Comments on: I got an Email from Shoppers Drug Marts’ Lawyers today, what should I do?

By: Marketing Guy

Marketing Guy — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:31:44 +0000

Just an FYI from someone in the industry (myself):

- If an employee of SDM has posted confidential information on the Internet, it becomes PUBLIC DOMAIN
– SDM can take legal recourse against the person who directly leaked the information (the employee), as they are likely an insider in breach of their duty to the company (as the lawyer’s letter suggested)
– Legally they could probably make a case to require SmartCanucks to reveal the identity of the original poster, however confidentiality issues are highly complex when it comes to Internet identities

But make no mistake, once something has been posted on the Internet it is accessible to the world. If SDM’s competitors, say Rexall, wish to use this information to plan a competitive promotion of the same nature at the same time, they are well within their rights. It’s an ethical matter, not a legal one. Honestly, I’d bet the marketing team at SDM loves SmartCanucks… their ROI (return-on-investment) for a promotion like this increases when sites like this build free WOM (word-of-mouth), and in the end that makes their campaign more successful.

By: name

name — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:25:06 +0000

Incredible site!,

By: Champions in the workplace

Champions in the workplace — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 07:42:52 +0000

I had issues with layers before. I just removed the offending text and they went away.

By: Jameson

Jameson — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 05:05:05 +0000

As a communications major, I would just like to point out the poor use of grammar in this email. This communicates a clear lack of professionalism, as does the threat to contact Smart Canucks’ service provider. I suppose freedom of speech is now dead. I will certainly think twice before visiting Shopper’s again.

By: nwriter

nwriter — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 23:15:45 +0000

And Sally, when you talk to them, ask if it is it official policy to only have one trainee cashier and (2 on a smoke break) when there are like 25 people in a line-up. Or is that simply customer service, Shopper’s style? LOL.

It’s amazing that they botched this situation so skillfully even as consumer dollars are getting harder and harder to come by.

Without loyal customers, Shopper’s soon won’t be able to afford lawyers … Hmmm.

By: Sally

Sally — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:35:42 +0000

Still haven’t heard back, I’ve reached out twice. I must say i’m not impressed by their customer relations, and public relation skills. Rexall is far superior in that department by far.

I guess they couldn’t recognize just how much sales Boo’s driven to the stores over the years, such a loss for them.

I am still waiting for a call back SDM.

By: BobQ

BobQ — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 02:36:09 +0000

companies that don’t know how to politically explain their needs do their stockholders a disservice, especially with the hard times that are coming up.

i would have send an email informing the site’s owner of that fact that this info was confidentual and it should be removed now .

then provide owner with a number and a name to contact marketing for special codes and promotions.

this way , you will get the owners participation and in the same time gain more needed public exposure.

By: Annon

Annon — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:58:13 +0000

Sometimes I wish people could look outside the box, there are a few people on here that seem to understand, but maybe I can clarify since I work for a large retailer. Things being posted a few days early is no big deal, thats not what Shoppers would care about, posting pricing so far in advance allows their competitors to have the upper hand and beat them to the punch, that is not cool in the world of Marketing. They would also be pissed that their trusted employee intentionally leaked this info to an online community. What if you all went on a public form and posted confidential info about your work? Pretty sure you would all come in to work and find a pink slip at your desk. As for everyone saying that it could have been handled better, Im sure they needed to make sure that whatever was posted was removed immediately without any question, sometimes “asking nicely” and/or sending an email with smiley faces doesnt do the trick, I know if it was my employer they would have sent an email with the same tone.
You just dont mess around with a companies bottom line, and this “wasabi” person certainly crossed the wrong company

By: Brad

Brad — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:31:32 +0000

What heavy handed foolishness, no boycott here, but certainly less respect.
How hard would it be to send a friendly mail?

By: nsangel

nsangel — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:17:04 +0000

Sally you may not hear from them until after rememberance day. some high up mucky mucks like to take extra days off when close to a weekend.

speaking of mucky mucks..where’s boo???

By: Jay

Jay — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:09:12 +0000

Sadly, their reaction is typical for a tightly wound bunch of corporate bullies! Hard to believe though that Shopper’s didn’t have the good sense to ensure their high priced attack dog from Osler took a light handed approach to the situation, instead of their guns a-blazing email threat. What a bunch of jerks!

Shame that Boo couldn’t fight them, but like he said they’ve got deep pockets (and little common sense).

By: Sally

Sally — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:42:11 +0000

Richie Rich, we closely deal with some companies, Smart Canucks is an extremely popular site.

I really hope to hear back from SDM tommorow morning.

By: nsangel

nsangel — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:34:04 +0000

Jack: i think boo has removed it since to stop us from bickering.

By: Richie Rich

Richie Rich — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:06:26 +0000

ilovemykids Nov 8th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
â€”â€”â€”â€”â€”â€”â€”â€”â€”â€”â€”
Sally Nov 7th, 2008 at 11:22 pm

Iâ€™d like to point out, when Rexall accidentally posted the 5 off 5 coupon and we had it uploaded here they sent an email directly to us asking to take it off. No threatening letter anything, just a request.

I really donâ€™t think anyone with customer relation skills handled this.
â€”â€”â€”â€”â€”â€”â€”â€”â€”â€”â€”

Also to mention they SUPPLY US with the correct information! Complete with JPG. image, PDF coupon and the link to the online coupon!
BOY to THEY know their business.

They are not the only big name company to do it either. A lot of them understand the importance of places like this.

—–

So does this mean we gotta teach shoppers how to market better? And I didn’t know that many companies came in direct contact with oyu ahead *shrugs*

By: Jack

Jack — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 22:57:20 +0000

Hey, no problem.:) Glad you posted again. Just a note to say that the lawyer’s surname is addressed in the body of the VP’s letter, second paragraph. It has not been removed. So it was not revealing anything that was not already posted.

By: Adele B

Adele B — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 21:58:41 +0000

I’m thinking twice about SDM, too. Didn’t even bother looking at their flyer this week.

By: Freedomz

Freedomz — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 19:48:59 +0000

Yupe, SDM certainly did at least lost sales from our block. It’s around x’mas time, we all needed to get cosmetics and perfume gift sets. We got them at JPC and the Bay instead.

By: zzz

zzz — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 19:08:32 +0000

Kind of late to the party, but I will avoid shopping at SDM from now on. They should congratulate themselves on losing another customer.

By: sdmsucks

sdmsucks — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 04:21:09 +0000

How come Apple doesn’t sue macrumors.com? What a bad move by sdm.

By: Boo Radley

Boo Radley — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 03:00:26 +0000

TO clarify any confusion I removed her name and replaced it with initials to protect her privacy.

J.D. was the full name