Harriet Carter review: privacy violations, giving out name/address

I bought a few items from HarrietCarter.com about 2 months ago. Last month I received an envelope full of half-page ads and an order form from "StarCrest of CA". We all get junk mail from time to time, but what was unusual was that I used my first and middle initial on my Harriet Carter order and my new address. They are the only company I used my initials with like that. I was about to throw away the stuff from StarCrest until I decided to read the order form to see if I could figure out how they got my initials and new address. In reading this form, StarCrest PROMISED me that they would be sure to send my name and address to other companies they thought I might be interested in buying from. Oh, like I need that? I wrote to StarCrest demanding that they cease and desist, that they lose my name and address, never mail me anything again, do NOT give my information out to ANYONE, and oh btw, how the heck did you get my name in the first place. StarCrest was actually quite nice, apologized for the inconvience, and told me this had been meant to be a one-time mailing (supposedly their promise to give out my name to other companies would be after they saw what I chose to order from them). I asked where they got my name and they said they had RENTED it for this one-time mailing from HARRIET CARTER. I have this in print, that they RENTED my name and address from HARRIET CARTER.

Now, we all know that companies pass around information like a candy dish sometimes, but I checked Harriet Carter's Privacy Policy. It said that while they do SHARE names and addresses of their customers with other companies from time to time, they NEVER rent them or sell them. Understand me here, I had not complained to Harriet Carter yet, I just read their plain old Privacy Policy - it stated specifically that they NEVER RENT OR SELL their customer names. They just "share" them from time to time - as if their statement that they don't (presumably) make any money by renting or selling the information then it's ok.

BTW, how to you RENT information? Once it's out there, how does Harriet Carter make sure it's not used again without being rented? Am I the only person who thinks this is a ridiculous idea?

I wrote to Harriet Carter and told them to delete my account immediately, that I would never shop with them again, nor would I recommend them to anyone. Which is a sad thing, because they do carry some good products. I also told them exactly what StarCrest wrote to me and that they need to try and "undo" this "sharing" if they don't want further complaints to follow. My account was deleted, but I did not receive any reply from them.

Last week, I got another piece of junk mail addressed in the same way... and again, this is a very rare way for me to give my name. Again, when I called the company and checked, they confirmed that they rented my info from Harriet Carter. I wrote again to Harriet Carter, telling them they should have a list somewhere of the companies that they "shared" my address with. Therefore they should be able to contact those companies and tell them to lose my information post haste. No reply.

I know trying to stop junk mail is an exercise in futility for the most part, but these guys have truly violated their own policy and I have it in writing that they did it. So now I will go to the BBB and the FTC and make formal complaint. I know this sounds like making a mountain out of a molehill, but I've successfully gotten rid of a bunch of my junk mail, both physical and email, by making enough noise about it that the companies will leave me alone just to get me to shut up! Besides killing a lot of trees, their only use is to keep the USPS in business. If the USPS must depend on junk mail to keep it in business, they seriously need to look at a new business plan. You CAN stop some of this abuse though. Just keep yelling.