RadioShack cited for throwing thousands of sensitive customer records in dumpter

[k4kyv]

Investigators with the Office of the Texas Attorney General discovered that a RadioShack store near Corpus Christi, exposed thousands of its customers’ personal identifying information. The investigation was launched after reports indicated company employees dumped bulk customer records in garbage containers behind the store.  The records contained Social Security numbers, credit and debit card information, names, addresses, and telephone numbers.

http://www.oag.state.tx.us/oagnews/release.php?id=1961

[W1RKW]

Sounds like the work of an honest dumpster diver.

[Bacon, WA3WDR]

Or maybe an honest employee.

I love how some managers treat their responsibilities.  I hope whoever is behind this little fiasco comes to regret it greatly.

[kf4qkr]

  It suprises me not. I have watched this corperation go down hill over the years.The  last time I went in there to buy some resisters some high pressure salesman was in my face trying to sell me a cell phone. I dont shop there anymore,I get all my parts from ,ugh,ugh,I am not going to give them a plug because they dont pay me.

[W1RKW]

Ever since RS took the sales posture that they have now which is probably 3 or more years now I have not been to an RS.  Have no desire to go there.  The mentality from corporate right down to the sales force leaves a lot to be desired.  I wonder what RS's sales figures are like these days.

[k4kyv]

The last time I attempted to buy anything at Radio Shack was about 2 years ago.  It was some small item (don't remember what) that cost about $10.  I needed it right then and it was late Saturday afternoon, and they were the only place in town still open that had it.  I went to pay for it, and all I had on me was a pocket full of quarters that I had scraped up from the tin can where I dump my pocket change.

The guy at the register said he wasn't sure if he could take the quarters.  He went to the manager to ask him.  The bastard wouldn't take the quarters!  Said there wasn't enough room in the cash register drawer.  Wouldn't sell me the item.

I told both of them in a loud voice, making sure the other customers in the store could hear me, what I thought of their whole organisation, using words that wouldn't be allowed on the radio. Never been back since.

[W1GFH]

The last time I went to Radio Shack was a few years ago. It went something like this:

CLERK: Can I help you?
ME: No.
CLERK: Maybe if you tell me what you're looking for.
ME: A stereo phono phone jack.
CLERK: That would be in our phone department.
ME: (sigh) No. It's a phono phone jack. It has nothing to do with telephones.
CLERK: You could try the stereo department.
ME: No, it wouldn't be there either. It would be in the parts department, which is where I'm looking right now. Just leave me alone, OK?
CLERK: Do you need any batteries?

[W3RSW]

Didn't I read somewhere, or maybe saw it on this site that RS wanted to get back into small parts business?  Kind of apologized for the error of their ways?
- If so, probably will be "selected stores", i.e. none.

[W1RKW]

I heard that rumor too.  Not sure where it stands today.

Didn't I read somewhere, or maybe saw it on this site that RS wanted to get back into small parts business?  Kind of apologized for the error of their ways?
- If so, probably will be "selected stores", i.e. none.

[W1ATR]

The last time I went to Radio Shack was a few years ago. It went something like this:

CLERK: Can I help you?
ME: No.
CLERK: Maybe if you tell me what you're looking for.
ME: A stereo phono jack.
CLERK: That would be in our phone department.
ME: (sigh) No. It's a phono jack. It has nothing to do with telephones.
CLERK: You could try the stereo department.
ME: No, it wouldn't be there either. It would be in the parts department, which is where I'm looking right now. Just leave me alone, OK?
CLERK: Do you need any batteries?

Add to this:

Would you like to buy a cellphone sir?

I haven't been in RS in a lot of years. I have absolutely no use for the place, or the nitwits that work there. We have a decent electronics store in town that usually has what I'm looking for, and if not, he can get it in a day. He doesn't carry tv's or cell phones or any of that type of BS. His store carries exactly what you would expect, electronics parts and supplies.

The kids at RS couldn't tell the difference between a light bulb and a bologna sandwich anyway, so I prefer not to waste my time with that place.

SK

[Roy K8VWX]

        Guess I’m pretty lucky here in Columbiana. We have a good Radioshack with clerks that have a fair knowledge of electronics along with a pretty good technician that repairs many items in the store. It seems like the fellow that runs(or owns it?) has many items  drop shipped that that you would not ordinarily get at the typical Radioshack.A lot of the things are poorly made that comes from the Tandy Corp. though.

[WA3VJB]

Remember when they used to absolutely insist that you give them your name and address

When you'd try to fight them on it, they'd come up with a variety of reasons, none of which were the truth that they wanted to send you advertising.

So we eventually took to listing the addresses of various other retailers we didn't like, usually with the name Jeffrey Cramer.

(the UAN)

[W2VW]

I think it was a setup. Maybe an inside job. Radio Shack is the best place to buy stuff. You are all just jealous.

[The Slab Bacon]

Remember when they used to absolutely insist that you give them your name and address
 

They used to really piss me of with that szht!! Walk in to buy a simple lightbulb, a $.59 item, and they wanted your whole life history.. I finally got sick of it and told them to pound sand, its none of your business, need or concern.

I told the store mangler :"why in the hell do you need all of my personal info for a simple cash sale under $1." He could not come up with any legitemate answer, so I told him dont ask again, you aint gonna get it.

Like Phil said: "you got questions, we got blank stares!!" But what do you expect from minimum wage / part time employees??

                                                        The Slab Bacon

[WB2CAU]

In my opinion RS is a sleazy organization all the way around. I was employed by them 35 years ago. I worked as a repair tech in the Regional Repair Center that was located underneath the Commack, NY store but had no connection with the store itself.  The RS store managers personally brought in (and picked up) the weekly repairs from their stores to our center.  We got to know all of the store managers quite well because we saw and spoke with them often.  More than one store manager spoke of the scenario described next.

The regional manager used to offer monetary incentives to the store managers who could meet a dollar sales quota for the year. Unfortunately, when the store manager's sales were approaching the quota, the regional manager would transfer the store manager to another store "where his sales skills could bring up the sales volume" of a struggling store.  Problem was, the manager's sales goals to receive their incentive was now set back to zero in the new store.  So, no store managers could attain the goal or receive the monetary incentive.  It was nothing more than the proverbial carrot being dangled in front of them. 

Many of you might have already noticed that there are very few long-term employees working at the store level at RS.  Most learn of the shady practices and move on to better employers.

[wb1aij]

A few years ago I bought a vhf/uhf scanner with trunk systems decoding capabilities. It stores 1000 frequencies plus all the info on each channel such as freq., mode, attenuator, etc. The radio has a serial port which can be interfaced with a PC so all of the scanlists can be created, edited, & stored on the PC and uploaded to the scanner. Really nice..........except........ nobody in the store including the manager and the manager of another store and the regional manager had the slightest idea of where to get the software. The manual refers to the software but it does not tell you that Radio Shack DOES NOT supply it. I finally found it online & downloaded it. Works beautifully but I can still see all of those "Deer IN THE Headlights" looks of the employees while I was trying to get the answers from them. What hapened to," You've Got Questions; We've Got Answers"

[The Slab Bacon]

Blank stares are cheaper!!

[W1ATR]

Remember when they used to absolutely insist that you give them your name and address

When you'd try to fight them on it, they'd come up with a variety of reasons, none of which were the truth that they wanted to send you advertising.

So we eventually took to listing the addresses of various other retailers we didn't like, usually with the name Jeffrey Cramer.

(the UAN)

That was a real, and I'm sure it started a few customer/employee arguments. If they ask you now, just tell 'em "Forget it pal! I don't want my information getting pumped into a dumpster at HQ."

The problem resolves itself.

SK

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

It's not clear to me why RS would have the SSNs of customers.

The story headline is very misleading. It makes claims of identity theft. There is no such thing. If someone steals my SSN, I still have my identity - I am who I am, my DNA has not been changed. One of my pieces of identification has been stolen and then misused. This is called theft and fraud - crimes that have been around forever. The recent cries of identity theft have been hyped as some phenomena that has resulted from the rise of the Internet. Pure hysteria.

[wb1aij]

It's not clear to me why RS would have the SSNs of customers.

The story headline is very misleading. It makes claims of identity theft. There is no such thing. If someone steals my SSN, I still have my identity - I am who I am, my DNA has not been changed. One of my pieces of identification has been stolen and then misused. This is called theft and fraud - crimes that have been around forever. The recent cries of identity theft have been hyped as some phenomena that has resulted from the rise of the Internet. Pure hysteria.

Identity theft is what you had in the movie "Face Off" with John Travolta & Nicholas Cage.