Absolutely seething with anger right now - I nearly put this in the Rants/Religion/Controversy section and then I realised it was about marketing.
As the regulars know, I'm getting married next year. As part of the secular marriage procedure, you have to go and "give notice" some time before the wedding at the local register office. Your notice of intent to marry is posted in the council offices for two weeks, just like a planning application and for pretty much the same reason - so that if anyone has an objection, they can put it forward. The equivalent for a religious service is having the banns read in church so that anyone with a reservation can speak to the priest/vicar about it. The purpose is to prevent illegal marriages.
Instead, some horrible grubby little trolls have decided it's appropriate to use the opportunity to harvest our contact details and add us to their mailing lists.
I accept that we're going to get aggressively marketed at for getting married and I was fine with it being contextual. I don't mind that the register office gave us marketing materials from local dress shops/florists/photographers along with the ceremony information. It's okay that venue brochures carry more advertisements than useful information. I understand that email spam is unavoidable, and I am completely relaxed about the fact that every time I mention the wedding plans on my personal twitter, I get follows from all sorts of bridal companies.
But I'm protective of my home address. I always avoid giving it out and regularly give fake addresses to those who insist 'the computer' needs an address to continue. If I have to have something delivered then I always insist that my details are not shared, and if I can't find a tick-box for it then I send a separate email. Heck, I even shred things with my home address on before recycling.
I'm absolutely fuming that some mercenary little tick thinks it's okay to take advantage of the legal requirement to give my correct details to the registrar in order to spam me at home.
Honestly? No one who is capable of that level of inappropriate behaviour is coming NEAR my wedding, let alone being paid for it.
I'm so pissed off, I'm not even going to tell the parasites involved about all the typos on their marketing materials. Yeah, see me sticking it to the man. Ugh, I hate this powerless feeling of having lost control of my private details.
(Um. Re-reading this, it is just a rant rather than a discussion point, if any mods would like to move it, feel free.)
You honestly think I'd dare to move this post? Can still feel the ground vibrating here in Stratford  Totally sympathise when it comes to protecting privacy. Although on the TPS register (supposedly UK's anti cold calling Telephone Preference Scheme to any non UK peeps), we get bombarded with "surveys". Always overseas call centres, and it winds me up. I can't even be polite anymore and just slam it down. Workwise, fair game, I will politely say no thanks, and I have to admit we've done B2B cold calling in the past, but home numbers are off limits, and everytime I get one, it's like an invasion of your privacy. Especially during Eastenders! Aggressive marketing tactics do little convey positive feedback or potential reccommendations. Did have to smile though, professional to the end, Mary spots the typo's! Maybe quote them some copywriting 
No one in the wedding industry can spell. Fact. VirtuallyMary
Congratulations and good luck for next year, Mary. I'm not sure about this but I think some local councils deliberately made money by selling the addresses on their electoral rolls to mailing companies; after an outcry from individuals and the local press, they stopped the practice. Is there any point speaking to the Registrar's office to investigate what action (if any) they themselves take to prevent personal details being harvested by mailing companies? Eg I think on some web sites you can't copy a page though you can view it (which effectively means it's more hassle than it's worth to transfer addresses onto your list). Best wishes Linda Linda CareersPartnershipUK
Thank you Linda The electoral roll thing is taken care of. Every year when they send you that letter asking if the details of the adults in your household are still correct for council tax purposes, there's an option to be on the published or unpublished register. I'm not sure whether the details are online or not. I rang one of these obnoxious twits to ask (politely) where he'd got my details. I figured that if it was one of my current suppliers, I would cancel their contract as they would have broken my specific request to keep my details secure. I was quite shocked when he told me he got my details from the register office and he was very insistent about telling me that it's perfectly legal for any individual to go and look to see who is getting married. I got the impression that he may have actually physically gone to the register office in person, to write down the details of that fortnight's happy couples. Phoning the registrars office is a good idea. I think I've got a feedback card somewhere in the gumph they gave me, I could put it on that as well and then it's written down. Meanwhile I'm pleased to report that my hackles are settling and I've put the flamethrower down. VirtuallyMary
“You honestly think I'd dare to move this post? Can still feel the ground vibrating here in Stratford ”Excellent! 
Hi Mary you have every right to seethe, but these people are thick skinned like rhinos, and my guess is that trying to talk to them would just give you another bout of frustration and anger. If it happened to me, my solution would be to take another glass of wine and sip gently for as long as it took to chill out...hic By the way, when is the great day? Mike
Cheers Mike, I am pretty much calmed down although it flares again every time another third-rate photographer's badly-produced bumf lands on the doormat. My slightly evil inner self keeps coming up with interesting "not technically illegal" methods of revenge, or at least extreme annoyance and time-wasting... Most of the ideas are infantile, they'd waste my time as much as theirs, and I'd never put them into practice, but it makes me feel better to dream them up. VirtuallyMary
“...Most of the ideas are infantile, they'd waste my time as much as theirs, and I'd never put them into practice, but it makes me feel better to dream them up.” I thought that was just me, I end up day dreaming about my XXXX head neighbours. Current fantasy is ordering 20 tons of manure via a cyber cafe and ropey paypal account, and having it dumped all over their award winning roses.... Wonder if I'd get away with it.... stop it stop it....
I am always getting calls from people that have purchased my details from some organisation, I think T-Mobile have some plan to keep calling you back when they feel its ok for them? That's the trouble with the electronic age, your details are available to such a large market, unfortunately we are going to accept it as a everyday event. At least you know the notice was read by someone Mary? Mark Pitts |
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