Dr's Fosters and Smith
 

Be aware that Dr's Fosters and Smith is sharing in your e-mail and personal information with other organizations.

Check out Dr's F & S (facebook account) to obtain further information and/or contact them directly.

Ugh! Not happy about this. Thanks for sharing.

It may be a bit late as they may have already provided your information to those you don't want to have it.....but, contacting them and informing them that you don't approve of their practice may stop them from said practice.

Thanks for sharing. I have ordered in the past from them, but it has been a couple of years. I will def not order again from them. I was going to order my summer supply of koi pond food from them,so much cheaper buying in bulk. Now I will have to order from someone else.:(

thanks Mary as I am glad I have never placed an order with them so they do not have my email or address for me but I just wonder if others like this provide the same information to others? I would hope that others would contact me first before providing my information to someone I might not want having it. I hope even here is safe and wouldn't provide my information to certain groups or organizations. I know this is a public forum and what we post are out there but I sure hope those involved in any organization wouldn't direct them here to provide anything. I have always wondered if any of us are safe...sigh....

Donna

I actually use my "junk" email account that I have just for these scenarios, but it still irritates me when it happens. I have an old hotmail account I use for all "public" emails or registrations.

Spammers can also obtain your email address from forwards and replies. I try to remind my friends and family to remove any forwarded email addresses when they're sending the daily funnies... :)

I've checked with PetEdge and Revival and this isn't their practice.

Drs' F&M are not only providing your e-mail account but, your address.....scarey.

All you have to do is contact them and request that your information be not passed on. Let them know that you don't abide by their practice and if they continue doing this you will take your business else where.

Here's an interesting article on "Privacy Policy", and you will learn that even though many websites have a privacy policy, they don't always use them. Why Your Web Site's Privacy Policy Matters More Than You Think - BusinessWeek.


Dr. Fosters and Smith say on their website that this is their policy on Email:

However, as the previous article states just because a website says this, doesn't make it true. "Amazon.com got into trouble with consumers and got the attention of the FTC in 2001 when it made a change in its policy; the FTC said that were Amazon to make a “material change,” it would actually have to get permission from each of its previous customers before using their information in the new ways, which would be a major and probably unsuccessful effort. " Amazon.com. If you know that Dr. Smith and Fosters is breaking the rule, I wonder if reporting them to the Federal Trade Commision (FTC) would help? It may also be a good idea to have multiple email accounts so when someone has sold your address, you can just delete that account.

While my e-mail is a concern, my concern is them providing them my personal physical address. Otherwise how would you be getting catalogues from places you never ordered from.......

Oh wow, that is really wrong, I would be furious.

Now you understand why I posted this thread.

I would hope there is more that people can do than just contacting Foster & Smith. This is illegal. They should have to have your permission before they give out your address, not the other way around. I hope someone notifies the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of this. Contact Us

It upsets me about the email address and your mailing address. I am so glad I use my work address for online orders,unless it is through paypal.

Most companies do this very same thing. Each and every time I order from a catalog or on line, I start getting so much junk mail it's ridiculous. Maybe "before" we order anything, we should as that company if they share our information.

I made the call today. I just got their catalog a few days ago. No more!!

hmm...like to places offering yorkie magnets and stuff? I wondered how those things knew I have yorkies...dang. I get the magazines, but I've never ordered anything...definitely won't, now! Thanks for the heads up!

:eek: I got that exact same flier recently...with the Yorkie magnets. I thought the same thing..."How did this company know that I have a Yorkie?!".

Same mailing to me, and I wondered how they knew, but assumed one of my on line shopping stores had shared information.....now, I know who:mad:

Thanks Mary!

Good morning. My name is Gordon Magee and I head up Internet Marketing for Drs. Foster and Smith. I directly oversee our email program. I want to assure you that we NEVER....NEVER....NEVER share customer email addresses. Never. And we haven't in the past. I'm not sure where the rumor got started that we do, but I can personally assure you that it has NEVER happened.

Regarding physical addresses the same is true, but let me explain how list rentals work in the catalog business.

Companies sometime "rent" lists to mail to, from companies that have a similar demographic, meaning that people on those lists might really like to get the catalog of this other company. HOWEVER, the company who rents the list of another company is NEVER...NEVER...NEVER given the addresses or the names of the people on the rental list.

The mailing center that does the mailing for the company whose list is being rented, receives the catalogs of the company who has rented the list. That mailing center puts the labels on the renter's catalogs and mails them out. The only time that renter would ever have your physical address would be if you choose to buy from them and put in an order. Then and only then would they have your address...and it would be supplied by you and no one else, as you fill out your order.

The point is that in a list rental, the physical address and the name of the customer is NEVER given to the company renting the list. So in NO case have we given out customer names to other companies.

If you have further questions about this please do feel free to email me at gordon.magee@drsfostersmith.com

We are very concerned about customer satisfaction and having our customers know that we protect their data.

While we are a large company in terms of sales, we live in and the company is based in rural Wisconsin. We are "just plain folks" who have the same concerns that our customers do about privacy, so we take these concerns very seriously.

Thanks for your understanding and patience, and again, please DO feel free to email me if you have questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Gordon Magee
Internet Marketing and Media Manager
Drs. Foster and Smith

I don't think this company is still owned by the original founders from years ago. They must have retired and sold to a bigger corporation because their methods have really changed.

Gracielove,

The company is still owned and operated Dr. Race Foster and Dr. Marty Smith. They have always owned the business and always operated the business. There has been no sale of the company. Nor have our methods changed. We still have a 100% satisfaction guarantee that has been part of the company ethos from the beginning. We still dedicate 10% to 15% of our catalog space to educational articles so pet owners can be well equipped to care for their pets. Our call center is still local, using folks from the Rhinelander, Wisconsin area. We are often asked about outsourcing our call center to other places around the country or even in other countries, but we refuse. We want our own Wisconsin folks answering the phone and helping pet owners.

I'm not sure what methods you are speaking of that may have changed. I'd love to know whether you think the changes you have seen are a positive or a negative. I've been with the company for 9 years of the 29 it has been in business and have known Marty longer than that. In fact I was a pastor for 20 years and Marty went to our church, so I knew him long before coming to work for him.

Anyway, I wanted you to know that Race and Marty still own and run the company and there is no outside corporation involved and there never has been. This is the same company with the same owners it has always had: Dr. Race Foster and Dr. Marty Smith.

Hope that helps in some way.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Gordon Magee
Internet Marketing and Media Manager
Drs. Foster and Smith

I have ordered from Drs Foster & Smith for the past couple of years and have never had any problems ...

Same here...

Foster Smith
 

After reading the comments here about info sharing I wrote to FS and talked of my concerns and that I wanted the sharing to cease.

This is the reply

"Thank you for your email. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We have coded your customer file as a do not rent.

If we can be of additional assistance, please contact our Internet Customer
Service Department at 1-800-381-7179, via email or on our Live Help link. Live
Help is available 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. CST seven days a week.

Sincerely,
Customer Support
Drs. Foster & Smith
pxp"

It seems to me that "renting" is sharing. They must feel I had a point or they would not be apologizing?
We hope that what they say about their privacy policy does have its customers' privacy at heart.

At least they reply promptly to emails and concerns, and that is a good start.

I'd like to say to Drs Foster and Smith that I sure don't need anymore junk mail! It is unmanageable now! What a waste of paper. If I want info from another company I will request it. I do not want my name and address "rented" to anyone.