Incredibly upset!

[AlyBlu]

Motheringdotcom has sold my information!  I am not a mom - I joined a long time ago because there was interesting threads - but have not been around in a very long time.  So I have started receiving blood cord kits and enfamil packets in my mail.  I am getting postcards of "Welcome to your new addition" - I cannot have kids - I am infertile - I joined this board for the natural family care communities - and left because I cannot keep up in most of the "My children" conversations.  So dear hubby got a hold of someone at enfamil and found out from them who the list server was that got our name - called the list server - AND FOUND OUT THAT MOTHERING.COM IS SELLING OUR INFORMATION.  yup - this board that professes nature child care gave my name to a list server who gave my name to enfamil.  So now a childless woman who cannot conceive is receiving "Happiest time of your life" junk in the mail.  Thanks mothering.com - nice to know you will sell us out to the highest bidder.

[Drummer's Wife]

How weird!  I know motherhood, the store, does this, but I wasn't aware mothering.com did. 

How did they get your address?  Or real name, for that matter.  I don't recall having to enter either when I registered. 

I hope you get a response from an admin here. 

[swede]

Originally Posted by Drummer's Wife 

How weird!  I know motherhood, the store, does this, but I wasn't aware mothering.com did. 

How did they get your address?  Or real name, for that matter.  I don't recall having to enter either when I registered. 

I hope you get a response from an admin here. 

I wonder that too.  that stinks, but I am confused as to how they could send you stuff.  I have never given my street address.

[APToddlerMama]

I just had a baby and was wondering how enfamil knew once again.  Are you sure it was mdc that gave out your info? I know they dont have my personal info....

[Megan73]

I'm sorry that you've been getting this unwanted - and painful - mail.

[Cynthia Mosher]

I think you may have some incorrect information as Mothering does not sell account information. I'll refer your complaint to our management and see if we can get an answer for you.

[AlyBlu]

I am not incorrect.My husband called enfamil and told enfamil how incredibly insensitive this was and demanded that they tell him how they got our information.  They gave him the number for the list server that they used - hubby called the list server and after much discussion about how incredibly insensitive this was - they gave us motheringdotcom - they told us it was something new.  So no - definitely not incorrect information.  We did our due diligence in finding this out - I do not accuse nor complain randomly.  But this is a huge violation.  I do not buy childrens products, I do not subscribe to any of the parenting magazines - this place is the one and only connection that I have to motheringdotcom.

[AlyBlu]

Originally Posted by Megan73 

I'm sorry that you've been getting this unwanted - and painful - mail.

Thank you - it is quite distressing.
 

[Peggy O'Mara]

First, Aly Blu, I want to acknowledge how awful it must be for you to get this stuff in the mail. I'm sorry.

However, I don't know about this and will look into it immediately. When we were a print magazine we did sell our list to compatible companies but never to formula companies and people could take their names off the list.

I have never authorized any rental of our Mothering.com list and to do so would require that people opt into receiving information from other parties. This is our last day before vacation and I will make some calls to try to figure this out, but if I can't reach people today, it may not be until after next week before I get back to you,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention and I may have some more questions for you as I figure this out. Blessings.

[Peggy O'Mara]

Plus, we don't have your physical addresses, just your email addresses.

[Cynthia Mosher]

Thanks Peggy.

I've moved this to Questions and Suggestions where it is appropriately hosted.

[AlyBlu]

The not having my address part is what really freaks me out.  The list server directly said Motheringdotcom and it was directly from enfamil that we got the list servers number.  i thank you for looking into this - it is quite painful to deal with.

[AlyBlu]

I am part of a group of women who are dealing with hormone issues - It was because of a topic they where discussing that I found this board years ago - I put up a post on our forum about how upset I was - turns out three more women have been receiving this junk also - they are Moms - so it did not stand out as sharply to them - and the common thread is this forum.  You guys may not be doing it - but you might have someone who registered and is creating sellable lists off of your members names.  I have no idea how you would deal with this - but it is definitely not just me.

[momileigh]

subscribing

[Peggy O'Mara]

Hi AlyBlu: I've checked with everyone in our company and we are not renting the Mothering.com list. As I mentioned, we formerly rented our Mothering print subscriber list. However, renting the Mothering.com list is not something we are doing now or intend to do in the future.

Do you think your husband would be willing to share with me the names of the people he spoke to at Enfamil and the list server so that I can clear up this misconception. I would, of course, let you know what they say. You or he can PM me if you like or post the info here.

The list rental thing is weird. As you know, we've run several articles on this. We found out, for example, that if you have photos of your baby taken when you give birth in a hospital, that list will be sold to the formula companies. A woman emailed us about this a few years ago and I contacted Marsha Walker, who has worked hard to get formula samples out of hospitals and wrote "Ban the Bags" for us.  She verified that the photos are a new way to get mom's names. 

Obviously this example does not apply to you, but perhaps something else does. It's not us.

I don't know how anyone else could be renting a list of Mothering.com users without our knowledge either because they would have no way of getting people's real names and addresses.

On another note, my daughter also struggles with hormone issues and has really been helped by Saundra McKenna, who wrote The Phytogenic Hormone Solution. Please forgive the unsolicited advice; I'm sure you've got lots of your own resources.

Let me know what your husband says.