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If you missed my first article, read it HERE and you’ll see why we’re
broadcasting this cautionary tale.
Today, I’d like to draw your attention to Edmund’s Car Code privacy policy
which sends lead data (captured by Car Code) to the manufacturers. This
means that the manufacturers are also getting the same customer
information (generated from a text lead) so they can resell the lead TO
ANOTHER DEALER CUSTOMER.
(Keep in mind, this is a text lead that is generated from an independent
dealer’s website – in other words, this is a lead generated fromwebsite
traffic that the dealer has already paid for!)
Below you will see part of Edmunds privacy policy that is texted to a
customer after they click through a link for more information:
If you use the Dealer Inquiry and Communication Services to call, text or
chat with a dealer, a recording of your conversation, or the chat or text
communications, between you and the dealer, as well as the phone number
from which you make such call or initiate such chat or text
communications, will be made available both to us and any company employed
by the dealers or us to implement, facilitate or monitor those
communication services. When we receive that phone number, we may use it
to obtain or associate additional information about you, and we may
provide that additional information to that dealer and/or those other
companies. In addition, that recording or that chat or text
communications, that phone number and that additional information may be
providedto the vehicle manufacturer who has granted a franchise agreement
to that dealer (and/or its affiliated entities, agents and contractors).
Clearly Edmunds is reselling this customer information and most major
dealer groups are dropping Edmunds Car Code because of this.
However, a vast majority of dealers across the US are completely unaware
that their lead information is being sold and then re-sold to them over
and over again by Edmunds.Nothing in this world is free, so why would
Edmunds give Car Code SMS away for FREE? It’s because they are mining the
data for themselves and parceling it out to their other dealer customers
(and the manufacturers!) for their own gain. No major automotive vendor,
in their right mind, would offer a technology for free unless they were
profiting from it in some way.
In short, shame on you Edmunds. Your Car Code SMS ploy is just bad for
business and we’re calling you out on it. Not only are your customers
dropping you left and right but you’re also inadvertently putting a bad
taste in dealers’ mouth for other legitimate SMS lead providers (that do
not have a hidden agenda) and DO NOT resell inbound customer text leads.
Thanks for setting back SMS tech adoption in dealerships another five
years.
Article Source:
http://automotivemobilesolutions.com/edmunds-com-carcode-sms-part-2/
