To be pissed off that I cannot buy anything in any shop without this happening?

[MarniRose]

So, I went shopping yesterday and bought items in five places ... Jack Wills, Jigsaw, Mint Velvet, Neal's Yard and Joules. As I came to pay, without exception, the first question I was asked was ' what's your email address please?' Or ' can I take your postcode please?' or ' and your full name please? '

I'm fed up with it. I just want to pay for my goods and get the receipt. I don't want it ' emailed to me.' I don't want to be added to your mailing list in an almost surreptitious way. Bar supermarkets, it really is in every shop these days.

Yesterday I said, for the first time, ' no, I'd rather not give you my email address, I'd just really like to pay please' and the woman was a bit taken aback and almost didn't know what to do.

So what do you do? Do you divulge this info and not care and then get bombarded with emails every day? Or do you refuse to give the info?

I may have to set up a special email address for this. 'Yes, my email address is [email protected]. Let me spell it for you...F...U' etc.

Most of the shops I've been in lately urge you to fill in a survey at a web address on the receipt, which is just a different cunt's trick to get email addresses, right? I bet nobody ever wins £100 for doing it.

I get this when ever I go into Mothercare, I'm soft and don't have the heart to decline although it's a massive pain in the arse as some parts of it need to be spelt out. Might just bite the bullet and decline next time.

I used to work for a well known supermarket and every now and then the system would ask us to ask for peoples post codes, I think it was for research purposes to see where their customers were coming from, most of the time I used to just make them up to avoid annoying people who simply wanted to pay for their shopping and go lol.

YANBU at all OP. I always say 'I'd rather not say - thanks'. Big fucking brother at work or what? Oyster cards leave a trail behind you, CCTV every bloody where. name, address, post code, number?? Where will this surveillance culture end?

On another point. I was giving my debit card number to a bloke over the phone the other day and he was repeating it back to me out loud. I asked him politely to not do that, he agreed not to but spoke to me there on in like I was some kind of paranoid nutter; which I am, but he doesn't know me well enough..

I hate this too. I also worked in retail until fairly recently.

My employers (new management who took over from my lovely last boss) insisted on collecting loads of data from everyone who entered the shop which I then had to follow up at least three times by phone in the following weeks.

Are you still interested in this pram?
Are you coming back in to buy it?
Did you find it at a better price? We may be able match it.
If bought at another store, which one and at what price?

Basically, hounding them until they're thoroughly sick of you and then won't pick up your calls.

Couldn't stand it so I left. I would hate to be treated like this as a customer.

The vast majority of customers were (I feel) caught on the hop and gave their details, obviously unaware of the mither that they'd let themselves in for.

Ugh. Glad to be out of all of that.

KhaloS - I fill in the receipt surveys all the time - I have won a LARGE value shopping card heck of a lot more than £100 for one of the supermarkets and a special signed music CD from a well known music retailer. they get the same shopping-crap email as I give the stores themselves. 10 minutes every so often - because as we know "no-one" fills them in... just as well really, more for meeeee...

seriously - when I worked in retail we were luck to get 1 in 50 feedback on the web address on the receipt - gives good odds! Especially outside the busy Xmas/Easter months.

I usually just say that I've given it to them on a previous occasion and they seem happy with that.

I set up a separate gmail account a couple of years ago that I give out when I know a company will be generating lots of spam.

That way if I do need something, I can find it, but it's not clogging up my inbox. Log in and out occasionally to keep the email address open, problem solved.

It may or may not be egog'srealname'[email protected] .

I'm going to start saying no when they ask for email address.
It wastes so much time. I just want to pay and go.

YABU to boast about the shops you shopped in. YANBU to be pissed off, drives me nuts.

I don't shop in posh shops and haven't ever been asked to give my details out ever, maybe they assume if I'm shopping in Primark, Wilkos and Poundland there is seriously no point in hounding me for anything

May be in only shopping in low end places but I went to six different high street chains today and not one of them asked me for anything.

"Your postcode please" I live in my car
"Loyalty card?" I am only loyal to my dog
"Do you want stamps?" Nobody writes letters these days
"Would you like a chocolate bar, they're only 20p?" No, I'm obese enough ta
"What's your bra size?" I don't wear one
"Are you having a nice weekend?" No, my Auntie Mavis told me she hates me yesterday and now I'm hitting the bottle to try and deal with my feelings
"Do you need me to put these in a bag for you?" why yes, I have no arms as you can see
"Did you find everything you were looking for?" I didn't manage to find the in store psychotherapist
"Can I shag your boyfriend?" I have no boyfriend, only the dog

I obviously don't go shopping enough, because I've never been asked this!

I agree Pipbin - no one asks me that question - I'm obviously not shopping in the right places .

But why is it so hard to just say 'no thanks' or 'I don't use email' .......... or as a last resort just give a fake email address.

girliefriend

It's not worth getting worked up about really.
Today I went in M&S, Primark, H&M, Lakeland, Boots, Lush, Wilkos and FatFace. No one in any of those shops asked me for anything other than my money.
Also, I don't see the problem in asking if a customer wants a bag.

The woman in Matalan was very stroppy about me not having a loyalty card. She kept going on about saving me some money etc.

I hate shopping these days. I blame it on the Americans and their overblown obsession with customer service.

I hate the minute I walk into a shop being accosted by a shop assistant, then I hate it when I'm trying something on having the shop assistant pretending that the item looks really stylish on me and I particularly hate it when I have just entered the changing room and am feeling vulnerable, semi-naked and fat, to have the shop assistant knocking on the door asking if I'm ok.

I also hate it when they try to sell non-related items at the till. I'm in Scotland now so if you don't buy a bag they spend hours wrapping the item in tissue paper - it's a bit like that scene in Love Actually where sometimes bows and ribbons are involved, I'm not sure it's better for the environment than a bag either. They often try to talk to me at this point as well so it takes even longer.

To date I have not been asked for my address except when I am doing returns - if this starts to be a thing I will hate it too.

I feel very sorry for shop assistants having customers like me.

Lemony I was taking a return from an online purchase to FatFace so that could be why they didn't ask. I'm so regular at Lush that I know most of the staff there, so perhaps that's why for both of them.

hiddenhome - that's made me giggle

Unfortunately, shop assistants are told to collect this information and put under considerable pressure to achieve their targets for certain things like a customer completing an online "How did I do " survey. They are also badgered to greet customers as soon as they enter the shop and pester them by constantly asking if they need help. Flogging items at the till is another thing they are encouraged to do and offering a store account is part of their role. I find it all too much to bear but I do sympathise with the shop assistants situation and try to be polite and courteous.