It turns out the answer is “quite”.
Consider the following gem from the “corporate claim form” – this is a piece of paper you have to sign and send to Denplan if you’ve had treatment and are claiming back the costs, as covered by your corporate dental insurance:
(Click the image for a larger version)
This is how I understand this part (let’s call it “Part 1”):
- As long as you use our services, we’ll send your personal information to anyone we like.
Reading on, we reach Part 2:
(again, click on image for larger version)
Here we are told: “You may be contacted by phone, telephone or electronically if appropriate. If you DO NOT wish us to do this please tick below as appropriate.”
This is how I understand this:
- Ticking below will stop us from contacting you.
And then, the million-dollar statement:
“Denplan Limited may send you details of other products and services.”
The way this is phrased, putting a tick right next to it directly implies “YES, you may”! Even though the sentence above implies the exact opposite.
The lunacy continues with Part 3:
(click on image for larger version)
This part says “To enable them to send you details of their services we may also share some of your details with other AXA group companies based within the European Economic Area [TICK?] and with other carefully selected companies based within the European Economic Area [TICK?]”
Again, it’s not clear how the customer can indicate “No, I don’t want my details shared with others!”, as both phrasing and intuition say “don’t tick here”, but the instructions tell you to “tick as appropriate if you don’t want this to happen”.
Absolute rubbish. Certainly a strong candidate for the Plain English Campaign‘s Golden Bull Award.
If you’re a Denplan customer, I’d suggest writing to them to point out this gobbledygook and get it fixed.