How many masons in the Old Dominion have responded to the yellow card sent (purportedly) by the Grand Lodge - and how many have been alarmed by the experience? I ignored the first one as junk mail as the GL has all the information it needs to know about me already, but when a second one arrived my wife said I may as well call them.
The call went to a company called PCI - or a call center handling their business; whatever, the person I spoke to was definitely not a Brother. I became concerned about the increasingly intrusive personal questions which he informed me were needed to compile a Masonic directory/year book for the GL. Then came the hard sell, trying to get me to by various 'packages' including the hardback book, the electronic version, travel baggage and other items. He was very persistent - what part of "I'm not interested" didn't he get when repeated three times?
I hung up and emailed the GL and received a reply from the Grand Secretary to say both the company and the project were legitimate and I need not purchase anything, but urged me to co-operate with them.
Ain't gonna happen, as I checked out PCI on line and found a whole slew of complaints from universities and the BSA who have had the same 'yearbook' operation foisted on them complete with pressure sales and billing issues.
Also I am very concerned PCI will not safeguard my personal data and possibly even sell it on to third parties. As it happens, my wife had an email from them the same day and I have no idea where they obtained her details from.
The call went to a company called PCI - or a call center handling their business; whatever, the person I spoke to was definitely not a Brother. I became concerned about the increasingly intrusive personal questions which he informed me were needed to compile a Masonic directory/year book for the GL. Then came the hard sell, trying to get me to by various 'packages' including the hardback book, the electronic version, travel baggage and other items. He was very persistent - what part of "I'm not interested" didn't he get when repeated three times?
I hung up and emailed the GL and received a reply from the Grand Secretary to say both the company and the project were legitimate and I need not purchase anything, but urged me to co-operate with them.
Ain't gonna happen, as I checked out PCI on line and found a whole slew of complaints from universities and the BSA who have had the same 'yearbook' operation foisted on them complete with pressure sales and billing issues.
Also I am very concerned PCI will not safeguard my personal data and possibly even sell it on to third parties. As it happens, my wife had an email from them the same day and I have no idea where they obtained her details from.