The Unspectacular Case of the Junk Mail in the Letterbox
It took a bit more than six months, but the swine have found me. The mountain of junk mail has begun - mostly invitations to take out credit cards, actually. But what really annoys me, is that they don’t just send this rubbish to me. No, lying side by side upon my return from work every day, like some kind of dreadful twin welcome mat, are two identical brightly coloured envelopes, one addressed to me, the other to Ellie.
My revenge is fairly petty, not especially satisfying, and relatively time consuming. But at least it’s something: I take their pre-paid reply envelopes, cram the mailshot into it, and send it back to them. At least they have to pay the postage.
But what baffles me is how they found us in the first place. Someone, to whom we gave our personal details in good faith, has obviously sold us out. It’s doubly rankling because I always make sure to tick the box saying ‘don’t send me crap through the post’ (I’m paraphrasing).
I’ve had a think as to all the companies and organisations I’ve handed out my information to since moving, back in October. The list includes:
* Croydon Council (council tax and land registry)
* The Electoral Register (to stop Boris… at least, that was the plan)
* Liverpool Victoria (home insurer)
* M&S (car insurer)
* Thames Water
* British Gas (gas and electricity)
* Sky TV
* Various contractors
* Television licence authorities
* Zenith Windows (the anti-christ)
* Alliance and Leicester (mortgage provider)
Although there’s probably quite a few I’m forgetting, the odds are that one of the above companies have sold my name and address to any Tom, Dick or Harry willing to pay for the data.
My best guess: either Sky or Alliance and Leicester. The former would especially anger me, because I’ve told them not to pass my details on whenever I’ve been in contact with them. And, thinking about it further, I’m not convinced that they even have Ellie’s name. The flimsy evidence is less than conclusive, but I now have my prime suspect in the Unspectacular Case of the Univited Junk Mail in the Letterbox.
As such, and in the unlikely event that anyone at Alliance and Leicester is reading this:
Stop handing out my personal information to junk mail companies. Or, if you must, at least ensure you’re not sending identical rubbish to the same household twice.
It makes me very cross.
May 19th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Could be worse. You could get letters from debt collectors saying they’re going to send round the baliffs to collect on debts from previous tenenats. The only thing that eases my mind is that even the most slow witted baliff will hopefully realise I’m not Rosan Jagraipatti.