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Retail Blunders : Morrisons fined for harassing unsubscribed customers

Recently the Information Commissioner’s Office (The ICO) fined supermarket chain Morrisons £10,500 for sending out emails to people who had already unsubscribed from their communications.

Following a complaint from a disgruntled recipient the ICO’s investigation found that between October and November 2016, 200,000 emails entitled ‘Your Account Details’ were sent out inviting customers to amend their preferences so that they could start receiving news, points and coupons from Morrisons. Because these customers had previously opted to not to receive Morrisons’ emails this deemed a serious breach of the Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations (PECR).

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The ICO’s Deputy Commissioner Simon Entwisle commented: “It is vital that the public can trust companies to respect their wishes when it comes to how their personal information is used for marketing. These customers had explicitly told Morrisons they didn’t want marketing emails about their More card. Morrisons ignored their decision and for that we’ve taken action.”