MetLife's difficult 'opt out'

It's bad enough that most companies place the burden on customers to "opt out" from having their personal info shared with corporate affiliates and marketers, rather than asking them in advance if such data sharing would be OK -- in other words, to "opt in."

But when companies make the opt-out process much harder than it has to be, it suggests that they're doing all they can to keep consumers from exercising their privacy rights.

That seems to be the case with MetLife, the leading U.S. life insurer, with total assets last year of $482 billion and 2005 revenue of nearly $45 billion.

MBA BY THE BAY: See how an MBA could change your life with SFGATE's interactive directory of Bay Area programs.

In privacy notices recently sent to its millions of customers, the company states that "you can tell us not to share your information with our affiliates so that they can market their products directly to you, or not to disclose your information to a third party in connection with a joint marketing arrangement."

To do so, customers are instructed to call MetLife at (877) 638-7684. But this merely activates a recording that tells customers to instead go to MetLife's Web site (metlife.com/optout) to access an "opt-out election form."

That form must then be printed -- assuming you have both a computer and computer printer -- and filled out by hand. Customers must specify that they don't want their personal data shared with either MetLife's corporate affiliates or marketing partners (or both).

They must include their name, address, account number, birth date and the last four digits of their Social Security number.

And then, all these steps later, customers must mail the completed form to a post office box in Lexington, Ky., (even though MetLife's headquarters is in New York).

By comparison, most other large companies permit customers to opt out either by phone or online. Rival insurer State Farm, for example, allows customers to opt out from data sharing simply by calling (800) 865-6035.

"I haven't heard of a company placing more obstacles in your way than this," said Joe Ridout, a spokesman for San Francisco's Consumer Action. "This is more like a scavenger hunt than an opt-out provision."

John Calagna, a MetLife spokesman, responded that the company sees nothing wrong with its opt-out procedure. "We believe the procedure we have in place is the best way to do it," he said.

Calagna noted that at the end of the phone recording, after customers are instructed to go online to obtain an opt-out form to mail in, an opportunity is provided to speak with a service rep "if you have other questions."

"You can opt out with the service representative," he said. "You can do that."

Then why doesn't the recording say that? The only way customers would know that this choice exists is if they take the initiative in asking a service rep if it's possible.

"This is something that we're considering," Calagna said. "We're looking to improve our procedures all the time."

MetLife, as I've written in the past, has an unusually assertive privacy policy, forgoing the usual declarations about how protecting customers' privacy is their sole reason for living.

"We are allowed by law to use the information we have about you, and disclose it to our affiliates and others, for many purposes," MetLife states in its privacy notice.

Those purposes include handing customers' info to affiliates "so that they can offer their products and services directly to you." MetLife says it counts among its affiliates "life, car and home insurers, securities firms, broker-dealers, a bank, a legal plans company and financial advisors."

It also says that "if we have joint marketing arrangements with other unaffiliated financial services companies, we may give them information about you so that we can offer products jointly or so they can offer products and services endorsed or sponsored by us to you."

Calagna said no such joint marketing arrangements currently exist. But the privacy notice leaves that option open.

So let's say you actually take the time to read MetLife's privacy notice and you then jump through the series of hoops required to opt out. That's the end of it, right?

Wrong.

Below the opt-out election form that you found after making a call and then going online, MetLife makes this extraordinary admission:

"Even if you 'opt out,' any MetLife company that is fortunate to have you as a customer may continue to send you offers and information about all of the products and services that the MetLife companies offer."

Huh? What about that part of the opt-out form where you specifically tell the company that "I do not want my MetLife company to share information about me with other MetLife affiliates in order for the affiliates to market their products to me"?

Gail Hillebrand, a staff attorney at Consumers Union in San Francisco, said MetLife is indulging in some pretty fancy linguistic gymnastics.

"They're saying that you can opt out from us giving information to our affiliates," she observed, "but you can't opt out from our acting on behalf of our affiliates. It's a very fine line."

MetLife's Calagna said the difference is that sales agents have a responsibility to help customers put together the best possible package of MetLife products and services.

"If the sales agent believes that there other things you might want to consider, he'll let you know," Calagna said. "We're in the business of providing options."

Whether you want them or not.