I like everybody else clicked “I agree” to LG’s recent change to their terms of service. I knew, like everybody else, that sometimes companies slip in a change that if it were made more visible, may not agree. So I agreed, and that’s a legally binding thing. No problem.

We had been considering getting a new LG TV (most of our appliances are LG). While I was researching I came across a video by Louis Rossman where he pointed out that part of what happened when clicking the “I agree” button is changing a privacy setting back to “Yes, LG can sell my data”.

It’s a scummy thing to do, albeit a legally scummy thing to do. Since I didn’t notice for a few months, I figured there’d be an interesting data set that they held about me.

Legally, companies must provide a customer a copy of the information that they hold about them. The information needs to be provided in a reasonable amount of time.

I’m not one of those vexatious pseudo-legal-eagle keyboard warriors, usually. But I figured since a brand I actually liked had decided to take a questionable step in our relationship, I’d like to know why they’d stoop so low.

Unfortunately, despite repeated attempts since January 24th, I’ve received absolutely nothing from the company.

Jan 24 – Messaged the LGThinq support chat requesting the information. Received a message from “RH” asking what support I needed.

Jan 25 – Reiterated my request.

Jan 29 – Received an identical message from “RH” asking what support I needed.

Feb 1 – Emailed lgeap.privacy@lge.com, received no response.

Feb 6 – Emailed again, received no response.

Feb 19 – Messaged the support chat saying that it’d emailed their privacy team and asked if the lgeap.privacy@lge.com address was the correct one to send the request to.

Feb 19 – Emailed again, asking for a receipt of my request. Received no response.

Feb 20 – RH responds asking me to call the 1300 number.

Feb 23 – I say I’ll call the number, but ask again whether the email address I’ve been sending to is the correct one.

Feb 24 – RH asks which email address I’m using to correspond with their privacy team.

Feb 26 – I provide my email address. No response from RH.

Feb 26 – I call the 1300 number but can’t find someone to talk to.

Feb 27 – I message again letting RH know I’ve called the 1300 number but there is no option to talk to someone about privacy / personal information requests.

Feb 27 – I call the 1300 number again and decide to choose the “Dishwasher” option and finally get to speak with someone in an overseas call centre. After about 15 minutes and providing my details, she says that this kind of enquiry can’t be addressed via this 1300 number. I ask if she could confirm that the email address I’ve corresponding with is the correct one. She confirms that it is, and I ask why I haven’t heard back or received an acknowledgement of the request. She says legal matters can take a long time and that I’ll have to wait. I ask if she can do anything to speed the process up and she says no, just wait.

Mar 4 – RH apologises for taking so long to get back to me and asks if I still need assistance with my enquiry.

Mar 6 – Still nothing.

Mar 14 – Still nothing.

At this stage I’m not sure what the next steps need to be. I would be almost OK with waiting this long if I knew that LG is actually working on my request. But given I’ve received no response whatsoever, I can’t be sure anything is actually happening.

I will wait until March 24 and make a decision then.