In the system
Police state latest
I called John Lewis, further to what they're all calling The Linen Basket Incident, and I spoke to an operator who assured me she could help when I asked to speak to customer services. She informed me that the reason I had to give my postcode to buy a basket was because they need it to "get into the system" (which is what the third man told me yesterday "in store"). This, however, only applies if you're picking something up from the collection point. You don't need to supply your details to buy something (as implied by the man yesterday), but you do need to if you're collecting it. This, she told me, is because if you left the goods there by mistake they could contact you and tell you. This is nuts. If I was stupid enough to leave something behind that's my lookout. And I could always contact the shop. It's clearly a system designed to keep tabs on what customers are buying.
The woman also tried to sell me a flimsy line about using a cheque: if I used a cheque (which I didn't), and it bounced, they would be able to contact me. What rot. Surely they would use the bank to get in touch if that was the case. So I asked her if this meant that if I wanted to pay for anything by cheque I would have to give my postcode and she said no. So it was a pointless thing to tell me.
I told her that the system was bad. She said nobody else seemed to mind (that's because they are idiots) and assured me my details would not be passed to any third parties and I would not be sent junk mail. I tried to tell her that in the current climate I'd rather keep my details to myself wherever possible. That's why I don't have a Nectar card or any loyalty cards. She offered to take my details off the computer system, which I said yes to, on principle. (From now on, I shall only buy things from John Lewis that are small enough to be on display. She seemed to think I was joking when I said this.)
I also told her John Lewis ought to train their staff better, so that it doesn't take three assistants to badly explain "the system". A letter to head office may be in order. Am I being paranoid? (The linen basket looks great, by the way, and I really enjoyed the phonecall. We must not let the big people get away with this type of thing at least without a difficult phonecall.)
posted by Andrew Collins @ 5:06 PM
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7 Comments:
I wonder if the woman from John Lewis is writing about the weird man who phoned her up and asked her odd questions in her blog this evening?
Andy Kollins stickin it to da man
I'm a privacy pedant too and it never ceases to amaze me when companies can't understand why I get so pissed off with them selling my details without my permission... never mind the fact that I never gave them permission to store them in the first place.
at the moment I'm taking an action against a mobile phone operator for this.. we've got a data protection act in Ireland and it lets annoying people like me have lots of fun at the expense of Da Man.
Consumer terrorism is the new rock 'n' roll. We're sick of "the man". Don't even get me on public transport. Stagecoach, First Scotrail, Lothian Buses...I'll have the lot of you.
Martyn Lewis is the new messiah.
Paul
Dunfermline
I'M MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE
aaaaaaaaand exhale
We lived in Scunthorpe through most of the 80s, and we regularly drove to Lincoln for a day out (shopping). One Christmas Eve (or possibly the day before) in the late 80s my mum bought some socks from Next in Lincoln just before closing time. She paid by cheque and took what she thought were the socks in a Next brown paper bag.
When we got home (about 45 minutes later) Next had already rung to warn us that the branch manager would be visiting us that evening.
The Next brown paper bag contained a fairly large proportion of their day's takings. It was certainly a lot of cash.
Suffice to say my mum hadn't given them her post code. Nor had she written her address on the back of the cheque. If only she'd paid with cash.
Good grief, man! Haven't you got a book and a sitcom to be writing?!
Not that Grass will ever see a second series, but I foresee the character of Heartbeat (aka John Lewis) being written in a much less sympathetic light from now on.
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