to have just gotten annoyed at someone for giving my number out

[bedubabe]

So this morning I took a call from a firm of financial advisors saying they'd been given my number by someone I work with. I said thanks but no thanks.

I then went to the person (who's the office manager) who gave my name out and said (politely I promise): 'Please can you not give my name out again as I don't want to have to take calls like this'.

OM: 'well they asked for everyone not currently on their books who might be interested. You can always just tell them no'

Me (thinking wow, financial advisers must have been jumping for joy at that one): 'Please can you not give my name out again'

OM: 'But you can always just say no'

Me: 'I don't want to have to say no. Please can you not give my name out anything marketing like this.'

OM: (in a huff): 'OK then'.

So was I being unreasonable? Is it normal to give people's details out to third parties? I always refuse to but am happy to take a card and pass it onto anyone who might be interested.

The office manager could have just said no when asked to provide leads! YANBU.

I would go senior and report them. That is confidential information and he's got no right under the Data Protection Act.

Jaw has dropped - why on earth did your office manager give your number out to anyone who isn't directly involved in whatever business your company is engaged in?

YANBU, totally out of order to do this (at least without asking you first).

YWNBU at all - colleague was

No isn't that some sort of data protection issue??

I'm really hoping she gave the managing partner's name out :)

Not going to report her, doesn't seem worthwhile just thought I'd check I was still living in the real world!

oh lordy any office manager who gave out staff information to a random stranger on the phone would be in trouble at any company I have worked for [compliance officer emoticon]

YADNBU. That's totally not on. I thought, these days, it would be company policy, wherever you work, not to give out colleagues phone numbers to third parties.

Out of interest, did they have your mobile number or your work extension number? Not that it makes any difference, your OM shouldn't have done it in the first place.

YANBU. I'd be very cross too. I hate this type of call and they are all the worse if someone you know has set you up for one.

Totally out of order, I never give out a number without asking first (even when I am pretty certain I could e.g. a friend with a lost phone)
I would be livid with a friend giving out my number I would feel murderous towards a workmate. If they were in a position of authority I would make a quiet complaint. (although I accept this is one of my "things")

I would report. What other private information that she is privy to in her role could she have disclosed? "Ms Beduba earns 25k, and I know she has credit card debts, and now wants to buy a house and is currently looking for a mortgage?"

was it your work number or your home number?

YANBU. Don't want to upset you further but don't these places sell on people's names and numbers to other financial institutions? Your number is 'out there now'. I'd be really annoyed and would report.

Work number. Mobile is a work mobile so don't know if she'd have avoided giving that out anyway.

Will report if she does it again. I think she was just an idiot and doesn't deserve to lose her job over it.

I think it may have been her financial advisers. I seriously hope it wasn't someone calling on spec (I work for a law firm, there's a lot of people with a lot of money (not me) and the financial advisers would have been jumping for joy).

The thing is, they are now free to sell your number on, having seen that you are not interested in their services.

Becasue we're not in the UK I don't think they will. Will keep an eye out for it though, thanks.

Not that I have enough money at the moment that they should be bothering with me in the first place!

Hang on. Was this your office number/extension and not your personal phone number? As in the number owned by the company and not by you?

If it was then I think you are blowing this massively out of proportion.

It was probably a bit dim-witted of your OM but sales people are trained to get this sort of information out of people.
If they are a firm of financial advisers they will be regulated by the FSA and if you say "No, I'm not interested" then that will be the end of it.
I get heaven knows how many sales calls in my working week, it goes with the territory of having an office job.

You've asked your OM not to do this again, leave it be. No need for reporting under the Data Protection Act, that's just hysteria.

(NB If they gave out your home number then that is clearly another kettle of fish)

Hang on a minute, there could be a simple explanation, our managers often secure 'group' deals for us.... half price ferry tickets for example. which are of a benefit to the entire staff.

she gave out your employee phone number, which belongs to the company not you.
if she wants you to spend your time that the company is paying for, answering these type of calls, then she is right you can always say no. i would not be surprised if she had senior management backing for this. Are you cross because it wasnt something you would have benefited from?

Had she given out your personal number it'd have been a whole different ball game.

Great minds MateyMooo

i was just about to post that myself! (scary meeting of minds smiley)

I'm not reporting her under the blinking data protection act because a) it doesn't apply and b) it's not a big enough deal for her to actually get in trouble over it. I was asking whether I was odd in requesting that this information isn't given out in future.

I used to do the same job, you get people calling up all the time trying to get details of our employees. Part of the job is to deflect it so the MP doesn't end up talking to someone about this wonderful new conference in Bogata that only costs $1,000,000 to attend.

They're not in the UK so not regulated by FSA (although they are a UK company so might follow their rules). I went to speak to her because if I don't tell her that I don't want her to give my number out then how does she know for next time.

Oh and it's def not a group deal situation. Can't think what group deal financial advisers would be offering anyway - they make their money on commission from the products (or these ones do anyway).

This is a good example of a pointless thread where it would have been useful from the beginning to say you were not in the uk.

You seem quite annoyed by the responses, what did you expect? You are drip feeding information.

Waste of time.

If this is an expat financial advisor, they always seem to ask if you have any other friends you can recommend them to, and I have several times been handed a form to fill in with details of 3-6 people they could call. I was never happy doing this so refused, but did get calls from other people's IFAs who'd done the same thing.

Unless you genuinely think your IFA is the best thing ever and really, really want to recommend him/her to your friends - in which case you should tell them yourself - I just can't understand why anyone would do this.

I said I wasn't in the UK about halfway down. I didn't state intially because hadn't even thought I'd get a response where it was relevant.

I wasn't annoyed at getting told to report. I was annoyed at being told I was blowing it out of proportion when all I was doing was asking whether it was reasonable to not want the information out.