Let me start (again) with some background. People like to shop on the Internet. Many times, they are just looking for information to see what the current prices are, compare items, look at rebates or deals, do product research, etc. One particular reason they don’t visit a brick-and-mortar store is because they don’t want to deal with sales people and in some cases might not be ready to purchase something.

I’ll also say that I do not like car sales people. I think they are pushy, rude, and try too hard to push what’s on the lot rather than listen to what a customer wants (don’t get me started about the time we asked for a standard transmission on a truck which was to be used for pulling). I know that’s what a sales person’s job is, but I am the customer and I know what’s right and if you don’t like it, I will shop elsewhere.

Back to the point. I was checking out VW dealers as I am toying with the idea of buying a VW Jetta TDI. I looked on Edmunds, read reviews, and browsed for a few hours just checking what was available. I hopped over to my local VW dealer’s website and they had a convenient link to check the value of my trade-in. They also had “an Internet price” that you entered in what you were looking for and they would mail you a price. After I entered in several items on their page, I had to provide my contact info to get the “Internet price.” There was a check-box on the page to indicate how I wanted to be contacted and the selections were either phone or e-mail (and you couldn’t leave it blank). I checked e-mail so I could get the value of my car and figured that I’d just ignore/delete/spam the additional messages. Maybe it’s my fault for putting my phone number in the website….

Within 5 minutes or so, I had received the “Internet price” from Henry Meador. Not even 10 minutes after that, my home phone rang (even though I didn’t indicate I wanted to be contacted by phone). When I didn’t answer the phone, I got another e-mail message asking me to set up an appointment. That afternoon, yet another call to my home phone. The next day another phone call and when I didn’t answer, another e-mail.  All in all, my home phone was called over a dozen times and I received as many e-mails. When I finally happened to answer the phone on a Saturday morning, I informed Mr. Meador that I did not want to be contacted at home any more.  I received this follow up e-mail that afternoon:

You contacted us about internet pricing. This will be my final email to you to get an answer to what time you would like to schedule an appt to come by? I did email you 4 times, you havent responded to those or my first voice mail. We’re very busy and I apologize that we don’t have time to study everyones contact preference.

Regards,

Henry Meador
Leith VW
Internet Sales
919-465-3360

Maybe I shouldn’t read too much into the “tone” of an e-mail, but this one to me seems a bit snooty. If you don’t have time to study my contact preferences you don’t deserve to get my business (maybe you are just too busy bothering people in their homes).

I’m still on the fence about the new car, but I do know that I won’t be purchasing it from Leith VW in Raleigh!

My advice to brick-and-mortar sales folks trying to drum up sales over the internet, don’t be pushy and if you have an indication on your Web site for potential customers to indicate their contact preferences, respect those preferences.

I love Facebook.  It’s a great way for me to keep in touch with friends and for me to let them know what I’m up to and vice versa. In fact, it’s let me get in touch with friends from Elementary and High School which I haven’t even thought of for decades. However, their privacy policy has left much to be desired. I am not a privacy nut. I have a blog, twitter account, personal web pages, use Google and Amazon (another topic all together). However, the type of data that Facebook is collecting is a bit scary, even for me.

I understand the implications for marketing and I’m somewhat OK with that. The frightening part for me is that the data does not expire. I don’t plan to run for office nor do I plan to get sued, but just think of what that data says about you and if it could be used against you, maybe by an opposing attorney who subpoenaed the data.

Some speculate that the changes in their privacy policy are due to the decline of ad revenue. A friend of mine blogged recently about the changes in the type of advertising on Facebook. It has gotten racier and he was concerned as his children have Facebook accounts. He also speculates that is also a symptom of the same. That Facebook is looking to sell information to make up for the declining revenue from it’s advertisements.

Added after the original post:

Amanda French posted an excellent blog entry on the Facebook Terms of Service and compaired it to other social networks. A must read for those that are interested in the topic.

Oh and the groundswell has caused Zuckerberg to post another entry in his blog. Very reminicent of the blog post about the beacon diseaster.

Updated 2 days after post:

Facebook seems to have done an about face (again). I credit Amanda French and really like the explaination by Alexander van Elsa on the Facebook Business Case.

Social Networking has come a long way. The first I read about the ToS was on twitter and I just kept coming across it including a link to a federal complaint.