Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - RANT: Personal Info Collected by Companies

4X4 · 04-21-2008, 11:07 AM

What gives? Contrary to my staunch hatred of all things Telus, I actually considered switching to them from Shaw because a) my sister works there and b) Shaw internet is just really slow in this building.

So I call Telus to order service and they start asking for my DL#, my SIN, my AHC... WTF? Are they crazy? I'm supposed to donate those numbers to their huge database so that all their thousands of employees can access it?

They say it's to do a credit check. Since when do companies need to do credit checks to provide TV and internet? What happened to taking a deposit from people?
Take my name and birthdate and run the check. If you don't like what you see, I'll pay a $100 deposit.

It really ruffles my feathers that companies like Telus do this. I'm not applying for a credit card or a mortgage. It's $100 per month for what you're going to give me. Charge in advance or something, but forget about taking all those numbers. I guess I remain with Shaw.

Along the same lines, what's with businesses asking for my address? I'm buying a slurpee and they're asking for my family tree. You go to visions or something and drop a couple grand on some equipment and the weasly kid is asking for your address. Great, so that you can come and break into my house tonight? The oil change places are asking for addresses. As you're leaving they're thinking "nice car"... Give it up. It does not help your business at all to collect my personal info. You want to figure out where to open another branch? Ask for my postal code. That I'll give you. No more addresses, phone numbers (I bought something at Guess once and they called me two months later to tell me they were having a sale...) no DL# no SIN# no AHC.

04-21-2008, 11:07 AM	#1
4X4 One of the Nine Join Date: Dec 2004 Exp:	RANT: Personal Info Collected by Companies What gives? Contrary to my staunch hatred of all things Telus, I actually considered switching to them from Shaw because a) my sister works there and b) Shaw internet is just really slow in this building. So I call Telus to order service and they start asking for my DL#, my SIN, my AHC... WTF? Are they crazy? I'm supposed to donate those numbers to their huge database so that all their thousands of employees can access it? They say it's to do a credit check. Since when do companies need to do credit checks to provide TV and internet? What happened to taking a deposit from people? Take my name and birthdate and run the check. If you don't like what you see, I'll pay a $100 deposit. It really ruffles my feathers that companies like Telus do this. I'm not applying for a credit card or a mortgage. It's $100 per month for what you're going to give me. Charge in advance or something, but forget about taking all those numbers. I guess I remain with Shaw. Along the same lines, what's with businesses asking for my address? I'm buying a slurpee and they're asking for my family tree. You go to visions or something and drop a couple grand on some equipment and the weasly kid is asking for your address. Great, so that you can come and break into my house tonight? The oil change places are asking for addresses. As you're leaving they're thinking "nice car"... Give it up. It does not help your business at all to collect my personal info. You want to figure out where to open another branch? Ask for my postal code. That I'll give you. No more addresses, phone numbers (I bought something at Guess once and they called me two months later to tell me they were having a sale...) no DL# no SIN# no AHC.