UKC

Whats your opinion on it?

Do you give yours or just refuse?

In reply to Stash:
refuse they have no need for it

In reply to Stash: If I believe they have no need of it, I see no reason to provide it. And if I do, I do.

T.

In reply to koolkat:

Yes they do and its very important that they flood the web with as much spam as possible.

In reply to Pursued by a bear:

Anybody phoned the Police recently?

They also ask for email addresses over the phone.

In reply to Stash:
spam spam glorious spam

In reply to Stash:


invite them to go forth and multiply.

In reply to The Lemming: Do they need it for marketing too?

"The Fuzz: we got you bang to rights, sonny".

T.

In reply to Stash: some companies use the email to send you a newsletter with latest deals and sales etc and if you read small print should not sell it on to third parties (assuming you tick the relevant box). Others just sell it on without your permission. it's hard to determine which companies do this.

In reply to Pursued by a bear:

I know that some stores set targets for their employees to get a certain percentage of customers emails! they get in trouble if they dont!

In reply to Stash:

I have an email I use if there might be some freebee on offer, which saves my real email from being spammed, but usually I just say no.

In reply to Stash:

There are too many people around these days acting as if they had a legal right to know our personal data when they clearly don't. I find it extremely offensive.

One bad case of this is party canvassers in polling stations, standing by the entrance as you come in to vote and saying to you "Could you give me your polling-card number please?"-- as if what they are doing was part of the electoral process. I regard this as fraudulent behaviour, since most people will cough up their data without realising that they are giving the data to a party worker, not an election official. I think Returning Officers should not allow it.

In reply to Stash: just to show another side, i gave details to edinburugh bikes and they log what you buy, which came in handy when my bike lights stopped working and i couldn't find the recipt. ive also had little to no spam from them.

In reply to Tim Chappell:
Agreed. I hate this practice and they get short thrift

In reply to The Lemming:
I rang them on Monday eve. They didn't even ask for my name let alone number! It was pretty urgent though.

I work in Cotswold. Company policy means I have to ask if you would like to sign up for the Explore More card. It pisses me off no end when customers say no before I've even told them what it is, since it has some really good benefits. And you can stop emails with the click of a button if you don't want them guys? Just sayin.

In reply to WetAndCold:

I sympathise. But don't count on me not to say No before you've explained the benefits. Maybe I don't want Cotswold getting to track my retail behaviour for free. Maybe I'm parked on a double yellow line. Maybe I just can't be bothered. The customer is always right, yes? Just saying.

In reply to The Lemming:
I got a frier from Appollo 2000 near the station and they wanted my name, address, phone, email etc and when I refused they said if I didn't supply the required details it'd invalidate the warranty! I laughed in thier faces of course and my DiLongi Rota frier is now 2 years old and still happy to make my thrice daily plate of chips. Appollo got the last laugh though as the frier was tagged as 'makes chips like your mothers chips' but mine runs on oil not lard. Perhaps I should email them?

In reply to blanchie14c:

Thrice daily chips? Blimey. Perhaps they should have asked for your health insurance number.

In reply to Tim Chappell:
I have onion rings sometimes too. A terrys chocolate orange for pudding with a carton of Um bongo means I'm closer than most are to my 5 a day thank you very much

In reply to blanchie14c:


So your five a day is 3 x chips + 1 x onion rings... and a chocolate orange???

I would ask "What does your GP think of this?" but it's occurred to me that probably you are a GP :-0

In reply to Tim Chappell: I don't eat all the time, smoking keeps me from a lot of food

In reply to Stash:

Refuse. None of their business.

Neil

In reply to WetAndCold:

If I politely say I am not interested, I am not interested. You stop the sales pitch there and then. To do otherwise is downright rude and invites a complaint to be made.

Neil

In reply to Stash:

I don't give anything to anybody unless I need to for the service that I am receiving. No name, no address, no postcode, no telephone, no email.

In reply to Stash: Does anyone know the position on shops asking for your postcode when returning an unwanted/faulty item? This winds me up no end!

In reply to Tim Chappell:


i got caught out by that the first time i voted and was caught off guard. I was somewhat irritated to find out it was some party drone and have tended to express that unhappiness with them ever since.

In reply to Neil Williams:

Of course it's not rude, it's just continuing a conversation, if a friend says 'Did you see the news last night?' and you say 'No, I'm not interested' do you consider them rude if they say it was really good?

Or do you consider retail staff so subserviant that they should emit only the words necessary to complete your purchase and no more?

In reply to winhill:

So, you think I should listen to telephone sales calls in full rather than politely saying at the start of the conversation that I am not interested and recommending they don't waste their time continuing?

If I decline a sales pitch, which is what this is, it is rude to continue it.

Neil

In reply to winhill: It's a transaction, not a chat amongst friends. If you say you aren't interested, the least you should expect the person from the shop to do is listen to you. If they don't, it's they who are being ignorant and the least they should expect in return is a response that is firm bordering on brusque.

T.

In reply to winhill:


It clearly depends on the customer and the shop. In an unknown branch of Tescos it would be reasonable to no conversation and likewise in your local corner shop its understandable to be engaged in conversation. It's
all about time and place and any good salesman will recognise that.

In reply to Neil Williams:

Asking someone for an email address is a sales pitch? Nope, nor is asking for a sign up to some loyalty card or similar.

It may be an irritant or an annoyance to you, but that isn't enough to make it rude to continue or rude to ask why you're not interested or rude to explain that it offers you some incredibly banal benefit next time you visit.

If you don't like it, that's fine, but don't dress up your curmudeonry as some sort of superiority.

In reply to winhill:


As a matter of fact, I spend most of my life trying to dress up my superiority as some sort of curmudgeonry.

Nice word, but you missed a G out.

In reply to winhill:


No, it is rude. It's as simple as that. Gathering personal data in this way is just a ruse to try and sell you more at a later date. That's fine, but if a customer says no thanks, then tough, you have to accept that.

In reply to Bimbler:

As Bimbler remarks above: when it comes to rudeness and politeness, context is everything. There are rude ways of declining a sales pitch or refusing to give your email; there are also rude ways of accepting a sales pitch or giving your email. And polite ones too.

It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it.

In reply to winhill:

A loyalty card signup, particularly where said card is chargeable, is certainly a sales pitch, IMO. An email address request isn't, but is certainly something which once I decline it shouldn't be continued.

Neil

In reply to winhill:


of course it is a sales pitch. Its offering a "benefit" in return for hoping you will buy some stuff later. Its a long play but still a pitch


if i say no thanks and someone continues to try and push the goods then it is rude. I do understand the difference between "no" and "please tell me more" and should be trusted to use the right one.

Worse for sales pitches is the BP/M&S garage near the office where i occasionally work. They have to go through the pitch of "petrol","coffee","doughnuts","random other good","nectar card","plastic bag". By the end have to resort to curt "no" otherwise i would lose the entire lunch hour.

In reply to Stash: People who are acting a tad high and mighty about their human rights etc-

Just remember the person asking you the questions is doing so as part of their job, I highly doubt anyone who works for these shops wants your e-mail address for their personal collection. Normally it's for a receipt copy for warranty/refund use which in my experience is pretty useful. If you don't want spam just ask, there will always be an option to remove marketing or whatever.

In reply to EZ:

They still know where you live and they're watching you.

In reply to HantsTom:

Isn't this what annoys most people tho? I know it does me, i.e. You have to opt-out. Surely the purpose of legislation such as the DPA was you had to opt-in?
p.s. I have to admit I've not been asked at a till for my e-mail addy, and woe betide the first fecker that asks me for it!!

In reply to HantsTom:


Well, you see, I am rather keen on what you call my "human rights etc". Call me old-fashioned, but I tend to think the individual's right to privacy from the intrusion, sales pitches, do goodism, and general interference of state and big business is important and worth preserving.

I also object pretty strongly to the Daily Mail and the like's campaign over the last two decades to turn the very phrase "human rights" into a sneer. Human rights are not a leftie affectation. They are the basis on which anyone gets to be a leftie or a rightie in the first place.

As for the shopworkers who are obliged by their employers to ask us impertinent questions, no one is suggesting we should be rude to them. Doesn't mean we have to tell them everything they want to know.

Or if you really don't care about rights, look at it from a financial point of view. Your private data is a highly marketable commodity (that's how Facebook works, for instance). Why should you give it away for free? If they want it, they can pay for it-- if I choose to give it.

In reply to Tim Chappell: Why do you find it offensive when somebody asks you then? an e-mail address is hardly an entry point to your personal details and livelihood. No one will be allowed to sell your data on without you agreeing to some ludicrously confusing Ts & Cs. Seems companies wanting to encourage loyalty are being shot down due to peoples bad experiences with spam etc from other more dubious sources.

In reply to oldmanpete:
It's usually the banks' policy when refunding money to a card.

In reply to Tim Chappell:

Disagree! Surely if enough people tell em to feck aff they will go back to their employers and say "This aint working boss"?

In reply to Sir Chasm:

Who is 'they'? The shops?

In reply to Stash:

Got asked for my email address in a restaurant last night - I refused to the waitress and the manager came over and gave the reason that senior management were checking the staff weren't just running TasteCard deals through for their mates.

Surely they could just check the membership numbers on my card!

Anyway, I wrote down the email address I use for when I might get spammed and then, happily, managed to leave with that receipt copy, so they didn't get it.

One that made me wonder was the refusal in Curry's, years ago, to sell me a vacuum cleaner unless I gave them my full home address!

I always refuse, but there's no need to be rude about it.

In reply to LastBoyScout:

Is it a legal requirement to give address details for purchasing a TV? I once bought a TV card for a PC and couldn't pay for it until I had given address details so that the shop could inform TV licencing. Admittedly it was Maplin Electronics and they do try to get information from you at the till, so it could have been a ruse.

In reply to EZ:

Yep, it's a legal requirement for the shop to pass your address to TV Licensing. But since they don't check your address, Mickey Mouse c/o Disneyland, Florida, is probably getting a lot of angry letters from TVL.

In reply to MHutch:

Haha. Thanks.

In reply to HantsTom:


As I said above, it's a very cheeky thing to be asking me, when they can make so much money out of my data and they expect me to give my data for free. And it's intrusive.

It doesn't have to be offensive in the sense of being done with rudeness, of course.

As for what people are allowed to do with my data-- I have less confidence than you apparently do that if there's a law against something then people will never, ever do it. In any case, British law has no standing outside Britain, which is where most spam comes from.

In reply to Tim Chappell:

I always find people trying to punt you extra stuff at the checkout annoying. The WHSmith 'would you like some chocolate today?' business is just faintly ridiculous, and I feel for the staff who have to ask this hundreds of times a shift.

I don't know if it's a bloke thing or just a me thing, but I like my interactions with till staff to be pretty minimal. But then again, I use the self checkout at Tesco so I don't have to go through the palaver of asking for bags when it's obvious I need them, and running through the rest of their little script about help packing etc. I'd rather argue with a machine about whether I've stuck too many courgettes into my bag.

In reply to MHutch:


And then there's the ever so subtle shop assistant's line-- with a wall-full of different types of ciggies and booze behind her-- "Do you want anything else today?"

At first I was nonplussed by this line-- "Anything else? If I wanted anything else I'd have got in in my trolley already, wouldn't I--and then it wouldn't be 'anything else'?"

Then I realised they were trying to get me to buy fags and alcohol, and decided it was just faintly annoying.

In reply to Tim Chappell:

Were you previously nonplussed when your barber asked you if you wanted something for the weekend? What, a barbecue? Lawn feed?

Do any barbers still do this, I wonder? Did they ever?

In reply to MHutch:


I would be a little nonplussed by that question, yes, since my barber is my wife and she knows exactly what we'll need for the weekend.

In reply to Stash:

I used to work for a well known outdoor retailer who insisted that all staff get email addresses at every transaction. I seemed to forget everytime and complained heavily that the opt out button didnt work after my manager added my email address to the system. After a number of weeks the problem was corrected but it seemed a tad dishonest not to tell customers about the fault during that time.

I normally get my email address wrong when asked for it in shops.

Pete

In reply to Stash:

I avoid giving my telephone number on forms that I think I may be penalised for being awkward, by giving it one digit wrong. They have no idea and if I do get found out I just apologise for the error.

In reply to MHutch: Ask yourself why before the advent of the contraceptive pill so many men kept their hair so short?

T.

In reply to MHutch:


When i lived in Brum my barbers used to ask this and had a little display of condoms up on a high shelf. Really old fashioned place and i hope it's still there!

I don't have too much of a problem with shop assistants trying to sell me extra bits and bobs as that's a legitimate way of selling and if it's an independant shop i would imagine that it makes a difference to take home pay if you get the banter with the customers right.

I do object to shops routinely asking you to fully identify yourself and provide email addressess/postcodes and telephone numbers as it's an infringent especially when they ask in a way that suggests it's neccessary. Evans the bike shop is realy bad for this. I've been told before that if i don't give me address my product is not under warrantee. I asked for confirmation of this in writing, shop assisstant wouldnt give me confirmation of this so i assume it's a lie.

In reply to MHutch:

I work in retail and I basically get bollocked if I dont ask these add on sale questions. Believe me, I hate asking as much as you hate being asked. Its a pity head office doesnt realise it pisses customers off.

In reply to ranger*goy:

It's not your fault mate. It is the fault of a generation that believe that privacy is dead. Ask Mark Zukerwhatsisfacebook!

In reply to Tim Chappell:

She was probably trying to sell her body to you. Next time just ask her to list prices for the different things you're interested in. Maybe nothing too kinky to start with.

In reply to doz generale:
I'd certainly be checking the use by date after brushing the dust off the packet.

In reply to Stash: I've not been asked for my email, and would think it must slow down queues, ii have to spell mine every time. Decathalon have started asking for "the first part of your postcode" at the till. Assume this is some kind of customer survey too.

In reply to Stash: The thing that really pissed me off a while back was going into a bank with some mundane thing to do like changing my address, and having the person I was talking to keep asking chatty questions that sounded like small talk but turn out to be a hook in to a sales pitch eg
"have you recently moved here then?"
"yes"
"renting somewhere?"
"yeah... "
"Can I ask if you've got home contents insurance?"
etc.

Re offering me an Explore More card or trying to get my email address - I fair enough if you've got to ask the question, but if I politely decline then I'd expect them to respect that rather than trying to plough on with the pitch...

In reply to Ramblin dave:

..at which point my answer is always "no" delivered in a tone that does not encourage any further attempts.

In reply to Stash:

On the other hand.

The Patagonia shop here asks if you'd like them to email your receipt. I know this is a way of harvesting my email address but an email receipt is:

- More environmentally sound
- Much easier to file - and not be lost in a year or two when you need it.

In reply to Jonathan Lagoe: yeah agreed.
I do know of stores who make it company policy for their staff to get a certain percentage of customers emails or they or not deemed as doing the job properly and can face disciplinary action! thats petty shitty when most people seem to be more protective of their personal data.

In reply to Jonathan Lagoe:


Come on, don't kid yourself. You throw away more paper than a 10 times a year in a mountaineering shop receipt accepting habit produces. Not to mention the petrol to get there and the production costs of the items that you bought in terms of energy and resources. I mean this in a productive and not belittling way, but I am sure that there are far more important things for you and anybody else who is in a similar position and mindset to be focusing on than a poxy little receipt.
Now that is a good point!

In reply to Tim Chappell:


In the end, fractious and impatient, I went into a crowded McDonald's, waited a century in a long, ragged line, which made me even more fractious and impatient, and finally ordered a cup of coffee and an Egg McMuffin.

'Do you want an apple turnover with that?' asked the spotty young man who served me.

'I'm sorry,' I said, 'do I appear to be brain-damaged?'

'Pardon?'

'Correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't ask for an apple turnover, did I?'

'Uh . . . no.'

'So do I look as if I have some mental condition that would render me unable to request an apple turnover if I wanted one?'

'No, it's just that we're told to ask everyone like.'

'What, you think everyone in Edinburgh is brain-damaged?'

'We're just told to ask everyone like.'

'Well, I don't want an apple turnover, which is why I didn't ask for one. Is there anything else you'd like to know if I don't want?'

'We're just told to ask everyone.'

'Do you remember what I do want?'

He looked in confusion at his till. 'Uh, an Egg McMuffin and a cup of coffee.'

'Do you think I might have it this morning or shall we talk some more?'

'Oh, uh, right, I'll just get it.'

'Thank you.'

(Notes From A Small Island)

Just to clarify. When I said I found it rude when they say no I don't mean after I've actually offered them the card! Of course that's fine, and most people listen for a few seconds as I explain and say 'nah it's OK mate, not today ' and that's fine (actually after listening to the 'sales pitch' most people realise the few seconds it takes to sign up is worth the 20% discount they'll get on selected stuff (sometimes climbing stuff ) and the £100 prize draw they get entered into)

I mean as soon as I say 'do you have an......'

'NO!' (with a face as if I'm a bug that's got in the way of their lovely shopping experience that they want to crush.)

Before I've finished my sentence or explained in a few short words what it is.

In reply to Nigel R:


Hell's teeth, you're right, I'm morphing into Bill Bryson.

OM, as the young people say, G.

In reply to Nigel R:

I'm a bit confused whether that's an actual conversation...

If it isn't ignore me haha :p

If it is: Smartass dick, guy was just doing his job.

In reply to WetAndCold:

I think it may have been, shall we say, redacted a bit. Confabulated. Embroidered. Fictionalised. I won't go on, you get my drift.

In reply to Tim Chappell:

Haha OK, only read the comment not much of the thread hehe :p

Holy Sh*t just read through the thread....

You think I can go to my boss and just say. yeah they don't want to sign up for the card? I would be told to try harder and besides, my boss doesn't make the rules, or his boss infact. I'm only doing my job, you think I want to know your effing email address? I want to be out climbing or something, not serving ungrateful people who don't treat me as they would any other person just because I'm a sales assistant

In reply to WetAndCold:

sorry mate, but thats not my problem.

i'm not going to be rude, i'm the guy who says 'nah, s'ok, not today - cheers', but if i'm not interested, then i'm not interested, and if you keeping banging on about it after i've said i'm not interested, regardless of how good you think the deal is, then i'm going to be thinking that you're the rudest fcuker i've met that day. i'm going to be thinking, perhaps rather amusingly, that you're the kind of git that expects people to do the things you want them to do just to make your life easier.

a bit, you might think, like the people you complain about...

In reply to ballsac:

You missed what i said....if you say that i won't bang on about anything. If you say NO. before I've said what it is then I think it's rude. Even if before I've said what it is and you say sorry I'm in a rush maybe some other time. That's fine to. But saying No. before I've finished my sentence is rude, or do you disagree?

In reply to WetAndCold:

Not really. Expecting everyone to listen to a sales pitch because they are already trying to buy something is rude to start with. People will have a tendancy to respond in kind. If you wish to offer genuine advice, as people are paying at the till isn't the time to do it.

In reply to WetAndCold:

Most of us know what will be pushed to us at the till, it's the same in most shops. So we have enough information to know we don't want it, and just want to pay for our purchases and go home.

Neil

In reply to Neil Williams: Oh really, so you know what the benefits of an explore more card are then? And how it may benefit you as a climber? -.-

In reply to WetAndCold: He may not. He may well not wish to, and that is his choice to make; not yours.

T.

In reply to Pursued by a bear:

To e-mails, you could always answer (as I do);
"Sorry, I don't have a computer, let alone an e-mail address".
Confuses people no end.

And to postcodes;
"I'm in the process of moving, no idea of my new one".

Yes, I'm one of the awkward squad.

In reply to WetAndCold: He probably knows that wahever they, they will be more beneficial to Cotswold than him and doesn't want to spend time at the checkout increasing Cotswold's profits further. You should respect this.

In reply to WetAndCold:

If you work at Cotswolds then you are doing a great job as a company rep...

Once you've been told the benefits of an explore card then its reasonable to think that a customer is able to remember and then anticipate the question/sales pitch and say no.

If your feelings are getting hurt and you find it rude then you are probably in the wrong job!

In reply to Stash: Reading this thread makes me glad I work in a proper shop that doesn't hassle folks like this, and glad I never go shopping!

In reply to WetAndCold:


No it isn't. What is rude is you making an additional sales pitch to the customer. People rightly get annoyed at companies trying to exploit such opportunities.

What you should do is have a clear and obvious sign on the counter saying "Ask about our 20% discount card" (of course you should make no verbal mention of it and simply serve the customer). People can see it at a glance and, if they're interested, they can ask. See how easy and respectful that is?

If your company is requiring you to make a verbal sales pitch for the card then they are being rude to customers.