Deleting myself from Sweetwater's databases

Slow Tech Support
1

Continuing the discussion from Companies that send me unsolicited email:

I got another unsolicited email from Sweetwater, so I decided to activate their compliance with current CCPA policies (because I live in California!):

https://www.sweetwater.com/privacy/request/?request_type=forget-me

It is kinda weird they require your First and Last name, email address, phone number, and zip code. They sent me unsolicited email, not the other way around. Why am I giving the lawbreaker my personal info again? :thinking:

Screenshot_2020-11-04 Privacy Request Sweetwater com

The response to filling it out:

We have received your “Please Delete My Information” request. Your privacy is important to us.

There are a few steps to this process:

  1. Our Customer Experience team will first confirm your identity.
  2. We will then remove all personal information from your customer records, except for information we are entitled or required to keep under the California Consumer Privacy Act, for example product warranty administration, tax auditing, fraud prevention, identity confirmation, and legal compliance.
  3. We will send you a confirmation email that this request has been completed within 45 days.

Thank you for your patience.

We appreciate your business.

The Sweetwater Team

Screenshot_2020-11-04 Request Received Sweetwater com

We’ll see how this goes…

2

Got an auto-reply:

Thank you for reaching out to us and for sharing your concerns related to the recent changes with our privacy policy. First and foremost, at Sweetwater, we are deeply committed to building long term relationships with our customers, based on trust and credibility. One of our core philosophies in achieving that goal is to protect your personal information at all costs.

We are humbled and grateful that you have trusted us with your information and as your source for gear. We strive to provide each and every person with an incredible experience, and we can assure you that we would never take that trust for granted. We recognize that changes to our privacy policy can cause some concerns, which is completely understandable.

We understand and respect your request to change your personal preferences. Our team will identify any information that you have on file and will be back in touch once we have made the appropriate changes based on your request. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at this email.

Thanks again for reaching out.

3

I got another email:

Thank you for reaching out to us and for sharing your concerns related to the recent changes with our privacy policy. First and foremost, at Sweetwater, we are deeply committed to building long term relationships with our customers, based on trust and credibility. One of our core philosophies in achieving that goal is to protect your personal information at all costs.

We are humbled and grateful that you have trusted us with your information and as your source for gear. We strive to provide each and every person with an incredible experience, and we can assure you that we would never take that trust for granted. We recognize that changes to our privacy policy can cause some concerns, which is completely understandable.

We understand and respect your request to change your personal preferences and we’ve taken the necessary steps to remove all non-pertinent information from our records.

We appreciate your desire to continue to shop with Sweetwater, and we look forward to serving you in the future.

I personally find it insincere when someone expresses, “we understand and respect your request to change your personal preferences”. If one understood one wouldn’t sell customer information in the first place, and we wouldn’t have this interaction.

I replied with:

Hello. I request to know the following information, outlined at https://www.sweetwater.com/privacy/.

  • The categories of personal information we collected about you.
  • The categories of sources for the personal information we collected about you.
  • Our business or commercial purpose for collecting or sharing that personal information.
  • The categories of third parties with whom we share that personal information.
  • The specific pieces of personal information we collected about you (also called a data portability request).
  • If we shared or disclosed your personal information for a business purpose, two separate lists disclosing:
    • the sharing, identifying the personal information categories that each category of recipient purchased; and
    • disclosures for a business purpose, identifying the personal information categories that each category of recipient obtained.

You say you’ve removed non-pertinent information, so I would like to know what was kept, and how it is shared. Thank you.

4

A response:

Thanks for the follow up.

  • We keep basic “order” information that was provided to us during time of check out, which we’re required to keep for audit/tax purposes
    • Things that are provided at checkout include, name, address, city/state, zip, payment information, IP address
  • The main source is really what is given to us during checkout.
  • We do not sell your personal information, so the only “commercial purpose” is the routine, “course of doing retail business”
  • We will share basic information to conduct that business with 3rd party entities
    • Fedex
    • If it’s an electronic download product, name information related to the download with the manufacturer.
  • Based on your two purchases, no information would have been shared to any entities outside of Sweetwater.

I hope that helps, and the only information that remains is your 2 orders placed through our website. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write.

I do not expect to receive any more email from Sweetwater.