Do you think that adoption of an Information Safeguards Program in your dealership is just a box to check to satisfy the FTC? Do you see it as an intrusion by the FTC to benefit only your customers? Do you see it as just another unfunded federal mandate? Think about the following situation.
You fire a disgruntled employee. Suddenly you get customer calls that they are being contacted by the ex-employee who says they were cheated and overcharged. You are outraged. It is not true. You must stop that employee.
You must take legal action to stop the ex-employee from contacting customers. Not only are the contacts a disruption, they require you to negotiate with previously satisfied customers to calm their concerns. The employee should not have your customer information. The possibility of a theft of customer information may require you to take steps under state laws to protect the customer from further identity theft.
You may well spend tens of thousands of dollars solving customer concerns and taking legal actions to protect your business. Is there a better solution? Yes, by protecting your valuable customer information.
Get serious about maintaining your Information Safeguards Program for protecting your business. The best protection against retaliatory customer contacts by a disgruntled ex-employee is make sure the employee does not have your information. This starts by ensuring that employees only have access to specific information they need to serve a customer. They should not be able to download customer files from your computer. They should not have access to hard copy files from which information can be copied. They should not be given copies of dealer documents on deals in which they were involved containing customer information they can keep and take with them when they leave.
Protection from retaliation by disgruntled ex-employees starts with careful and continuing attention to the company’s Information Safeguards Program to be sure it is regularly reviewed, upgraded, and enforced.