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Fri 28 Mar, 2003 08:31 am
There is a local business person in our town. He started out from nothing, and has built up a huge home related business. He is into real estate, painting (how he started) remodeling, roofing, pest control, cleaning, etc.
What he does is subcontract a great deal. He also uses a lot of his relatives in the business. He is highly (at least double the norm) overpriced. What he DOES have in his favor is that he stands by his work. In the South, where workmen are notoriously unreliable, ("can't come today, the fish are runnin'" 
) he IS someone on whom you can count.
Anyhow, today I received an eight page flyer from this man, inserted with my local throway paper. It listed his services, and had pictures of his major staff. It also had pages and pages of names of customers, including me and my mother.
Now, we both used him about 8 years ago, and would never use him again.
Is this considered an ethical business practice? I always thought that if a customer's name was used in an ad, permission was needed, as it was considered an endorsement. What do you think?
I would call it unethical, but the opinion is personal, not legal. With luck, someone will be calling you for references. Give him a good one.
If you agreed to provide a reference, then this is overdoing it but probably not illegal per se. But still! What if he listed the name and address of someone escaping from a cruel marriage? And, in any event, you didn't agree to have your name used. For you, it may not be much more than an irritation, but for someone with a restraining order who's had to change their address and phone number several times, this is a matter of life and death.
I suggest calling and complaining. I bet you won't be the only one who'll be complaining about this. The flyers that are already out the door can't be recalled, but you should be able to get him to stop sending out new flyers with your name and address.
And if you don't get satisfaction, there's always the office of consumer affairs.
How about a letter to the editor of your local paper, asking the same question? (Is that an evil thought?)
No, there were no addresses, just names- Eight pages of them, his entire database, I would conclude. There were a few testimonials.
I wouldn't do anything about it- it is just an irritation. This is a rather small town, and there would be no point in making a fuss. I just wanted the opinions of members, especially those who are in business.
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