AIBU to think Mothercare is breaking the law here?

[pasbeaucoupdegendarme]

Last week I dispatched DH to Mothercare to get some newborn essentials while I remained pinned to the sofa clusterfeeding ds. When he paid for the items, he was asked for his email address on the grounds that "We are trying to go paperless and would like to email you your receipt." More fool him, he agreed.

Since then (8 days ago) he has received 8 marketing emails as well as the promised email receipt, including emails from the Early Learning Centre.

He's just gone to the website to unsubscribe, and in doing so discovered that they have his email address preferenced to receive emails from third parties. This isn't true. He was at no point asked whether he was happy to receive emails (other than emailed receipts), and he certainly wasn't asked if they could sell his details. This is in direct contrast to information on Mothercare's website which states "Mosaic Marketing and Mothercare plc will never pass on your details to 3rd parties without your consent." Now, ELC is probably part of one of these so technically isn't a third party, but that doesn't alter the fact that they'd automatically made that selection on his email preferences.

AIBU to think this is illegal - in contravention of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003?

Oh my God. I have been wondering why all of a sudden I am getting awful junk emails, obvious scam ones too- e.g. Click to win Primark or M&S vouchers. Could it really be Mothercare???! The start of emails do coincide with shopping there last week. I am shocked by this from a company like Mothercare.

Argos keep asking for my email address. I say I don't have one. However in the queue I overheard several people handing over their details without asking why they needed to give it out.

I have a mailbox I use just for online shopping and any other dealings where I'm a consumer, so it isn't the end of the world if I get spammed. But I still refuse to give my email address and postcode in shops if I'm asked for it, and if they insist I'll walk away without buying. It's the principle. I'm paying for the stuff with money, not my privacy.

Mothercare did this to us a few months ago. How useful I thought to have your receipt emailed to you so you don't lose it, until I received tens of ELC & Mothercare emails, I've opted out of everything now. Grrrr

Report them to the ICO as linked above. It is a breach of Data protection act and Perc.

There will have been an option to opt out. Either they gave him something to sign and he didn't read it before signing (his bad) or it's done on their computer and the staff didn't read it out to him (their bad).

I think he has just had a crap person in the till tbh as both dp and I have our receipts emailed to us and when we set it up we were both asked (2 diff stores) and have never received any marketing crap.

Cassie, he definitely wasn't asked and didn't sign anything.

Cassie this may be the law, which is probably/hopefully why you make this point, but the amount of times I have been asked for email and never given or asked any terms even when specifically requesting...the bastids dont do it. It is a thing. IT'S A THING.

MUMSNET CLASS ACTION

It's against contact law as well, as your DH didn't sign up for this at the outset, his details cannot be passed on after his email address was given. This would constitute a change in contact and both parties would have to agree to the change.

I spent many years as a retail manager, I'm aware of how requesting customer information works.

Your first step in this instance is to complain to the store manager. Alternatively complain to head office. In store will likely get you an apology, HO may net you some vouchers. Neither can now remove your details from whoever already has them but you shouldn't get any future contact.

In future don't give out information to companies. I didn't even have my real information on my own company store card because I know all it takes is one careless employee or genuine error and your details are out there forever.

.. And I know that because I set up my own card and mistakenly didn't click the "Do not pass this info on" box properly so I still get junk mail years later

It breaks the data protection act. People who are collecting data are required to be clear about how they intend to use and store it but particularly share it.

You can complain to the Information Commissioners Office here:

ico.org.uk/concerns

When we visited the US last year stores ask you for a telephone number when you make a purchase. In one shop in a non-touristy area the assistant could not process the sale without one (it was a couple of hundred dollars of clothes) and could not take my UK mobile. Luckily, my friend was happy to give hers. She said it is common in the US to have a landline number purely and simply for this kind of junk and use your mobile for friends and family

Ahh they did this to me and I got so fed up with it I forwarded all emails to an investors email for Mothercare I found on the net. Stopped getting emails like a week or so later

Just use unroll.me unroll.me

Sign up, everything you subscribe to will be listed and unsubscribe from everything you don't want in one go.

"Marketing campaigns

If you're planning a marketing campaign, you'll have to comply with a number of regulations. Some of these apply to unsolicited electronic messages sent by telephone, fax, email or text, while others apply to marketing material sent by post.

Electronic mail marketing

The most important thing to remember is that you can only carry out unsolicited electronic marketing if the person you're targeting has given you their permission.

However, there is an exception to this rule. Known as the 'soft opt-in' it applies if the following conditions are met;

where you've obtained a person's details in the course of a sale or negotiations for a sale of a product or service;where the messages are only marketing similar products or services; and where the person is given a simple opportunity to refuse marketing when their details are collected, and if they don't opt out at this point, are given a simple way to do so in future messages.

When you send an electronic marketing message, you must tell the recipient who you are and provide a valid contact address.

The rules on emails don't apply to emails sent to organisations, though you must still identify yourself and provide an address.

The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and Fax Preference Service (FPS) are operated by the Direct Marketing Association, and allow people to register their numbers to opt out of receiving unsolicited calls or faxes. You must not market individuals or organisations who have registered their numbers with theTPSor FPS.

In summary, we recommend that your marketing campaigns are always permission-based and you explain clearly what a person's details will be used for. Provide a simple way for them to opt out of marketing messages and have a system in place for dealing with complaints."

That looks like a clever site, Midnight