Isn’t this a bit of an ‘oh no… anyways’ moment for HelloFresh?
The delivery cost of the ads (spam) themselves was probably a factor of 10 greater; considering they sent literally 80 million emails
ICO fines HelloFresh £140k for spam texts and emails
41–50 of 144 posts
Re: ICO fines HelloFresh £140k for spam texts and emails
#42We tried them towards the end of last year, but compared to Gousto, found the quality and recipes lacking. Then there were the weird free things in the box, some Nivea face cream in one of them… very strange. I guess they must be making enough from cutting back and 3rd party deals to not worry about the slap on the wrist
Re: ICO fines HelloFresh £140k for spam texts and emails
#43> As part of this investigation, it was also discovered that the company continued to contact some individuals even after they had requested this to stop. If the messages had an opt-out mechanism that worked, they likely would have gotten away with the other things.
It’s funny how the opt out mechanisms are the buggiest part of all the systems in a company. And the slowest. I had a message the other day: “We will try our best to unsubscribe you within 30 days”. Well, don’t strain yourselves
What, you think a database can just, like, delete a row, just like that? Don't be ridiculous.
Re: ICO fines HelloFresh £140k for spam texts and emails
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yesterday I created an account on John Lewis' website, and I was please to see that during sign-up, they had an unchecked "Tick here if you want our newsletter." Then, later I placed an order, and during credit card checks I noticed a "Tick here if you do NOT want our newsletter", which was of course unchecked and that's how the fuckers got me. Fuck this dark pattern, and fuck the Product Manager that requested it. T…
All the GDPR guidance says it should be opt-in (not pre-checked) eg: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-re...
In Denmark there's a loophole to the regulation.
The opt-out rule requires that what is wanted to be marketed to a customer is corresponding products or services to what they have bought.
There are four basic conditions to be able to make use of the opportunity to market products without consent to existing customers. All four conditions must be fulfilled, cf. the Marketing Act § 10, subsection 2:
1) During a previous purchase, the customer has himself provided his email to the vendor,
2) The customer must be informed that the email may be used for advertising in the future,
3) The customer must have the opportunity to opt out of email marketing/advertising on it time when the email was disclosed to the vendor, and
4) The customer must have the opportunity to opt out of receiving email marketing at all times subsequent inquiries from the vendor.
"Corresponding products" are defined as:
- It must be products that the vendor itself sells.
- There must be a connection between the first purchase and the subsequent purchases marketed products, but the products do not have to be identical.
- Corresponding "product groups" are covered by the option.
Re: ICO fines HelloFresh £140k for spam texts and emails
#45HelloFresh seems to be optimising for user count above all else (incl profit). They keep offering their big -40% loss leader promos to people that cancelled. Must be costing them an ungodly amount.
That's the venture capital grow-at-all-costs-so-we-can-exit model pretty much all startups want to go for. You know what else grows unchecked until it has consumed all resources of its host?
Electron's memory allocation?
Re: ICO fines HelloFresh £140k for spam texts and emails
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yesterday I created an account on John Lewis' website, and I was please to see that during sign-up, they had an unchecked "Tick here if you want our newsletter." Then, later I placed an order, and during credit card checks I noticed a "Tick here if you do NOT want our newsletter", which was of course unchecked and that's how the fuckers got me. Fuck this dark pattern, and fuck the Product Manager that requested it. T…
I just mark all marketing emails as spam now. Since I never want them, I can't have opted in to it so it's spam. Seems very effective at having my email provider forward all future emails from them to spam and hopefully tarnishes their sender trust rating a little.
The trouble is you may end up with transactional emails in your spam folder.
Re: ICO fines HelloFresh £140k for spam texts and emails
#47Amazing result for Hello Fresh. What a bargain. The article is a pro business advert. The ICO is a joke and only exists so the Government can pretend there is regulation and oversight
Weird take since the ICO has been about the only major privacy watchdog outside the EU to fine these companies. The EU is literally the last bastion of consumer protection rights.
Re: ICO fines HelloFresh £140k for spam texts and emails
#48HelloFresh seems to be optimising for user count above all else (incl profit). They keep offering their big -40% loss leader promos to people that cancelled. Must be costing them an ungodly amount.
That's the venture capital grow-at-all-costs-so-we-can-exit model pretty much all startups want to go for. You know what else grows unchecked until it has consumed all resources of its host?
[deleted]
Re: ICO fines HelloFresh £140k for spam texts and emails
#49Good opportunity to repost how HelloFresh is a scammy company. I got tricked into a very dark-patterned coffee subscription company called Amora Coffee. I got one of their coupon with a Hello Fresh box. Which, by association, at the time increased my trust in this Amora Coffee company. And now, after being scammed, only ruined my trust in the Hello Fresh company. Never bought it again, never will, and will tell every…
I remember reading this when it was originally posted.
Getting scammed sucks, and there are clearly some dark patterns. But it's 2024; handing your credit card and personal details over to a random company without understanding the terms is crazy.
And by "understand the terms", I'm not suggesting you comb through the documentation to find answers. If the company isn't clear and up-front about how their product works, they aren't serious. Don't give them your money. For a subscription service: what do I get? what do I owe? what are my obligations? how do I cancel?
But, this sort of marketing works because people will do silly things to get something for "free".
Re: ICO fines HelloFresh £140k for spam texts and emails
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yesterday I created an account on John Lewis' website, and I was please to see that during sign-up, they had an unchecked "Tick here if you want our newsletter." Then, later I placed an order, and during credit card checks I noticed a "Tick here if you do NOT want our newsletter", which was of course unchecked and that's how the fuckers got me. Fuck this dark pattern, and fuck the Product Manager that requested it. T…
I just mark all marketing emails as spam now. Since I never want them, I can't have opted in to it so it's spam. Seems very effective at having my email provider forward all future emails from them to spam and hopefully tarnishes their sender trust rating a little.
In a moment of frustration several years ago I marked my mobile sim provider as spam for the same reason.
They later deleted my account, and had apparently only notified me via SMS using the same marketing account (and no other channels).