Uncovering what goes into your secret consumer score

When you try to return an item at Best Buy or Sephora, before deciding whether to take back the item, those businesses have apparently been secretly looking at something called your consumer score — a hidden rating based on data you didn’t even give them that determines how they treat you, according to Kashmir Hill’s recent expose for The New York Times. Apparently, your consumer score determines how long you’re kept on the line when calling customer service. It turns out, a lot of apps and services you use are quietly passing on your data to companies tasked with judging you and coming up with a rating for what you’re like as a consumer.

Surprisingly, some of these third-party companies are willing to show you what data they have on...

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