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RadioShack Stops Being Nosy
jackbang writes "One small but positive step in the gradual erosion of personal privacy and increase of corporate intrusiveness - RadioShack will no longer ask for your name and address when all you want to do is buy some batteries. Now if only they would agree to remove the motion sensor that rings a bell every time someone walks in or out of the store..." Always freaked me out being asked my address just to buy some solder or something.
....this will piss the Pentagon off. Just when they were all set to track consumer purchases...
This is my post. There are many others like it. If you don't like what you read here, go try one of the others.
You could always just tell them, "No". I always did.
09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0
Jesus loves you, I think you suck
Now the poor sap named Dick Hertz who lives at 123 Main St will stop getting thousands of Radio Shack catalogs each week in the mail.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
For a while, when working with my video capture/playback setup, RS was the only place where I could buy cables and connectors like I needed. This is no longer the case now that Best Buy carries a wider selection of this sort of thing. At the time, however, I would get an ATM withdrawal before going and pay for the cables, adapters, and one time wall-plates with cash.
"What's your phone number?" I would always be asked.
"You need to have that for a cash purchase?" I replied.
"Uhm..."
Since RS employess get a comission. (Do they still?) They were always quick to try to keep me from leaving. Most of the time I could see that they would type their own or dummy information into the computer when I refused to give them mine.
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Also, I remember when they put up the privacy policy in late 2000. It didn't seem to allay customers fears. Instead, I would tell them to just give me fake information
13 year old white supremacists are shitty web designers.
The reason I had a problem was not because of privacy. The thing about Radio Shack's policy was that they never required it if you were paying cash. If you were using a credit card, they always required it. My problem, thus, was inconvenience. The fact that they have my credit card information means that if they wanted to be unscrupulous with my information, they could call up and find out my address anyway. It's on my credit card billing information.
No, I was instead pissed because all I wanted was a $9 cable for my $ELECTRONICDEVICE and they made me give them my info every time. Even though they already have it, both from my cc number and from the last time I was there!!!
El Karma: excelente(principalmente la suma de moderación hecha a los comentarios de los usuarios)
But I had fun introducing myself as Richard Nixon With a phone number of (123)456-7890.
I had even more fun when they argued with me.
It's too bad that they started being pains in the asses about this. I really wanted to get their catalog, but I'll be damned if I'll give them a name and address.
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
It's gone to a higher juristiction now, Nobody likes duplication of effort.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
...do they still have the FREE BATTERY of the MONTH club? Gez, I used to work in a RS store while in college and this little kid would come in with a battery card, get a D battery, go home, change into his little league outfit, come in and get another D battery, go home put his cubscout outfit on, and come in....and so on. He'd have like 4 FREE BATTERY cards.
Smart kid, but shame those old red RS batteries would last about 1/4 of the time a normal batter would. I used to just laugh and go along with it.
Relive the BBS Past - One Byte at a Time! www.ssabbs.com
They have all our addresses now.
With this news, radioshack has killed my purchasing alter-ego, John Shamus of 200 Arroway Lane. See, I created a whole personality for use in radio shack. Besides a fake name and address, my character John spoke in a funny voice, had an interesting career (limo-bus bathroom attendant), and even had a wife with a kid on the way (which made it easier to justify my purchases of children's toys). He also had about a dozen cuecats.
Screw it, I'm going to keep going in to Radio Shack as John, anyway. It's not like my life was going that great to begin with...
Anonymous Luddite: "What do you think of the dehumanizing effects of the Internet?"
Andy Grove: "Not Much."
The name/address question was redundant, since they're now doing retina scans as folks enter the store. The bell actually indicates a database match.
Ding!
It's true! RadioShack stops being nosy. At first I didn't believe it, but a devil ice-skated by selling a Linux that was ready for the desktop and said it was true.
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
I made a purchase at Toys R Us one day and gave them my info. I got a call about a week later. They wanted feedback on my shopping experience in exchange for a $5 gift certficate. I spent the time with them, but never got the certificate.
I don't think they were trying to mislead me, but they blew an opportunity there. I'm happy to share my info as long as they reward me for it, but failing to send me the gift certificate changed my mind about that. Now, when I go there, I decline to give them my info when they ask for it and I explain why.
Companies like Radio Shack need to realize that they have to reward their customers if they're made to jump through extra hoops.
I always just told em my name was Elvis Presley and I lived at Graceland in Memphis. Always got plenty of laughs, but they keyed it into their POS terminal anyway.
I always used:
"Raymond D. O'Shack", you can call me Ray!!
Ha ha
M
I actually have two 20 footers in series piping a signal from the output of the amp in the stereo down through the central vaccum tube, above the ceiling panels in the basement and down to my computer. It's ugly, but it works.
I used to work for a Radio Shack dealer store and the pressure to get the addresses was constant because we got money from Radio Shack for each address we provided. When I was taken to task about my low address count one day, my buddy was offered up as an example: HE got over 90%. So I asked him how he did it. His secret? He used to copy random names down from the phonebook when the store was slow!
Same goes true for Best Buy wanting your ZIP code.
About 25% of the time I'll get a surprised "Really?", half the time they don't care, and the other I'm not even asked because the drone doesn't want to ask.Me: I'm looking for an RF Modulator so I can plug my DVD player into a TV without AV inputs. (Don't get me started...)
Shack Sales Clerk: Uhmm... That's like a VCR, right? We've got all our VCRs on that wall right over there.
Me: Uh, no. It's a signal adapater. (Surely someone who works around electronics every day should understand this, right?) It converts composite audio/video signal output to rf signal for a coaxial cable input.
Clerk: It's an adapter?
Me: (Thinking the light has finally turned on) Yes! It's got a coaxial output on one end and RCA style audio-video inputs on the other.
Clerk: Here ya go! (He hands me a RCA 'Y' splitter.)
Me: *Sigh*...
I did manage to get the guy to give me an RF modulator, but only after I retrieved a Radio Shack ad from behind the counter and pointed at it in the ad.
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You b*****d I found you at long last!!! Love, Dick
Man, this thread is getting harsh. I mean, nearly ever sane retailer has SOME means to let employees know when someone is the store. yeah, the dinger SUCKS, but I'd rather know when someone is coming in.
The CueCat was a stupid venture, to be sure; but at some point in their lifespan, every retailer does something stupid at some point.
Yes, Radio Shack has morphed from hobbyist products and radio gear to basically a smaller, less well stocked Best Buy. But can you blame them? While many slashdotters may in fact still need diodes, Joe Average doesn't. The death of the electronics hobbyist almost killed the company. They are trying to stay alive in the face of serious competition while retaining what used to make the Shack a place to buy stuff. If you have a better idea, a way to make the company really stand out, get a job there and tell the boss. They might even listen.
And no one is really commenting on the fact that a high-profile retailer like the Shack taking a step like this may, in fact, influence others to drop their mailing. I can't buy anything anymore without a request for zip code, or some other deal.
Also Note: the Shack has one of the most tolerant, liberal intellectual property waivers ever. Unless you invent a new point-of-sale system, and do so on the job (or using work-provided materials), they don't give a crap. I mean, Best Buy would probably try to make you turn over your latest patch to BitchX but the Shack doesn't care.
ZOMG I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS ON MACINTOSH VERSUS WINDOWS, VI VERSUS EMACS, AND HOW YOU'RE NOT A DORK
I imagine you have a lot of fake information collected, I never give my correct information when I go to RS.
The CEO looked kinda stunned at first, like he got belted in the head with a brick, then rather annoyed. He didn't say anything about it but I got the impression he was rather surprised to hear that this was common pratice. Or maybe surprised it was being discussed on TV while a bunch of his investors watched.
Judging by the comments here me and the Squawk Box guy weren't the only ones doing it. What's next, Radio Shack management discovers that pushing extended warranties on 50 cent batteries is considered somewhat amusing?
Yes, you got added to a mailing list--Radio Shack's. Nobody else got your address. They were religious about that and if anybody ever suggested to the people in marketing that it was otherwise, they witnessed somebody turning purple with apoplexy.
They jealously guarded their lists because they viewed their mailing list as a competitive advantage. Nationwide, marketers who send direct mail advertisements are ecstatic if they get a response rate of 1/2 a percent. Radio Shack had something like a 40% response rate on its direct mail advertisements. They weren't about to give that up to anybody else.
I don't believe all radio shacks do it, but in a number I've been to (Fairfax VA area) the employees (or somthing) is fitted with a microphone and this transmits the conversations into the back stock room.
It always freaked me out to be looking for LEDs and hear a disembodied voices saying:
"can I help you?"
"yes do you sell power adapters?"
"we sell all sorts of power sir."
I myself have been victimized by this. They keep track of what you have bought and returned. If you returned too many things that costs a bit ( The stuff they make commision on ) they will stop selling you anything and have that manager tell you that you can't buy the item. I have had this happen on more than one occasion.
I can assure you that this is totally commision related. The last time they told me NO they looked up my history and said "You return too much stuff". This is what is so bad about tracking your name is now the salesman can check your name to see if your someone he should waste his time on.
cashier: Name? ...
guy: Cash.
cashier: *First* name?
guy: CASH! I'm paying with cash!
cashier: Ok. I'll need to get your name and address. What's your full name?
guy: GOD DAMN IT You don't need to know my name and address!
It always made me wonder what kind of marketing genius is willing to piss off some of their customers that badly.
I refused to give my name once, and on the receipt, it said "Thank you Dick Dick, for your purchase" (or something like that).
I noticed before I left, and was sure to thank the Dick helping me.
I remember a few years ago, when Radio Shack was the talk of the takeovers and such. The customer data base was valued as much as the rest of their assets combined.
Follow this example, one of the winners of the 1991 rec.humor.funny comedy awards
Q&A at Radio Shack
Has it been over a year since you last donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation
... now people won't get this joke anymore.
I pulled the "it's legel tender, you have to take it," and the manager pointed to the "we reserve the right to refuse to do business with anyone," and sent me on my way.
That Radio Shack never saw anything but my middle finger after that, and went out of business a couple of years later - the manager (yup, same guy) was caught embezzling.
Har. There is a god, and she has a vicious sense of humor.
Now if only they would agree to remove the motion sensor that rings a bell every time someone walks in or out of the store..."
Yeah, cause there's absolutely no reason whatsoever that an employee at a relatively small, yet cluttered, business might need to know when someone enters an exits the store.
Nope, they have absolutely no right to know that you've entered their store, even if they might be the only person on duty at the time, and currently helping a customer in the back look for some obscure AV connector. Since, you know, no possible way a two-man team could distract the employee while simultaneously stealing thousands of dollars worth of merchandise right out the front door.
Jeez people, I like my right to privacy too, but let's not go off the fucking deep end here.
It hurts when I pee.
As it has already been said you can just say no anytime your asked for your personal info. But what you may not know ( or may not have thought of) is WHY they ask you in the first place. Ok yeah, tracking statitics and what not, but that's not what I mean. The reason this still goes on in many retail stores is because people don't say no. They figure it's part of the process of purachasing whatever. If people would start refusing to divulge information, companies would be less apt to attempt to get it from you.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It's just that yours is stupid.
While I think that the 'Savings cards' represent nothing more than false advertising, you can get the Albertsons card without giving any information whatsoever. All you need to do is check the box on thier form that states, "I do not wish to give out my personal information", or something like that, and that's it. No name, phone number, or address. If I remember right, they also have either opt-in or opt-out checkboxes that are very plainly worded.
I gave out ONLY my phone number, because you get a handy key fob that states, "If keys are found, please return to your nearest Albertsons Store". If they get returned, Albertsons will call you and let you know they have your keys. Without any other information, phone numbers alone are a pretty innacurate way of tracking people.
Unfortunately Albertsons felt they had to offer one of those cards, fortunately, they're not asking anything from you for it. All you accomplished by being rude and not bothering to ask any questions or read the form, was to make some poor schlub put your groceries away, and you got to shop somewhere else.
He asked me for my name, address, zip code.
Well, one day (this must have been 1989) I went in and bought something minor and the shop assistant asked for my name and address. Well, I knew darned well what they wanted it for, because I was getting three Tandy catalogues all with different variations of my name and address so I told him "no".
He said: "But you have to give me your name and address."
"Why?"
"Because I can't sell you this without it."
"Rubbish. You just want to put me on your mailing list."
Well, the argument proceeded and he wouldn't sell me the stuff and frankly REALLY pissed me off big time.
This was a bad move, because in the UK you're not allowed to collect personal information to store on a computer system without a) making it clear an b) registering that you are going to do so.
I checked Intertan's (Tandy's parent company) registrations details. It turned out that they hadn't registered properly. BIG mistake number 2.
So, I complained to the Data Protection Registrar that I believed that Intertan were breaking the law. They tried to contact Intertan. Intertan refused to talk to them. BIG mistake number 3.
Eventually this escalated and finally Intertan caved in and stopped asking. Well at least for a couple of years. I stopped shopping there in the end. Mind you, so did everyone else and they shut down :)
Never email donotemail@WeAreSpammers.com
--true story. Been shopping at ratshack since..well, since allied electronics I guess. Anyway, I lived for years and years metro atlanta. Sometime shortly after the olympics-and the unfortunate el kaboom occurrence there, I get a personal visit from the fibbers! Now I am a little spooked, this is right after they tried to frame richard jewell. I am an internet freedom issues loudmouth, this is a duh given. This agent comes by when I'm not home but sees my girlfriend and leaves his card for me to call him back up. Of course she's freaked out, who wouldn't be? So, I call him up, shazzam! It's that stoopid radio shack taking your information. Foolish me had previous had given it to them, innocently and before I was as concerned as I am now on this merchant/information issue. Turns out I had-along with thousands of other people-purchased the same/similar battery they allege was used in the olympics blast. LUCKY FOR ME I still had it at home to show him. He came by the next day, I showed hom the batt- a 12 volt drycell I got to use for my tiny 12 volt b/w tv during storms and electrical outtages, so after that was outta the way we spent a little time talking about his job and cases he had worked on etc. I figured what the heck, might as well milk the opportunity a little, was interesting.
Anyway, I went back to the same store I got it from, talked to the manager, told her I was not amused over this incident. I mean, what if I had milked the batt dry and had tossed it?
From then on I always refuse this info when asked at ratshacks or wherever, latest was at some car parts store, I tell them it just slap ain't happening, they can enter any name or whatever to make their cash register work, or "no sale".
This data mining stuff I can see two sides of, but my default is it's too likely to be misused and as such I'm against it now.
It also happened to me once some fool at a job I worked snagged my soc sec # and used it somehow (probably gave or sold it to someone, I never found out exactly) to get some utilites turned on, like a year later I get this bill for gas service at someplace I never lived at. No amount of arguing would make them drop the bill, and the threat was pay it now or lose gas service at the place I lived. What a crock, I HAD to pay it or lose use of my hotwater heater and stove and furnace, not an option at the time.
Can of worms, society needs some sort of ID to go about your day to day business, but too many ways it can be misused or stolen. It's totally fubared now, because no solution addresses privacy concerns. Caych 22 "Danged if ya do danged if ya don't" deal there.
Just say:
Alan M Ralsky
6747 Minnow Pond Dr.
West Bloomfield, MI 48322
- "That's just the kind of fuzzy-headed liberal thinking that leads to being eaten."
...it's about expenses and database cleanliness. They finally realized that they were incenting their customers to lie to them, and then they were expending a fair amount of money sending junk mail to nonexistant people. Worse, they didn't even know how many unique customers they had, since people offer the same bogus info twice (some do, and make a point of it, but they're the exception).
Someone finally wised up and realized that they have a hugely polluted customer database and that, for a mail-order house, that's pretty expensive.
How they spin it for public consumption is their business, but I'd definitely take it with a grain of salt. That's my take on it, anyways.
-b
If I wanted a sig I would have filled in that stupid box.
The adress is not available to you but there is something as an AVS check (adress verifiction system, not AGE verification system as it is used by some 'less reputable' sites), where you supply the address info and the processor then gives you a go/no-go on the address. So you can't access it but if it is given to you then you can use it to verify the persons identity.
:)
small entrepeneur ? yeah, I probably qualify
MP3 Search Engine
This usually works on the weak-willed. If they don't have a weak will when they start working at RS, a couple of months on the job will give them one:
Me: I'd like to buy these batteries
Sales: I need your address
Me: You don't need my address (wave hand -- this part is very important)
Sales: I don't need your address
Me: You serve your master well and will be rewarded.
JET Program: see Japan, meet intere
CC does a lot of weird things..
I bought a cd reader from them on black Friday last year, it was a 2 hour special. It was $50 but only $5 after rebate. When I installed it at home, it did not work. When I tried to take it back they offered me a different model in exchange as the one with the rebate was unavailable, of course this was $50 and no rebate. I was not paying that much for a cdrom drive, I only bought the damn thing initially because it was supposed to be $5. I refused and then they offered to take back the one I had for a $7 restocking fee. I argued back and forth and I was getting no where with the person that called himself manager at the time. I always take into consideration that there are two sides to every story, I try to see things from the others perspective when I deal with someone, this helps me understand a specific dealing and how to work with it. In this case I had a brain implosion as I could not understand the managers thought process or line of thinking. So, I took the next best step. I ripped the UPC symbol of the box, threw the cdrom and the rest of the box on the floor (with a decent force) and left the store. Yes it was somewhat irrational but I was very frustrated at what these guys were doing, we definitely had a misunderstanding..
It was cheaper for me in the end to send in the fucking rebate on the broken POS then it was to return it and pay a restocking fee. Previous to that I ran into a similar instance with them on a Sony car stereo, in the store the demo unit played every brand of cdr media and format (TAO/ DAO) I brought with me to test. I bought it and installed it in my car, well guess what, it only played like 2 of the 10 I tried in the store. Not specifically CC's fault but they refused to take the item back as in their eyes it was not defective. Their technical reasons (ie bullshit)for why it did not work were comical. Based on those experience and other smaller ones in the past, I made the assumption customer satisfaction is not one of their core initiatives.. I have not stepped foot in a CC since.
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
I have to wonder... it seems poeple often feel a great reluctance to speak up or question when some information is asked of them they would rather not give.
Any time I've walked into Radio Shack, they've asked for my name and address, of course. I say "You don't need to know that", politely, and they say "No problem sir" and then continue to ring the order through.
Even buying a pay-as-you-go Cantel phone from radio shack... not only did radio shack want my name/address, but of course, they want it for the Cantel activation as well. Nevertheless, a polite "Well why do you need that if I have to pay everything up front.". "Well sir, you don't have to give us your name, we can just put it in under John Doe, but that will cause a problem should you forget your PIN or should your phone be stolen and you want it deactivated. In this case, we wouldn't be able to help you."
Thanks, that made perfect sense, I can accept that. Right on sir, here you go, have a nice day.
You see... often that's all it takes, is some polite, non-confrontational intelligent questions.
Supermarker convenience cards? Lie. I'm serious. Just make some crap up and put it on the card. If you want to be really nice at the same time, keep the demographic information the same, but not your name/address/phone number. That way the store gets honest demographics, with no privacy violations. When tehy ask for ID, they usualy want it for cheque caching purposes.. just say you don't want that.
There is a difference between violations of privacy and straightforward information gathering; complaining about privacy is one thing, but taking a proactive stance towards it is another. If a majority of people refused to give information out at retail stores, fairly soon retail stores would stop asking.
Being the sort who appreciates some security in my everyday transactions, I actually like it when the Radio Shack people ask for my zip code. (They've never asked me for a name, is that unusual?) The fact that they have some idea of where they sell more batteries is fine by me -- it allows them to build market demographics without a notable loss of my privacy, and I get improved availability of products I like.
:)
Likewise, I've been very encouraged to see some of those automated gas pumps now requiring that you key in a zip code from the billing statement -- not just possessing a credit card. Since I'm already providing my name and billing information through the credit card, this is not the invasion of privacy that some folks think it is. Yay authentication and authorization!
On the other hand, it used to be particularly irritating when I wrote a check and a clerk would insist that I provide a home phone number or even two phone numbers instead of some useful authorization info. (They're permitted to ask in my locale, but not allowed to require it.) After a particularly nasty incident at Ikea a few years ago -- when I declined to provide the number an assistant manager looked up my name in the phone directory and wrote the info on my check anyway, accompanied with a lot of foolish and insulting comments -- I decided to print TeleCheck's local phone number on the checks as a home phone. It doesn't stop the bad practice, but at least it protects my privacy a bit without wasting my time. (And it never comes up as a bad number
Most frustrating of all (recently) was an encounter with a certain large bank. To make a long story short, they informed me that electronic funds transfers can be executed by any merchant with my bank routing and account numbers. When I pointed out that the numbers are identification and not authorization, they replied (paraphrased) "Posession of the number IS authorization. If you didn't give them authorization, they wouldn't have the number." Can you believe a major bank thinks that possession of your authentication data is equal to authorization? AAUUUGGGHHH!!! When I pressed further and pointed out that the account & routing data is on every check that anyone writes, I was informed that they (the bank) know it's awful, but that's what the US Federal Reserve rules require. Double-AAUUUGGGHHH!!!
IMHO it's disappointing when the local Chevron station provides better financial transaction security than the bank managing my 401K.
-Jon
I think not...(*poof*)
I also quit using my grocery cards when I found out that the stores use them to track your purchases for marketing purposes. Just last week I went through the checkout and the clerk asked if I had a card and I told her that I don't use the cards anymore. When she asked "Don't like saving money?" I shot back "No, but I value my privacy". End of conversation.
I am buying more things with cash now. When you buy with a credit card at Sears, they got your name & address and poof, more catalogs in the mail. Pay with cash and you're stealth, baby.
Blame the marketing monkeys at the DMA for this mess, they drove us into it.
Eternity: will that be smoking, or non-smoking? I Corinthians 6:9-10
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Think about it. You could have entered hundreds or even thousands of bogus names/addresses, kept your percentage at 100%, and shielded all your customers from being entered into Radio Shack's system.
People say "if everyone gave fake information like I do, the system would be useless" but you could have actually put a dent in it by controlling the POS terminal.
However, they do not have to accept cash in trade, if you do not owe them money. That is not a debt, you do not owe them anything. They can force you to pay in quarters (as, in fact, many candy machines do. Do you honestly think those are illegal because they will not take dimes and nickels?)
Now, if you go and open something on the way to the register, or even eat it, I guess you could legally claim you now owned them money and they had to accept cash. OTOH, they could have you arrested for theft, so it's not a good idea to argue at that point. While many stores will be lax about it, legally, you just damaged their possessions without permission.
There is no 'no turning back' point for a transaction. Either they agree to accept what you are offering, or they don't. You can't trick them into accepting one thing and then replace it with another of supposed equal value. Likewise, they can't accept payment form you, and then tack on an additional charge and force you to pay it. Transactions have either happened or they haven't, there's no middle ground. (Now, there's certainly debatable ground, like if you hand someone cash and the store gets robbed in the middle of it, but that's debating the point the line exists at, not that a solid line does, in fact, exist, where you both instantly switch possessions.)
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
The only people who ever saw your name and address after giving it to the radio shack sales clerk were radio shack people. Radio Shack never sold, shared or gave away the names and adresses of its customers, all the data was kept within the company for the monthly flyer mailings.
And for people who are offended by the idea of needing the name and address for warranty stuff, well, you shouldn't be. Warranties on most items (other than things like wireless phones or computers) are NOT tracked by serial number, contrary to popular belief. The serial number of that 900 mhz cordless bargin bin phone you just bought is not on the bar code of the box, and therefore it's not entered into the computer when the clerk scans in the UPC.
I work at a radioshack, and I hated asking for names and addresses as much as customers hated giving it out, but it never ceased to amaze me just how many people thought that the shack was in cahoots with the FBI, despite signs on the front of the cash register which say "WE DONT GIVE YOUR INFO TO ANYONE AT ALL."
Anyway, no one ever seemed to mind the whole name and address thing when they wanted to get a refund on those little items like karaoke machines they happened to buy on a friday and bring back on a monday (it's like a free rental service!), but forgot their receipt. Now if someone wants a refund on something but they've forgotten their receipt, they're screwed.
All you had to do was say "No". I dunno about you guys, but the local Radio Shack people just let it go after that. It's not like you *had* to give your information.
I'm the stranger...posting to