Classy Act Of The Week: Best Buy Works Promo Into Breach Notice
Written by Evan SchumanWhen Best Buy announced to the world that it—along with many other chains—had exposed some of its customer E-mail addresses by retaining Epsilon, it did so in the traditional proper fashion. But when Best Buy sent an E-mail advisory to its customers, someone at Best Buy thought that adding a commercial in the middle of the breach notice was a good idea.
In the middle of Best Buy’s advisory to customers, someone added a plug for the Geek Squad in the letter signed by Best Buy Chief Marketing Officer Barry Judge. “As our experts at Geek Squad would tell you, be very cautious when opening links or attachments from unknown senders,” the letter said. This tactic raises two issues. First, is the middle of a somber breach notification really where you want a backup group to start humming your jingle? Second, as you are pointing out a major privacy disaster, is this the best time to remind people that you own Geek Squad? Isn’t that like offering children safety tips for Halloween and using those tips to announce you’ve hired John Wayne Gacy as head of security?
-Marc
April 14th, 2011 at 8:00 am
As I read about corporate foibles like this, I often wonder how many salaries went into making such decisions?
April 14th, 2011 at 3:54 pm
Best Buy has always been a class act so this comes as no great surprise. Recenty my 88 year old dad bought a PC from Best Buy and paid the Geek Squad to do the intsllation. I had to come out and setup the internet connection. Simply great to take advantage and just plug the thing into the wall.