The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has opened an investigation into allegations that some Loblaw customers have been unable to delete their PC Optimum accounts.
The office has received several such complaints, spokesperson Vito Pilieci said in an email to CBC News on Tuesday.
He said the office can’t comment further due to the active investigation.
Loblaw spokesperson Catherine Thomas said in an email Tuesday that the company has processes to respond to account deletion requests in a timely manner, and that it will fully co-operate with the privacy commissioner’s office.
Patrick Sojka, founder of RewardsCanada.ca, noted that some customers might have “wanted to cancel their account and delete their accounts” as part of the Loblaw boycott that was organized in May.
“In addition to that, we’ve seen some issues with PC Optimum where accounts are being frozen and people don’t know they’re frozen until they go to check out,” he said.
“These people have been trying to contact PC Optimum and it takes PC Optimum a long time to get back to them, if they even get back to them. So there seems to be a lot of communication issues on PC Optimum side.”
The PC Optimum loyalty program has more than 16 million active users, according to Loblaw’s 2023 annual report.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner oversees compliance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act as well as the Privacy Act (PIPEDA).
According to their website, PIPEDA “sets the ground rules for how private-sector organizations collect, use, and disclose personal information in the course of for-profit, commercial activities across Canada.”
Personal information under PIPEDA includes details such as a person’s name, age, income or ID number.
