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B&Q apologises to "tens of thousands of customers"

 

DIY giant B&Q was last night (Friday)  forced to apologise to “tens of thousands” of customers who were sent a rogue email saying they had “registered” with the firm.

The email, sent earlier in the day, welcomed recipients to B & Q and told them they would be advised of latest offers and new ranges.

However the firm later sent another message admitting the first had been sent in error and insisted no personal details had been leaked.

It said the blunder was the result of a system upgrade and had occurred as work was being carried out on its website.

 

It is thought  tens of thousands of people could have been sent the message although B&Q declined to confirm the exact number.

The later email, entitled “We’re Sorry!” , said: “You may have received an unexpected email from us today thanking you for registering with B & Q.

“This email was sent in error during the migration of our old website platform to our new updated website platform.

“Please be assured that the security of your personal data has not been put at risk as a result of this systems change.

“We can confirm that this will not affect the customer marketing preferences you have previously registered with us.

“We are very sorry to have bothered you and for any inconvenience this may have caused.”

One baffled recipient said he had no idea how B&Q got hold of his contact details.

He said: “I can't remember ordering anything online with them, or giving my details in store.

“It must have been while reserving something online or something like that.

“Their database must be huge, so I am thinking there must be in the region of tens of thousands like me who were surprised when they received this email.”

B&Q has declined to give further details on how the error  happened.

A spokesman said: “A number of our customers received an email in error [on Friday] (29th August) during the migration of our old website platform to a new updated version. 

“We’d like to apologise for any inconvenience caused as a result and to assure all customers that at no time was their personal data put at risk during the update.”