Great Clips violates your privacy!
A visit to a Great Clips location on the weekend proved to be an annoyance more than a necessity. Here's a letter of complaint I have sent to their corporate head office. I also forwarded copies to two other organizations to ensure that this matter is looked at.
Great Clips Inc.
ATTN: Vice President, Franchise Services & Human Resources
7700 France Avenue South
Suite 425
Minneapolis, Minnesota
55435To whom it may concern:
On Saturday, February 6th, 2010, I visited the Great Clips location in Surrey, British Columbia for my usual hair cut. Upon my arrival, I was requested to provide a full name, phone number, and address in order for me to be provided with service. I chose to refuse providing such information as it was neither a legal requirement nor a necessity for your salon to operate its business.
The individual at the front desk attempted to misinform me that the information she requested was required and that the system would not allow for her to not input a first name, last name, nor phone number. I provided erroneous information to satisfy her, but found that there was a complete lack of understanding of both your own privacy policy and the laws of the Province of British Columbia; and that your computer system isn't designed to handle refusals for information in a simple manner.
On your website, your privacy policy states the following:
Customers may refuse to provide personal information to us or withdraw their consent at any time. However, in either case this may limit our ability to provide a customer with the highest quality service possible.
This policy appears to be compliant with the laws that govern this province and thus indicates to me that the issue appears to be more systemic in your point of sale design, franchise operation, and employee training. I would choose to say that this is completely unacceptable as while I received excellent service otherwise, I found that your attempts to make your marketing department's jobs simpler as overall intrusive.
To summarise, I would like an explanation of why this experience was the case and an answer to whether or not you train your employees on privacy rights. I do not require an explanation of why you ask for this information as I am more than aware of what your intentions are with it. Also, I would like any information you may have on me in any of your databases to be removed immediately.
With all of this said, I do not anticipate visiting a Great Clips location ever again in the foreseeable future thanks to this experience, and I will be making this issue aware to others as well.
A copy of this letter has been forwarded to both the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) and the Province of British Columbia's Office of the Information & Privacy Commissioner (OIPC). Also, this letter has been mirrored on my own personal website.
Sincerely,
Colin Keigher
Do I really need to supply that much fucking information for a goddamn unscheduled haircut? I think that a form of payment and a first name should be more than sufficient. Hell, just the money will do.
February 9th, 2010 - 21:43
That’s a crazy amount of info required for a haircut. At Sets Salon I only need to give my first name and a phone number for a scheduled appointment. I’m not sure what’s required for a walk-in but I don’t imagine them asking for more than a name.
May 23rd, 2010 - 13:18
I think that his is just one more way for decent people to be tracked and watched. It should matter to you not at all whether I have an address as long as I am paying with accepted legal tender. You don’t need to know what I like, where I live… just give me a damn haircut and piss off. Pardon if I’m being rude.