Saturday 16 April 2011

Data Protection Act and Currys

I brought a breadmaker today.  My bread is a bit hit or miss so I found one I wanted and reserved it at a local Currys for in store pick up.  During the reservation process I gave away my name, address, telephone number, email address and bra size but was given the option of opting into or out of marketing communications from Currys and partner companies.

In store, at the checkout, I was asked for the same personal details but I could see that the checkout assistant couldn't be bothered with asking me all of the details.  Whilst she didn't catch my telephone number and email address, she did have my name and address.  And importantly while she was skipping over the detail she also skipped over the tick box that was there to capture people who didn't want to receive marketing information.  She just didn't ask me.  She assumed I wanted junk mail, or perhaps she was poorly training and didn't know what the "No Marketing" box meant.

I explained that she had missed some information and she cancelled the transaction and started again, this time ticking the right box.

I took the breadmaker out to the car, went back in and told a manager that his staff needed more training and that, currently, his staff were breaching the Data Protection Act. I wasn't told why my data was being collected and what it would be used for and I wasn't given the option of saying no to marketing information.

 

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