Payless: The Hidden Cost
I just received a phone call—at my desk—from a number I didn’t recognize: 800-995-4532. I don’t usually receive calls at work, so I’ve gotten into the habit of Googling them before picking up. (Almost every single time I don’t follow this procedure, I wind up talking to a Disney comics fan who wants me to look at his portfolio.)
So I Googled the number, and it turns out it’s Payless ShoeSource wanting to tell me about a “buy one, get one free” sale they’re running. And yes, I know that’s not what they’re calling it, but I absolutely refuse to call this a “BOGO.” “Buy one, get one” means exactly that: you get the one item you bought. “Buy one, get one free,” on the other hand, means you get two items when you only paid for one. (Interesting tidbit: “shoplifting” can mean the same thing, but the stores don’t typically encourage such behavior. It’s true!)
Ahem. So why did Payless call me at work (at 2:30pm, when I’m not likely to drop everything and run out to buy two pairs of shoes)? A few weeks ago, I bought a pair of boots from Payless. Where I was asked for my phone number at the cash register. I’m too nice to flat-out refuse, so I gave ‘em the number at my desk.
Here’s what really irks me about all of this: when asked for my phone number, I was never told that I would receive phone calls regarding future sales. If anything, I was given the impression that my phone number was needed because I was paying with a debit card, or to track demographics (like when other stores will ask for your 3-digit area code). I was tricked into being barraged by advertisements, just because I don’t want to be a jerk to a store clerk who’s simply doing as she was trained. I was never asked permission for this use of my phone number, and never offered it. This use was forced upon me by somebody who cares nothing for me as a person, but merely for what he can get by using me.
You could say Payless raped my phone number.
Now I like the boots I bought. I was ready to make Payless my “the shoe store” for the foreseeable future. But as happy as I was, I feel like I’d be encouraging this sort of customer disservice if I continued to buy from them. Which sucks, because I don’t want to have to find another place to buy shoes.
“Real permission is different from presumed or legalistic permission. Just because you somehow get my email address doesn’t mean you have permission. Just because I don’t complain doesn’t mean you have permission. Just because it’s in the fine print of your privacy policy doesn’t mean it’s permission either.” — Seth Godin, Permission Marketing
I won’t forget this. Payless has lost any and all trust I had in them. They may never earn it back. And all because they refused to consider others as more important than themselves.
February 28th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Wow Travis, all I can think to say is, lighten up! Be thankful for the blessing we enjoy in this part of the world. It’s a simple phone call. You can screen your calls, so just don’t answer.
February 28th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
John, might I recommend Cory Doctorow’s recent InformationWeek article, In Defense of Complaining?
I want to like Payless. They shouldn’t be getting in my way.
February 28th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Travis, might I suggest, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.”
– 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
The world has it’s own set of standards, Christians have Christ’s.
February 29th, 2008 at 11:28 am
…and bad marketing is bad marketing. I shouldn’t have to point that out to the SVP of a large corporation.
March 11th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Lighten up you f$%&*@, they’re letting you get a free pair (of equal of lesser value) of cheap Chinese-made shoes!
March 11th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Also, buddy, if you think large corporations care about you, think again. I urge you to try to buy some privatized health insurance and use a Biblical motif to make sense of corporate greed.
March 11th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
You’re not helping your argument of considering others more important than ourselves by supporting a train wreck like Ron Paul
March 11th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
I consider other nations’ sovereignty more important than this country’s desire for security. What’s your point?
(Something tells me this post just got noticed by some Payless employees…)
February 27th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
It’s been a while since you posted this, but I just received the same phone call and found this page in my search for other people to complain with.
The difference between you and me is that I do not shop at Payless and they called my personal cell phone number which is registered at http://www.donotcall.gov. I can only assume that some other Payless customer gave out a random number which happened to be mine.
Companies need to respect your digital privacy in this “Information Age”. The companies that can not do that will find people like you and me who will go out of our way to not do business with them ever again.
We not only have a right to complain when companies take advantage of us, but I feel it is my obligation to share with others to stop these corporate evils. Especially when we have our own web pages that get indexed by search engines.
Cheers
October 1st, 2009 at 11:33 am
Next time you go in, you can ask them to add your number to a do not call list. When the screen pops up, there’s a section to click “do not telemarket” or “do not call”, so when they ask for your number, give it to them, but ask that they click the do not call button.