17/2017 Expert Ireland Retail Limited
In October 2016 an individual complained to us about regular marketing text messages which she received from Expert Ireland Retail Limited. She informed us that in August 2014 she purchased a tumble dryer at the Expert Naas store and she stated that she gave her mobile phone number at the point of sale for the sole purpose of arranging the delivery of the appliance. She stated that she was not asked if she wished to receive marketing text messages and she did not request or agree to same. She informed us that she began receiving regular marketing text messages from December 2015 onwards and despite replying by text message on numerous occasions with the opt-out keyword, further text messages continued to arrive on her phone. She advised us that early in October 2016 her husband called to the Expert store in Naas and he asked the staff there to remove her number from their marketing database. Despite this request the complainant received a further marketing text message about two weeks later, prompting her to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Commissioner.
In response to our investigation, the company claimed that the complainant would have been asked during the course of the sale if they would like to be contacted by text message for marketing purposes. However, it was unable to provide any evidence that the complainant was given an opportunity to opt out of marketing at the point of sale. Furthermore, it admitted that the sending of the first marketing message after a period of over twelve months had expired was an oversight. The company was unable to explain why no action was taken to remove the complainant’s mobile phone number from the marketing database after her husband called to the Naas store.
As the company had previously been issued with a warning in May 2010 on foot of a similar complaint which we received about unsolicited marketing text messages sent to a different former customer of the Expert store in Naas without her consent, the Data Protection Commissioner decided to prosecute this latest complaint.
At Mullingar District Court on 13 October 2017, Expert Ireland Retail Limited pleaded guilty to one charge of sending an unsolicited marketing text message to the complainant without her consent. The Court convicted the company and it imposed a fine of €500. The defendant company agreed to pay the legal costs incurred by the Data Protection Commissioner in respect of this prosecution.