VIA EMAIL
Petco Animal Supplies Stores, Inc.
Attn: Legal Department
10850 Via Frontera
San Diego, CA 92127
arbitration@petco.com
Re: Pre-Arbitration Notice of Individual Consumer Privacy Dispute
To Whom It May Concern:
I am sending this Notice of Dispute to notify Petco Animal Supplies Stores, Inc. d/b/a Petco and their corporate affiliates, individually or collectively referred to here as “Petco,” of a dispute regarding my use of petco.com and Petco’s use of tracking technology on that website, including TikTok-related and Meta/Facebook-related tracking technology, code, or related processes, to capture, record, decode, or transmit information about my electronic communications and website interactions without valid prior authorization.
Nature and Basis of the Dispute
I personally used petco.com while I was physically located in {answer_1}. I used petco.com to{answer_2}, or engage in other shopping- or account-related activity. To the best of my recollection, I did so approximately {pleaseComplete} before this Notice.
When I used petco.com, I understood that I was communicating and interacting with Petco for ordinary informational, shopping, membership-related purposes. I did not know or understand that information associated with my communications and interactions with Petco would be captured, recorded, decoded, transmitted, or otherwise processed through TikTok-related or Meta/Facebook-related tracking technology in the manner described below.
Based on my current understanding and counsel’s investigation, Petco caused browser-side pixel and tracking processes to load during website visitors’ sessions and, after loading, to send background communications from visitors’ browsers to TikTok-related and Meta/Facebook-related endpoints in real-time through TikTok- and Meta/Facebook-related pixel and tracking technology (collectively, the “Tracking Technology”).
The Tracking Technology captured, read, learned, transmitted, disclosed, or otherwise made available information reflecting the contents or meaning of my communications with petco.com, including search terms I entered, selections communicating the products I was interested in, URL parameters containing my communications. This occurred while I was actively communicating or interacting with petco.com, rather than only after my communications had been completed and stored.
Those communications also contained or reflected non-content routing, addressing, signaling, source-identifying, event-identifying, browser/device, cookie, and session-related information, including, as applicable: (a) TikTok-transmitted homepage URL/referrer information, a TikTok response associated with the _ttp cookie, and pageview, engagement, and cart-related event information (including “LandingPageView,” “Pageview,” “EngagedSession,” and “view_cart” events) associated with homepage, search, login, cart, and checkout page contexts; and (b) Meta/Facebook-transmitted CookieSync event data, including a persistent browser/pixel identifier (“fbp”) and a hashed external-identifier value, together with PageView and button-click (“SubscribedButtonClick”) event information associated with homepage, search, login, and checkout page contexts.
Upon information and belief, the Tracking Technology loaded during my petco.com session(s) as described above and the Tracking Technology reflected information associated with my petco.com activity, including pages viewed, product pages viewed, and cart or purchase-related activity, as applicable. This information matters because it was tied to the context and purpose of my petco.com activity and interactions, not merely to a generic visit to an unrelated webpage. Taken together, these identifiers, event signals, and contextual data points could be used by Petco, TikTok, Meta, and other recipients to profile and link my petco.com activity to my browser, device, session, approximate location, product/service interests over time.
I did not knowingly authorize Petco to use, enable, or cause the operation of TikTok-related or Meta/Facebook-related tracking technology to capture, record, decode, transmit, or otherwise process my data in the manner described above. To the extent Petco contends that its terms, privacy policy, or other disclosures provided authorization for the challenged conduct, I dispute that contention. More specifically, I dispute that generalized disclosures concerning cookies, pixels, analytics, advertising, service providers, targeted advertising, cross-context behavioral advertising, website measurement, data sharing, or similar practices provided clear, prior, specific, informed, and valid authorization for the challenged tracking activity described in this Notice. I am not aware of any court order, judicial authorization, statutory authorization, or other lawful authority permitting Petco, TikTok, Meta/Facebook, or any other entity to install, use, or operate the challenged Tracking Technology in connection with my communications and interactions with petco.com.
I contend that this conduct violated Cal. Penal Code § 638.51 because Petco installed, used, or caused the use of a pen register or trap-and-trace device, process, or functionality to capture, record, decode, or transmit non-content routing, addressing, signaling, source-identifying, device-identifying, URL/referrer, domain, pageview, event, click, intent, destination-URL, link-text, cookie, IP-address, user-agent, persistent-identifier, session, or similar information about my electronic communications and activity with petco.com without first obtaining a court order and without my valid consent or other lawful authorization.
I also preserve related claims and theories under Cal. Penal Code § 631 and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510–2523, to the extent the facts show that Petco or any third party intercepted, read, attempted to read, learned, used, disclosed, or aided the interception or use of the contents or substance of my communications with petco.com without valid consent, including to the extent the transmitted click, intent, destination-URL, link-text, page-context, or event-context data is determined to reflect the contents or substance of my communications or interactions with petco.com.
Relief Sought
I seek all relief available under applicable law, including statutory damages where available; restitutionary relief and disgorgement; injunctive and equitable relief requiring Petco to cease the challenged tracking practices; attorneys’ fees, arbitration fees, costs, and any additional relief available under law, contract, arbitration rules, or equity.
My current good-faith demand is $5,000, subject to supplementation after Petco provides records sufficient to evaluate the total amount and full scope of relief available. Because the number, timing, nature, and scope of any violations depend on records presently within Petco’s possession, custody, or control, as well as records maintained by third-party vendors and service providers, I reserve the right to supplement my damages calculation and requested relief after those records become available.
Please preserve all records reasonably related to the challenged tracking practices, including tracking-activation logs from my sessions; configuration and deployment records for those technologies; installation, modification, and removal records for each; vendor and personnel records identifying who deployed or configured the tracking technologies and the third parties who received the data; and account, session, device, and consent records tied to me.
Informal Resolution
I am providing this Notice in good faith to give Petco an opportunity to discuss an informal resolution of my dispute before formal proceedings become necessary. Without conceding that any pre-dispute notice, informal-resolution process, waiting period, or other condition precedent is contractually required, applicable, enforceable, or unsatisfied, I am willing to engage in good-faith informal-resolution discussions during the 60 days following Petco’s receipt of this Notice. I reserve the right to initiate arbitration or another proceeding sooner if reasonably necessary to preserve my claims.
If the dispute is not resolved, I am prepared to initiate individual arbitration before the American Arbitration Association and pursue any other available remedy. See Petco, Terms of Use, https://www.petco.com/content/petco/PetcoStore/en_US/pet-services/terms-of-use.html.
If arbitration becomes necessary, I will seek all recoverable attorneys’ fees and, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, contract, and arbitral rules, the maximum permissible allocation to Petco of filing fees, administrative fees, arbitrator compensation, and other arbitration-related costs. My election to pursue arbitration does not concede that arbitration is mandatory or exclusive.
I expressly reserve all arguments and objections concerning the existence, validity, formation, assent, notice, identity and applicable version, applicability, scope, interpretation, and enforceability of any arbitration or related dispute-resolution terms Petco may invoke. These reservations include any term concerning pre-dispute notice, informal resolution, cure, waiting periods, or other conditions precedent; contractual deadlines or limitations periods; governing law, forum, venue, administrator or arbitrator selection, arbitral rules, or delegation; confidentiality; individual-only, consolidated, coordinated, batched, bellwether, or mass-filing procedures; fees, deposits, costs, or fee shifting; waivers or restrictions on claims, procedures, remedies, or relief; and amendments or modifications. I also reserve all arguments that any such requirement was satisfied, substantially complied with, waived or forfeited by Petco, excused, inapplicable, or unenforceable. Nothing in this Notice waives any claim, remedy, objection, defense, or right to proceed in any otherwise available forum.
I authorize Petco to communicate with my counsel identified below regarding this dispute and to produce to them all records and information associated with me that are reasonably necessary to evaluate and resolve this dispute.
This Notice is not a complete statement of all facts, claims, legal theories, damages, remedies, defenses, objections, responses, or grounds. I reserve the right to amend, supplement, refine, narrow, expand, or otherwise modify this Notice and my requested relief based upon additional investigation, records, technical analysis, discovery, expert review, arbitration proceedings, litigation proceedings, or other information. If Petco believes that additional information is required to evaluate or resolve this dispute, please identify the specific information requested and the contractual or legal basis for the request.
Please direct all communications concerning this dispute to my counsel identified below.
Sincerely,