Why am I so against purchased data?

So people ask... “Why are you so against purchased data”? Well, this is why...

[Please note: I have kept brands and senders anonymous] 

A while back I started receiving spam [third party newsletters] from “Brand A”. “Brand A” are owned by “Company A”. So I emailed them and mentioned that I make a point of not allowing my data to be used for third party mailings and asked to confirm opt in details of my address.

They thanked me for getting in touch and“unsubscribed” me from their database so I wouldn’t receive anymore emails. They also admitted working with certain data partners where I would have opted in for third party offers, however, within 48 hours they’d confirm where I opted in.

After not hearing back from “Company A” I then received an email from “Company B” saying they had been passed my details with regards to an issue I had with receiving a marketing message in the last few days. Having not encountered “Company B” before; I wanted to see where they got my data from. So it turns out “Company B” received the request from “Company C” who have asked them to have a look at my marketing message issue.

At this point in my investigation to find the source of this SPAM I am left thinking how have I jumped from “Company A” to “Company B” and who are “Company C”? My assumption now is that “Company B” provided the email address to “Company C” who in turn sold my address to “Company A”... 

Confused? Have I already painted the picture of why purchased data is bad? The next part is even worse... 

It turns out “Company B” are a mobile marketing company rather than email marketing and as such have a database of mobile numbers that they allow companies to check against for TPS, Network Blacklisting, Quarantined numbers etc, and some of these rows contain email address. In this case the email address has been used for marketing rather than its intended use; as part of a blacklisted file. They referred to this as a “simply a manual error on our part”. 

How is selling blacklisted contact details a simple error? 

Their cleansing files are direct from the mobile networks and 3rd party data cleansers, every 3 months or so they pass all companies with mobile connections a list of mobile users that are in the following lists; TPS, Network Blacklisting, Quarantined numbers and used STOP commands on keywords/shortcodes associated with their company. I apparently could rest assured that your email address has only left our company in this one case. 

IMO that depends on who that one case was, by this point it been in the hands of two other companies. 

Re-enter “Brand A”; I haven’t received spam from them for a while now however after receiving more spam, I obviously questioned my previous “unsubscribe” and was told they did unsubscribe me however tech noticed my details were merged into a new database. I was then told I have been successfully unsubscribed.

14 Days late re-enter “Brand A” with a MacMillan email. I am spun [what I think was] a blatant LIE. They “suppressed” my details from all their files when we communicated and haven't sent me any emails since. They went on to say below email is from another company/person who is falsely using their details. REALLY, are they falsely sending your creative, or are you getting someone else to send your creative and now trying to pull the wools over the eyes of an email savvy person after another “mistake”?

Two months roll on and enter “CompanyD”. Spam’s from a car manufacturer and global credit card company... The source URL: www.”Brand A”.co.uk having read this blog you’ll know I didn't sign up from their site in June, they brought my data from someone who scrapped it off the TPS! 

This is the precise reason why purchased lists are NEVER a good idea. Rant Over!