Can I complain? E-tickets...*Minor Update post 41 & bigger update post 44"funny"

[Bramble]

Companies regularly do searches for blog posts, forum posts, and other things online that mention them.  Not sure why finding and commenting on yours would be a violation of their privacy policy?

[gibsongirl]

Companies regularly do searches for blog posts, forum posts, and other things online that mention them.  Not sure why finding and commenting on yours would be a violation of their privacy policy?

Their policy states that buyers and sellers are not supposed to try to access each others' information and that information such as e-mail addresses, names, etc. will remain confidential.  By commenting on a purchaser's blog they violated the spirit of that policy, as well as the agreement that if you 'uncheck' the box allowing them to contact you, for issues not directly related to specific orders (the post did not contain my order number, it asked that I respond with my order number, therefore it was a general "we saw a complaint now we must stop it" post rather than a "this person has a complaint and we should do something about it" post) they will refrain from contacting you.  To remain within ethical and privacy boundaries that they set, they need to give you every opportunity to contact them with your concerns, but to avoid seeking you out and contacting you.

I suggested that instead of that, they offer a satisfaction survey at the end of each transaction. 

[jimithing]

Companies regularly do searches for blog posts, forum posts, and other things online that mention them.  Not sure why finding and commenting on yours would be a violation of their privacy policy?

Their policy states that buyers and sellers are not supposed to try to access each others' information and that information such as e-mail addresses, names, etc. will remain confidential.  By commenting on a purchaser's blog they violated the spirit of that policy, as well as the agreement that if you 'uncheck' the box allowing them to contact you, for issues not directly related to specific orders (the post did not contain my order number, it asked that I respond with my order number, therefore it was a general "we saw a complaint now we must stop it" post rather than a "this person has a complaint and we should do something about it" post) they will refrain from contacting you.  To remain within ethical and privacy boundaries that they set, they need to give you every opportunity to contact them with your concerns, but to avoid seeking you out and contacting you.

I suggested that instead of that, they offer a satisfaction survey at the end of each transaction. 

Did they seek you out by name? I highly doubt it. I suspect that they use Google Alerts and are alerted when anybody posts or mentions them by name. I don't see how that's an ethical violation. Did you post their name on your website? Would that also be a violation of the agreement?

[BettyDraper]

Well, seems as though complaining might do some good after all...as they tracked down a blog post on which I vented about my experience and left a long comment asking me to contact them.  I've done as they asked, sending a letter of complaint this morning. 

That letter included the phrase "organized, legalized scalping," mentioned the fact that I'm a reporter and the article containing information about my experience has been printed today to a circulation of about 9,000 people, and stating that nothing will make this right, short of a public apology to all those who lost their tickets because of StubHub's policies.  Also that tracking down a blog post is a violation of their own privacy policy, and an ethical violation.

I'm just busting a gut at the thought of them trying, from a PR standpoint, to walk back the cat...

You know, a word of warning is in order: It is extremely poor form -- actually unethical in most newsrooms -- to throw around the fact that you're a reporter in order to obtain personal leverage or gain over a company with which you have umbrage.  It's a firing offense in some places and the attempt at intimidation doesn't fool many people yet undermines the credibility of you, your news organization and the occupation overall.  In other words, its rude to the majority of people in the profession, who are sticklers for ethics, and it's rude to the people over whom you are trying to gain an advantage. 

You should always handle all of your own consumer complaints without reference to your gig as a journalist, no matter what.  And before you published your "article" did you contact the company's media relations staff for their side of the story?  Did you talk to state officials about whether in fact the company's practices constitute "organized scalping" ?  Was the article portrayed as an objective bylined story or as an opinion piece?