pretty sure a service provider sold my address, anything I can do?

groovygrl

I'm so annoyed- I got an estimate for a decent sized home project (over $10K) recently and the person doing the estimate misspelled my name on the estimate. Not a big deal, I let them know & they corrected it. Within 2 weeks, I started getting junk mail almost daily from different places with the same misspelling in my name and have never noticed it before. I get that people sell address lists for targeted marketing (in fact in my field it is done but for targeted marketing related to our profession & it is always stipulated a company can only use it one time so I never mind getting that type of mail on occasion b/c it is relevant to my work)  but this just seems really crappy to me- I hadn't even made a decision about going with them, I didn't use their service, and they apparently used my getting an estimate as a way to make $ off my address within weeks of meeting me. I never consented to my address being sold/shared w/ 3rd parties. Who knows who else has done that to me in the past I guess, but I was wavering on using their service and now definitely won't be, but my question is whether I can confront them about this & ask them to take my address off any lists immediately. Now that they have the right spelling I will have no way of knowing if they sell it again. Ugh.

groovygrl

It is a mistake that could happen but as I said prior to this estimate I have never seen a piece of mail w/ this spelling so it seems pretty weirdly coincidental to get several over hte course of a week.

jillms413

Ask the companies who have been spamming you where they got your information.  Legally they are obligated to tell you that.  Then from that you will know if this company sold your information.  I also work in a similar field where we use people's contact information for marketing purposes.  I am not up to speed on all of the associated laws but I do know that if we do not disclose to people through our privacy policy how their personal information will be used, we may suffer legal consequences.

groovygrl

Thanks all!
Yes, I really wasn't thinking in terms of legal repercussions but more of I know you did this, it sucks & you're not getting my business as a result and take me off any lists you sell NOW. Also they're big on Angie's List so if I could get proof that is where it came from I would put it in my review...thanks for the tip about calling someone who sent me something to get proof. I have tossed everything thus far but will keep an eye out for another.