GM requires you to submit their opt-out form multiple times with name variations (opens in new tab)

They have a form that requires you enter your full name, address, phone number, and email just to process an unsubscribe.

In addition, they indicate that you may need to enter the form multiple times with different variations of your name in order to be successful.

If by some miracle you succeed at opting out of marketing communications, your opt out is only honored for 10 years and does not include OnStar or GM Financial.

I have seen terrible opt-out practices before but this is probably one of the more egregious ones I’ve encountered.

I’d also be curious to hear if people think the patchwork of data privacy laws that have been going into effect across the U.S. might affect processes like this or if just having the process is enough. I know it is probably somewhat subjective.

This is NOT their opt out form, which is located here (a tab over): https://gmcontactpreferences.com/email-preferences.jsp

This is them performing a deep scouring across all of their marketing databases for your information. Junk mail, phone, etc. (Letting you include multiple phone numbers is a nice touch). This is actually a pretty big deal since these systems probably don't even talk to each other.

You even have the option to "retrieve" the data on your email address.

Never in a million years would our org let us put this much effort into this without the threat of lawsuits.