[revan]

Hi,

First off I have been a long time customer of Headroom and think the customer service, buying experience, and communications have all been top notch. Last Christmas I purchased headphones for my wife as a gift, I had them sent to my in-laws (the first time I have ever done this) with my name and their address. Ever since they have been getting credit card solicitations and catalogs addressed to me at their address. Unfortunately, the only answer has to be that you sold my name to a mailing list / junk mail provider.

I'm surprised, since I consider this practice to be beneath the quality and integrity of your organization. I would never have made the connection if I had the item shipped to my own home. If this is true, I can't imagine the revenue produced is worth more than the goodwill you lose in prostituting your customers information.

Tyll please respond.

Bob Holman

 

[Ivy]

Hi Bob~

I will let Tyll respond to this as well, but I can PROMISE you that we have NEVER EVER sold anyone's name or address at HeadRoom. I cannot explain the solicitation you've received, but your name and address info was not released by HeadRoom.

Indeed-- we would never participate in doing such a thing; as you've identified it would be foolish to damage our customer's trust.

If indeed you've never had anything sent to their address in your name, then it's got to have something to do with Shopzilla (also known as Bizrate). Bizrate is an independant price comparison engine that provides free surveys to provide customer feedback and solicit comments. The comments and surveys have been useful for us as they provide valuable feedback on our products and services, and they also are part of what comprises are very high customer ratings on Shopzilla's website. These surveys are completely voluntary, as is receiving 3rd party solicitation from them. The problem is that you have to go into the privacy policy and opt-out if you don't want 3rd party mailings (this is not unusual by the way, go ahead and read some major retailers privacy policies and you may be VERY surprised how many retailers sell or share personal information.)

Here is a link to their privacy policy-- you will need to OPT OUT immediately and the mailings and other solicitation should stop. (read through the policy carefully, there are SEVERAL places to opt out.) I have never heard of them sending things in the mail, but it does indicate such right in the policy.
http://www.bizrate.com/content/privacy.html

For your reference, here is HeadRoom privacy policy: http://www.headphone.com/headroom/policies/privacy/

Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Bob, because I also find this unacceptable. We'll be looking into more details about Bizrate and other 3rd party rating providers over the next few days.

...Actually, it's kind of interesting you bring this up, considering the FTC will be looking at online advertising and sharing information today... http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/...3-20640374.htm
The online landscape is so incredibly dynamic, and changes so rapidly, it's important to READ all privacy policies carefully! www. Wild West!

 

[evilking]

How did you pay?

I know it seems unlikely but your credit card company could have something to do with it. They can be evil little b*stards...


EK

 

[n_maher]

Quote:

Originally Posted by evilking /img/forum/go_quote.gif How did you pay? I know it seems unlikely but your credit card company could have something to do with it. They can be evil little b*stards... EK

I'd be much more inclined to agree with that line of thinking. I'm sure they try to collect any shipping address that you use and then pound it with offers/trash.

 

[NiceCans]

Quote:

Originally Posted by evilking /img/forum/go_quote.gif How did you pay? I know it seems unlikely but your credit card company could have something to do with it. They can be evil little b*stards... EK

I was just typing this as you posted. There others in the transaction chain that had access to this info. Could even be some clerk making a few $ on the side copying & selling info.

 

[Chu]

A related question, is Headroom the reason I get offers from Stereophile every once in a while?

Headroom and Audiogon are the only two corporate links I have to the hi-fi world, I've been curious which gave them my name and address.

 

[revan]

Ivy -

Thank you for your post. I've hesitated for some time to post this, since I really do like Headroom and didn't want to seem too reactionary. You response makes sense (as does the others) and not being fully informed of the details behind the transaction it never occurred to me that it could be anyone else involved.

Thanks again - the thoughtfulness and strong reaction of your response was what I had hoped for.

Bob

 

[Ivy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chu /img/forum/go_quote.gif A related question, is Headroom the reason I get offers from Stereophile every once in a while? HeadRoom and Audiogon are the only two corporate links I have to the hi-fi world, I've been curious which gave them my name and address.

I can promise you, it wasn't us. Please let me repeat: HEADROOM DOES NOT SELL OR DISTRIBUTE CUSTOMER INFORMATION IN ANY WAY.

We are a small company, with honest employees that have huge workloads just trying to get gear into people's hands and shovel through paperwork. I agree that it is the larger companies and credit card companies that should be looked at, and again, please read the privacy policies of all organizations. We have given our WORD that we do not distribute your personal info, because we don't!

 

[Ivy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by revan /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ivy - Thank you for your post. I've hesitated for some time to post this, since I really do like Headroom and didn't want to seem too reactionary. You response makes sense (as does the others) and not being fully informed of the details behind the transaction it never occurred to me that it could be anyone else involved. Thanks again - the thoughtfulness and strong reaction of your response was what I had hoped for. Bob

I'm glad that you decided the post this. I'll leave the philosophizing to Tyll

but suffice to say the internet is highly volatile, and it's difficult to strike that balance between balls-to-the-wall capitalism with social and corporate responsibility. Do we want to get valuable information from our customers, and promote our reputation as an excellent on-line business? Yes, we do, and without a team of programmers here we need to rely on others who have figured out how to do this well. But the problem is that HeadRoom's inherent ethical guidelines fly in the face of many corporate entities-- for most companies, it's just too easy to sell people's names and info, and bury the opt-outs in privacy policies.

In the future, I don't think it's going to become any easier to understand where your information is going. Even today on-line transactions pass through several companies: an initial information site affiliate clicking to another site, which orders from a warehouse which may drop ship your order, with all payment information being outsourced to a credit card clearing house, etc. And it's not that these things are "wrong"-- but it is important consumers properly inform themselves. I'm sure many of you reading this are more familiar than I am with some of these processes; here at HeadRoom, we're pretty "old school" and do almost everything in house. The advantage is that we do have pretty tight control over what we carry, our messaging, brand, and overall customer experience. The disadvantage is that we're not relying on the huge efficiencies of outsourcing operations to larger companies, or income streams from selling names, or cutting corners with fulfillment-- which makes it a challenge to remain competetive. That's okay, we like the challenge.

Okay... maybe a wee bit philosophy'in there... so I guess I better get back to work!

 

[Ivy]

sorry, double post- my computer is sort of freaking out this morning...

 

[LeChuck]

I've heard of people who are involved in mail processing and circulating getting busted for selling information.

That package went through dozens of hands after it left Headroom.

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

Thanks, Ivy, for so carefully attending to this issue. I'm just going to echo what she said:

WE ABSOLUTELY DO NOT SELL OR GIVE PEOPLE'S NAMES TO OTHER COMPANIES.

I hate junk mail and would NEVER knowingly put someone in the position or receiving that crap. So sorry our BizRate relationship may have tripped you up; Ivy is obviously on top of it and will do her best to keep people from being unknowingly drug into the junk mail trap. Saddly ... well ... happily, we don't control the world, so sometimes things don't go the way we like, but we'll keep trying.