Interested to know if anyone else has used the Cudo voucher for a BMS Creations House Clean. Not only was I not impressed with the clean (and was told by the manager "What do you expect for $45"), was informed that the interior of my house had been filmed/photographed (without my permission, knowledge or concent), thus breaching privacy laws and impeding on the security of my house!
Any ideas to whom I can report?
That's pretty outrageous. The thing is that the company is probably too small to come under the privacy act. I would be livid.
While it's not ethical to photograph the house they didn't breach any privacy laws by doing so (the Act only covers personal information). Definitely not on though.
I really hate it when they say "what do you expect for $xx". I expect the service that is advertised. I have had a few arguments over this, mainly restaurants who try to give me half servings but the car wash ones are bad too, garbage job, I always make them redo it. I have even got 1 refund from this situation, I ate a restaurant, the offer said we get a goody bag, no goody bag, got a free meal and a refund hehe.
Get legal advice on the photo's, they were taken on private property.
The Customer acknowledges that any visual documentation taken on the property during the time of service will be for insurance and quality purposes only and images are not of personal belongings.
The customer DID NOT acknowledge anything! There is nothing on the voucher stating the invasion of privacy. It might be written in the fine print on the website, but by law, one has to ask for consent….photos of my room contains my personal belongings! The photos do not show the quality of the job as they are not close ups and I was not happy with some of the cleaning, but of course they were not the photographs taken!
I have lodged a complaint with the Australian government's privacy law department.
Still not overly optimistic about your recourse from privacy laws, but thanks for warning me off the company.
The Office of the Information Commissioner wont do anything as they haven't broken any Privacy Laws. The Privacy Act ONLY APPLIES to personal information.
The customer DID NOT acknowledge anything!
You allowed them into your house and presumably signed some sort of contract with them agreeing to their terms and conditions.
I guess the other important thing is about what the photos will be used for…. If they are used for commercial gain, or put into the public domain, then you might have some sort of case. As it stands, the photos remain 'private'.
As a non-expert, it seems you invited them in, therefore they were not trespassing. You agreed to their terms of service, (it's not their fault if you didn't read them) "Use of our services constitutes your acceptance of these terms and conditions". You did not make any requests regarding no photography prior to their service, etc etc
Put it down as a lesson learned, perhaps…..
I am not an expert on the law.
However, I remember there was one case where terms and conditions printed on a dry cleaning ticket, were dismissed as not being consent, but I forget the exact reason why.
You could try contacting consumer affairs for your state and discuss with them if there is anything that can be done.
I remember the case you're referring to. IIRC The main reason was that the T&C were on the back of a ticket and were not the place a person would look for the T&Cs. But in this case they aren't suing for a breach of contract, they are complaining about a breach of privacy.
I received an refund from Cudo as they have 100% satisfaction guarantee. I was also contacted by the owner of BMS asking what he could do to make me happy. I was not interested in any retribution.
If it was a digital recording they made, ask for copies of it and then ask that they delete it all?
Are you planning on reporting that to someone?