Reply #55: RADIO SHACK used to really INVADE your privacy.... [View All]

Every time I went to Radio Shack to buy something, with either cash or credit, they asked me my phone number, name and address. I always made up most of it. And every time I changed the name. I played with them the first year they did this by giving them different names each time, but with my real address. I told them I was Arnold Swartzenegger, Babe Ruth, Phylis Diller, Bob Hope, Nolan Ryan, or I just made up a ridiculous sounding name. Every month I started getting dozens of Radio Shack brochures and magazines each with all the different names I gave them. Sometimes my mailbox was so full the mailman had to bundle them all up with a thick rubber band and put them on my doorstep.

It became so frustrating to be asked my name every time I bought something I began asking the clerk what was the name, phone number and address of the Radio Shack's CEO. Of course they wouldn't give me that information. To Radio Shack, their CEO's privacy is important, mine is not. After many, many years they stopped being so invasive.

Side story: One time I went to buy something and the clerk asked me my name and I refused. He wouldn't sell me the product! So I went back to work and called to talk with a general manager of Radio Shack and he apologized to me. He said no clerk is supposed to deny you service if you don't give him your name. I told him I wasn't going to continue shopping at Radio Shack until they stopped their invasive practice. I also told him about the dozens of Radio Shack advertising magazines I got every month and said they are really good for getting my fireplace started.