Grrrr !!

[Minerva]

I was talking the other day to someone who mentioned American girl dolls. I was shocked at the price of these things, she mentioned she recently bought one for his daughter and it was 100 something dollars. I was like, wow, good thing I have a baby boy. In any case, I had never heard about these, so to satisfy my curiosity I did a search on my computer.
A week later, I get the full catalog of these freaking dolls under my last name. I am like WTH.... How in the world??? How is that possible? I don't think this is a coincidence, it is very scary and I feel like calling them and asking HOW do they have my address!!! grrr... Is this a normal praxis?!
on a side note...
I am so tired of the "can I have your email?' when I am buying something... I JUST WANT TO PAY THANK YOU. They ask for the zip code, emails... one day I said: CAN I HAVE YOURS??? WHAT DO YOU HAVE FOR BREAKFAST?? I hate this. I know it's their job but this is something I am not very used to. I am browsing in a store and they stalk you, "how can I help you" Do you find everything okay? Just so you know there is a 20% off on all the bla bla...." I sometimes leave the store because I am tired of people talking to me 100 times...

random complains I know...sorry I had to rant a little bit today...

[goldenfooler]

my neice has like 5 of the dolls with the fixens and pets
GROAN

[Jeffro]

my girlfirend lives with me and so does her 5 year old daughter. Girl toys are very exensive!!!!!

[Skud]

Sometimes you have to check the box, sometimes uncheck. Most sites try to slip things past the consumer so they can hit them with ads or worse later. Dirty game. Not sure how they got your name...probably cut a deal with Facebook, Google +, etc. Check privacy settings on any of those, and then hope they actually follow their words.

[K PhaNTOM]

They got your address in Spain? That's over the top. If you were in America, it would be the norm. AT&T (Biggest landline phone chain) publishes the phone numbers and address of all its customers. You have to pay extra to hide your address and phone number from google. If you put my phone number in google, it will show my name and address right there. No hard way to search, just there.

[Apache Warrior]

They got your address in Spain? That's over the top. If you were in America, it would be the norm. AT&T (Biggest landline phone chain) publishes the phone numbers and address of all its customers. You have to pay extra to hide your address and phone number from google. If you put my phone number in google, it will show my name and address right there. No hard way to search, just there.

She lives in the US now KP. She married BA.
The only time I want some to help I will ask for it. Unfortunately, when I want help I can never find someone.
Apache

[JohnyRico]

I am so tired of the "can I have your email?' when I am buying something... I JUST WANT TO PAY THANK YOU. They ask for the zip code, emails... one day I said: CAN I HAVE YOURS??? WHAT DO YOU HAVE FOR BREAKFAST?? I hate this. I know it's their job but this is something I am not very used to. I am browsing in a store and they stalk you, "how can I help you" Do you find everything okay? Just so you know there is a 20% off on all the bla bla...." I sometimes leave the store because I am tired of people talking to me 100 times...

random complains I know...sorry I had to rant a little bit today...

As a retail manager I can speak to some of this. Retail is EXTREMELY competitive. We fight and scrape all year to try to pull a 2% sales increase and fight even harder to maintain the profits that that increase brings.

Email addresses provide a personalized outlet that lets a retailer get advertisements to the exact customer base... your current customers. Over 97% of print ads end up in the garbage and are expensive. Email advertising is much cheaper and has no negative effects except getting scrolled past if not desired. Our customers can always opt out of our email advertising by just clicking a link on any email.

As for being approached by sales people we found out in our online surveys that about 40% of my companies customers that made a purchase were not even spoken to in our stores until they got to the check stands. It is unknown how many who left without a purchase were approached but it is likely the percent is much worse. I train my associate to offer a greeting just to open up communication so that it makes it ok for a customer to ask us a question. We also offer a basket or cart to anyone we see who may need one. I'd say that a customer is about 50 times more likely to complain about NOT being offered a greeting or help than for being badgered.

ZIP code surveys are probably going to be a thing of the past since they existed to target certain ZIP codes with print ads.

Related story: my wife has been in the fragrance industry for 20 years and has never seen anyone actually spray perfume on a person without asking/offering first.

[Dead...Again]

My daughter has two of those damn american girls. They are such a ripoff. They also have overpriced american girl restaurants where you can take your daughter and her doll to eat...

[ch33s3r]

They also have overpriced american girl restaurants where you can take your daughter and her doll to eat...

LOL!!!! Wth?

[Qicmee]

This is the first time I've heard of receiving a catalog mailing after browsing on-line. Maybe social media stepped over the line. Is it possible you recently began a new subscription to a magazine or mailed in a warranty registration? Companies sometimes sell their subscriber list.

I like store clerks to ask, "Are you finding everything you need?" Unless I want help, I give a one word reply. If I don't want help, any additional sales pitch is obnoxious & intrusive.

American Girl Minneapolis

[goldenfooler]

LOL!!!! Wth?

Yea my neice has been to Tea in NYC with her grand parents... Hmmm costed around $150 for 4 people and a doll.

Heh I didn't know Minerva lived in NJ... you need to update your profile.

[{CLR} Cobalt]

I'm with Apache, you can never find one of those mullets when you need em. And times you dont need em, they follow you around the whole time. Sheeesh..

One thing about it though , you dont have to worry about anyone helping you in Wal-Mart. Aint gonna happen.

[Apache Warrior]

I'm with Apache, you can never find one of those mullets when you need em. And times you dont need em, they follow you around the whole time. Sheeesh..

One thing about it though , you dont have to worry about anyone helping you in Wal-Mart. Aint gonna happen.

Store managers make their bonus based on saving the company money. Payroll is the biggest way they can save money. That is why you go into Wally World and find very few registers open.
I was in last Sunday Labor Day Weekend. It was about 11:30 AM and the store was busy. Checkout had one 20 Items or Less Lane, one Self Checkout Lane and two Regular Checkout Lanes open. This is a Super Wally World and the lines were long.
Apache

[Cain]

They got your address in Spain? That's over the top. If you were in America, it would be the norm. AT&T (Biggest landline phone chain) publishes the phone numbers and address of all its customers. You have to pay extra to hide your address and phone number from google. If you put my phone number in google, it will show my name and address right there. No hard way to search, just there.

KP, 2008 called and they want you back ...

[Apache Warrior]

KP, 2008 called and they want you back ...

Apache