Don’t Use The Shop App
Ever seen this logo before?
This is going to be a super short, and straight to the point blog entry.
If you are doing some online purchasing and you see the seller encourages you to use the Shop App, run do not walk to another web site. Sadly websites such as Leatherman have started using this. And that is only one example.
I’m not saying “Don’t buy a Leatherman”, because they are awesome. I’m saying “Don’t buy one from their online store which uses the Shop app”. Go to the store and buy one.
I recently bought a couple items online and received subsequent emails telling me that in order to track my shipment I needed the Shop app. I receive lots of equipment to review and I buy some gizmos myself quite frequently.
Ask
Regarding Leatherman above…….If you ask them for a Tracking Number they will provide you one. This means that you do not need the Shop app.
So I recommend that maybe before you buy something, email the retailer in question and ask them if they provide tracking numbers or if they only use Shop.
Lord Help Me, I Installed Shop
It lasted about 10 minutes on my iPhone. Not only did the items I bought NOT have a tracking number they simply said “On The Way”. The app was LOADED with ads and here comes the worst thing.
If you allow them to access your Google Mail or Outlook (these seem to be the only services so far) by golly the nice people at Shop will MONITOR YOUR EMAILS searching for Tracking numbers so they can easily add those tracking details to your Shop App making your life so much easier.
Excuse me? They want to monitor my emails? In today’s vernacular……..HELL TO THE NO.
Check this out from their own support page. I’ve taken a screenshot so no one can click on a link to this. So the default is that nothing is connected (this is fine) but you can grant access to your emails. Please don’t do that.
That’s actually pretty scary and one of the reasons that I use email services like ProtonMail.
Notice To Retailers
If you use the Shop App and do not provide Tracking numbers then you shall NEVER get my business again. I bought a small storage crate recently from a place called Sidio. They use Shop. I emailed and asked for a tracking number and they didn’t as much refuse to provide it as they did seemingly and totally ignored my request for one.
I’ll have one crate and guess who won’t be stacking organization crates from Sidio? Me. And yes, retailers, your shipping policies can be cause for disqualification. If I’m impressed with the item, then I’ll buy more if I see them in the store. But until you dump Shop here is my policy:
