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

[WhatWillSantaBring]

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!

I'll be having DC1 in the next couple of weeks, thank you for this thread; I've fully briefed DH and our close family not to fall for this bullshit.

That's great to hear Dita, I will certaining be making sure any of my friends who have babies in the future are aware of Bounty's sneaky ways!

Great advice from those who put "no Bounty" in their births plans too!

I didn't have the rep this time because I went home straight from the delivery room. What I did have was the midwife giving me the bag of crap and returning 3 or 4 times, badgering me to fill in the registration form! Each time I mumbled something about doing it later but finally under her watchful eye had to take the form out... she was really pushy. In the end I lied, said I was already registered and promised to update my details online. Then left the bag behind. I'm not sure why she was so forceful. Perhaps she gets into trouble if she can't get details.

I should imagine giving birth can leave a woman vulnerable and any company taking advantage of that vulnerability shouldn't be allowed near them.

The same goes for those awful photographers who prey on mothers love for their new shiny child.

OP...you may be a lawyer but you were vulnerable and this company are/were and will continue to be wrong.

RedToothBrush loving your work on this thread - clear and to the point!

Bounty shouldn't be permitted in hospitals.

That's it for me really, they aren't medical staff but have access to patients as if they were.

Yes that's exactly it.

For me when I had dc4, the bounty lady was an irritating intrusion.
For the lady in the bed opposite though, (who'd had a very traumatic birth, was struggling to BF and had a baby whose face was badly bruised from forceps) it must have been awful to have the bounty lady burst in whilst she was trying to express milk, took one look at her baby and gasped "you won't be wanting a photo of that one"

It is also wrong that my family had to stick to strict visiting times, as otherwise it would be disturbing new mothers when they need to rest, yet the bounty lady is allowed to disturb them whenever she likes.

Btw and more to the OP's point, I also distinctly remember not being asked to consent to marketing. Because I would have definitely said no to that.

Do the RedTooth advised things above about where to complain etc.

I would ban them entirely. There is no place on an NHS Birth ward for any outsiders to come in except relatives and friends. Mothers need peace. Even if only 1 in 100 women don't want them there (and I suspect it is more like 1 in 2) I would still say that was grounds enough to ban them,. I would imagine the NHS trust is paid £50k - £80k a year if they allow Bounty in . Some resist the money. Good for them.

Can't believe this thread is still going.

"My experience was that the woman was very pushy and couldn't take no for an answer. All the mothers seemed to be really pleased when the bounty woman walked in and I felt like I was in the middle of a horrible retake of stepford wives"

Yes. Similar here.

The bounty packs were delivered to our rooms/bedsides by pixies. It's all rather hazy actually, but the packs were just there for us immediately following the birth.

Anyway, Bounty woman walks around with clipboard pointing to the babies and saying "Name?" The women, both of whom had called their babies Lexi (this is not relevant I admit, I wondered if one had copied the other), gushed enthusiastically and gave all their info. I felt almost guilty in refusing. I got some odd glances, certainly.

The pack is rubbish. A waste of paper and packaging

I'm not sure I remember correctly, but isn't it the case that the bounty people are paid commission on number of details obtained?

If so, that explains why they are so persistent in obtaining your details.

I need to complain about my hospital experience, and this has reminded me to do it...I saw the Bounty lady each time I changed ward, heard her pressuring a lady across the way from me who could not even SPELL HER OWN NAME she was so out of it, saying, "i'll write down how I think your name is spelled and you tell me if that is right" for her email address...and even the midwife told me it was the only way I could get the child benefit form...at which point I told her that it wasn't and that I would report her if she even thought about telling new mums that it was, and how could anyone trust her as a midwife if either she didn't know this basic fact, or was lying about it...

Off to pen my complaint...

Wuxiapian Sun 02-Mar-14 12:59:58
Can't believe this thread is still going.

And why do you think that is???!

Maybe you should consider exactly why.

took one look at her baby and gasped "you won't be wanting a photo of that one"

That is outrageous!

Whoever thinks that Bounty is harmless, IMO has very questionable morals.

Bold fail

I must be

I must be one of the few who didn't get bothered by the sounds of it. Was given my pack & pampers that was it! Nothing to fill in!

I never gave it a 2nd thought with dd1 but this time round...i just find it intrusive, a pain in the arse and at the most inconvenient time. I fucking hate being disturbed and when you're baby isnt latching well, youve
had fuck all sleep and feeling a bit low because youve not seen dd1 or dp in 3 days its really not nice. Not to mention the shit through the post. Grrr.

I was in hospital not very long ago for surgery and was in for about the same time as I was when I had DD. Funnily enough, no equivalent to the Bounty lady came round. Why is it ok to shill on the postnatal ward and not on the surgical emergency/any other ward?

As part of the objection handling the Bounty woman swore blind I'd be opted out of marketing. Logically, I should have wondered why she was so insistent I let her complete the form in that situation, but after no sleep in 4 days, 3 of which I'd been labouring, I just gave in to get rid of her. And lo, 6 months later I had to abandon that email account because the junk was so colossal.

I hate, hate hate Bounty. They have an absolutely exploitative attitude to women's personal identity info at a chronically vulnerable time in their lives, they lie in a manner that seems almost systematic, and they presumably pay on a commission basis, if the women's attitudes to getting that data are any guide. I think one of those rogue tradesmen TV shows should try infiltrating and seeing how the arses train their staff and what they tell them their approaches should be.

I have just found this job advertisement for Bounty. It states that they earn 'commission only'

Maybe that is why they are so desperate and pushy. And people think they are ethical?! Pah!