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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

To be pissed off with myself re Bounty - help me take action

237 replies

WhatWillSantaBring · 28/02/2014 10:43

I knew it was coming! I know my rights! I'm a lawyer, FFS, and I still got conned into giving my bastard details to the bounty woman in hopsital following the birth of my DC2.

However, I was sufficiently lucid to clearly think - "it's ok, I have not been asked to consent to marketing". My sketchy knowledge of the DPA is that they are now therefore in breach of it, as my details have been sold to third parties. Anyone want to help me with how I make a complaint to the ICO? Or maybe this is a campaign for Which? (I'm a member)

Or will a complaint do nothing. These bastards must be stopped!

OP posts:
DinoSnores · 01/03/2014 07:49

When the Bounty lady came round, I just said "no, thank you " & she handed the bag anyway saying that she didn't need to take any details. I was all ready for a fight & she was perfectly nice!

JRmumma · 01/03/2014 08:00

My Bounty lady was fine, but it might have something to do with the fact that she had bumped into MIL outside and it turned out they used to work together (not at Bounty) so she might have just not wanted to push it with me.

Maybe there should be a MN badge for new mums to wear on the postnatal ward so that Bounty ladies know they not welcome and retreat hastily, rather than try to convince us that we need them and their wares?

RedHelenB · 01/03/2014 08:03

YABU - really don't get the angst on here about it! Don't want it say no, if you do it means some free samples ( wipes box v handy as I remember!)
And I loved having those first day photos & birth announcements & baby book at a v, reasonable price. DD1 had an operation soon after her birth & I was ill & those photos captured her looking v. different to after her op.

ll31 · 01/03/2014 08:11

Really don't get the ott reactions, tbh, just say no if you don't want it.

CheshireDing · 01/03/2014 08:45

OP we complained after pfb as she started getting junk mail at 6 weeks ! The company admitted they had looked at the form we had filled it and DH had actually written on it that our details should not be shared - it seems they scan the forms before destroying.
Anyway they apologised, tried to blame admin error and the junk stopped.
With no2 we didnt even collect the pointless packs.

FrankelInFoal · 01/03/2014 08:49

But surely the point is that a marketing firm should not be given access to potentially vulnerable women in a hospital? If it's just about the CB form and the freebies can't they just make up packs and leave them for the midwives to hand out rather than have people wandering around the wards with a sales pitch?

RedHelenB · 01/03/2014 08:57

But they DON'T have a sales pitch - they ask if you would like your baby's picture taken & give you a bag of goodies! And often you don't see them. Had to go back to hospital to have dd2's photo taken!

cloutiedumpling · 01/03/2014 08:59

I just wanted to say, the Bounty reps are not all horrible women. When I had DC3 I explained to the rep that came round that DC3 was in SCBU so she wouldn't be able to take photos etc and that I didn't want to give my address etc because I didn't want to receive the endless marketing that I'd had after DCs 1 and 2. She kindly "forgot" one of her packs and left it at the end of the bed for me when I was visiting DC3. No details taken. No marketing received.

crispyporkbelly · 01/03/2014 09:02

I gave birth on Christmas Day so didn't meet any reps or even a lactation consultant! Even McDonalds was bloody closed!

Original poster
WhatWillSantaBring · 01/03/2014 09:06

Oh fabulous, thank you redtoothbrush - I shall have a go. Ironically, if I had not just had a baby I would have the time and resources to let rip at the hospital and Bounty (my employer's DPA officer is in my team, I have access to legal texts and PCs, printers etc) but on mat leave, I am stuck with typing one handed on a ipad ...

OP posts:
SarahBumBarer · 01/03/2014 09:10

I've never understood the mumsnet preoccupation with Bounty. I had DC in two separate hospitals and they were no bother in either hospital, polite, chucked a pack at me, took no details, pointed out the CB form was inside and off they went. And DC2 was in NICU so I know all about stressful situations etc but they were just a friendly face. I've never even heard anyone in real life mention let alone complain about Bounty ladies. It's just nothing and all the fuss makes MN sound a bit deranged.

FrankelInFoal · 01/03/2014 09:10

RedHelen, but if you read this thread you will see an awful lot of women HAVE been given a sales pitch - pushing for photographs, incorrectly telling women they won't be able to get Child Benefit, etc.

Original poster
WhatWillSantaBring · 01/03/2014 09:11

ll34 - my point is that they have taken my personal data and passed it to third parties, without my consent. I was not given the choice of saying no, as she lied and said she needed the data for "statistics". I should have been more alert to what was going on and told her to fuck off to the far side of fuck, but I was tired and not thinking straight. I wish I had just said no, that's why I'm pissed off!

OP posts:
SarahBumBarer · 01/03/2014 09:11

And on MN there is a constant chorus of "you;re pregnant ill" "why should you get special treatment because you are pregnant" but as soon as you've had a baby you need huge levels of protection from ladies giving you nappy rash samples Hmm

SarahBumBarer · 01/03/2014 09:12

*not ill.

Original poster
WhatWillSantaBring · 01/03/2014 09:15

Sarah - I'm glad you had a good experience, and I'm sure 1000s of women do, but if me, a professional with years of experience of telling clients the other side in commercial negotiations to fuck off, after a birth with a good outcome can be conned, what about the truly vulnerable women? They have broken the law and stolen my details... I want revenge a satisfactory response!

OP posts:
Original poster
WhatWillSantaBring · 01/03/2014 09:22

But the point is, you're in hospital when they approach you - you are therefore automatically vulnerable, because you can't control who comes into your cubicle. You can't lock the door, and in many cases (post c-section women, or like me, with a catheter and still numb legs from emergency surgery and massive blood loss) can't even get out of bed to pull the curtain across. A c-section is a major operation, so yes, you are "ill" afterwards!

OP posts:
krasnayaploshad · 01/03/2014 09:23

RedToothBrush great post.
I did a search for the compliance manager & found her! She has changed her name to Sarah Heaney & she is listed as Sarah Heaney (Wragg).
Her linkedin profile is here

uk.linkedin.com/pub/sarah-heaney-wragg/83/884/21a

Hope that helps.
OP - I hope you can follow redtoothbrush's advice. Let us know how you get on.

Koothrapanties · 01/03/2014 09:44

Does anyone know what the thread was called where all the posters gave their experiences of bounty after giving birth? I want to link it so that the posters above can understand the problem with bounty.

Koothrapanties · 01/03/2014 09:45

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_campaigns/1777511-Campaign-to-end-Bounty-sales-reps-access-to-maternity-wards-please-read-and-share

Read that and then tell me bounty should be allowed in hospitals!

SarahBumBarer · 01/03/2014 09:51

All the threads in the world only indicate the problems that SOME women had with Bounty and given that a lot of the problem is that they are feeling hormonal and vulnerable, the perspective may be a bit skewed. Reports on that thread are that Bounty women "gave a filthy look" or "looked shocked" or "founced off" or "I was made to feel". Just a lot bit open to interpretation.

I've never felt automatically vulnerable in hospital. In fact I usually feel more resilient because it is too important not to be. I'm certainly capable of saying no, faking sleep or pushing a call button and do not need a MN campaign on an issue which the silent majority do not give a crap about and indeed a number of us found a positive aspect to. There are bad employees in all walks of life, I just find the clubby hysteria around Bounty on this forum, which is usually pretty kick-ass, somewhat pathetic.

Anyway, it's clearly going to be one of those days where MN just gets on my tits so I'm going to go and get some fresh air

Cheerymum · 01/03/2014 09:54

I was in the ward for six days with my twins. Feeding them and expressing the extra milk they needed to treat their jaundice and syringing it into them was a 24/7 job, and the midwives were not sufficiently staffed to offer much help. Bounty woman barged in on 5 separate occasions forgetting I had already politely declined. Twice she woke me up from precious snatches of sleep. I was too tired to get furious, but it was intrusive and fucking annoying

Koothrapanties · 01/03/2014 10:04

Sarah nice way to completely devalue womens real experiences.

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