibited from collecting and storing such information under the Data Protection Act.

People would do well to bear in mind when supplying such information that they are contributing to the ability of these companies to discriminate against certain sectors of the community, whilst also supplying them with valuable data to be later sold on to third parties who will in turn probably bombard you with telephone calls, mail shots etc, rather than wonder where these companies get your details from five years from now wouldn't it be better to just not provide them in the first place

dragonsoup

IvanOpinion wrote:

Maybe the information is being asked for warranty purposes? Get over it ... most of you are just not important enough to worry about a shop asking for information that is available on the public domain anyway.

Ivan

Actually it isn't. PC World wanted my info for their own purposes. Up til then they had no other info on me other than my title, one initial, surname and my cc details. I have a fairly common surname and they would be unable to identify me from that. Link in my address and that information then becomes very valuable, especially as they also know my card type and that I can afford to pay £xxx. They also then know I have a new Sat Nav... Link that to profiles of other people who have bought them etc etc. Next time they discover I have bought a new something or other. Rapidly a picture of me is built up.

I am a direct markting manager and I do know how this data is used, analysed and sold on. I won't use any clubcards etc. The pittance the companies give you back for giving them chapter and verse on your shopping habits is not worth it to me. If you want some idea of the way this data from different sources is pieced together look up your acorn classification (which is a fairly basic one) on your own postcode. It is easily accessed from upmystreet.com and then from the neighbourhood link.

IvanOpinion

I know what you are saying but that is just the way that society is going ... I actually think that many people could reap benefits with it as well.

You may work in marketing but I work in IT and while I have not directly worked on such systems I have seen a couple of specifications for them (including one benig used by a credit card company ... if you want credit then you have already sold your soul to the marketeers). What people have to remember is that these systems number crunch millions of transactions every day ... you probably have a similar chance of winning the pools. I have seen systems were accounts have not been looked at by a human being in several years it has all been automatic (accept transactions, calculate and issue bill, accept payment .. same thing next month, never any customer contact etc. ... fully 100% automatic - including a shift to a cheaper tariff).

I have quite an unusual surname (its English but not overly common) ... maybe someday something will happen and I will look back and wish I hadn't done something until then as long as they keep sending me money off vouchers etc. I can live with it.

Ivan

mah_jong

The first time I was asked all this stuff was when I wnet into the leccy shop and wanted to buy an iron with CASH...... where did I live etc????!!!!! I was gobsmacked at the time, I can tell you!, but its years ago now (7 ??) and have got used to it!

hawkwinddotcom

What gets up my nose is Matalan asking/telling you have to register before shopping!

Well done Matalan, one customer lost, how many more do you lose because of this?


Excellent Forum BTW

Smiley_Mum

How many people own a clubcard/Tesco Visa card? Look at the amount of information that they glean from that. £1 in every £8 is spent in Tesco. Are they getting too big??? :think:

jockettuk

ben500 wrote:

It's not just when you are purchasing.
Often on your own doorstep during your favourite tv programme you will get "Is your telephone with BT?" "Do you realise you can save money by switching your gas supply are you with British Gas?" "Are you the owner of the property?" the list is endless, there have been skirmishes in our household when the doorbell goes in our eagerness to answer a call to one of these unsuspecting intruders into our lives, we all have the same answer to their questions, "What on earth has that got to do with you and what are you ringing my bell for to ask me such personal questions?" the reaction is always the same the poor unsuspecting fly falls foul of the spider and recoils but all attempts at escape are inevitably futile, "more to the point who do you have your credit card with?" says we, "where did you buy that jacket and how much did you pay for it?" "Do you know where I can get discount on a plasma screen?" "Did you bring any light bulbs the one in the bathroom has just blown" works a treat on electricity sellers!! :rotfl:

Just bombard them with questions and you won't need to tell them to F**k off then!

any callers to my home get told sorry but ive just got divorced and im selling the house and ghe ex is getting half so no i dont want anything , by this time they saying sorry to bother you and they off lol.. yes got divorced no not selling the house hee hee

ben500

Smiley_Mum wrote:

How many people own a clubcard/Tesco Visa card? Look at the amount of information that they glean from that. £1 in every £8 is spent in Tesco. Are they getting too big??? :think:

I think you'll find you are referencing the wrong tense referring to getting a more appropriate question would be " Are they too big" to which I would answer they at least think they are! But only a foolhardy trader underestimates the power of the consumer!

innovate

Smiley_Mum wrote:

How many people own a clubcard/Tesco Visa card? Look at the amount of information that they glean from that. £1 in every £8 is spent in Tesco. Are they getting too big??? :think:

As a TESCO card holder I get sent vouchers for discounts of more of the same stuff that I buy regularly. Although I am not really a "vouchers person", I do actually like them, and I now use those vouchers because I get a discount........

It's a little scary when some computer or other knows what and when you eat and how much of which soap you use..........the younger ones amongst us will no doubt remember reading Aldous Huxley's '1984' in the sixties and thinking 'naaaah, never, not where we live"....but it's pretty much true now, isn't it?

Here's the spoof? on ordering a pizza in 2010 ..............