Are microphones allowed on a car salesmans desk?

Question

I was about to buy a car when the salesman went out of the room and then came back in. He then answered 3 questions that i had not yet asked him but had just been discussing with my friend seconds earlier. I asked him if rhere were microphones in the room and he sheepishly pointed to two small objects on his desk...
We did not buy a car and left without another word. Was this legal?

Answer 1

Quite a lot of them do this. Their reasoning is that it enables them to find out if there are any obstacles to a sale that they can overcome, but that the customer may not feel comfortable discussing openly with them. You can easily get little radio bugs to hide in or under the desk, or disguised as calculators, etc. They could also just leave a mobile phone, already connected to another one, on the desk. It is legal, as long the conversation isn't recorded - the law doesn't differentiate between this and a glass held against the wall. As a PC tech' with a sideline in data security, I have an equally easily obtainable little radio transmission detector! Of course, there is nothing stopping the canny customer deliberately discussing the fact that they love the car, but can only afford so much!

Answer 2

He should probably have said if the conversation was going to be recorded. You know, when you ring some companies on the phone, they say, "This conversation may be recorded for training purposes". I guess he thought that because the microphones were visible, he didn't need to say anything.

Answer 3

Probably legal, after all it was his place. But not very ethical

Answer 4

In all states, if he had been recording it would have been illigal. If he had just been listening, it would be illigal in many states.

-HtJ