Kruger v Barclaycard

[Kruger]

Hi guys, first post, nice site and once the money comes in they'll be contribution going in for books/hosting/coffee whatever!

Well I've got the ball rolling by sending off the Data Protection Act request with £10 for Barclaycard statements, I only have copies going back to mid 2002, sent the first letter on 4th April and received a response yesterday 13 april with statements back to May 2004 and the microfiche standard fob off letter, and also an invitation to buy the rest of the statements at £3 each. Its cleverly worded to just state the statements before then are not held on a computing system or a structured relevant filing system and as such are not covered under the Data Protection Act, its a shame the charges are covered, so I'll now be asking for a list of those.

I've calculated that theres at least £160 of late payment charges, most were just 1 day late, I just know theres going to be more, next letter will be on its way this week requesting 'the requested' information.

Just wanted my own thread here to show progress.

[Don Quioxte]

Hey National Park,

keep with it, get hold of all your statements and highlight the charges.. then simply follow the templates for letters available in the library.. keep us posted as to developments..

good luck!

[Kruger]

Righty, getting on with claiming back some Krugerrands!, slightly modified the additional Data Protection Act request letter in response to the Barclaycard microfiche blag, as below, will be going in the post on Tuesday, look okay?

Simon Walker
Head of Data Protection
Data Protection Team
Legal and Regulatory Compliance
Dept LRC

Barclaycard
1234 Pavillion Drive
Northampton
NN4 7SG

18/4/06

Data Protection Act disclosure request

Dear Simon Walker

Re: Account Number: 4xxx xxxx xxxx xxxx

I am in receipt of your letter dated 12 April 2006, outlining that you could only provide me with statements covering transactions onwards from May 2004, because any earlier information has been archived onto microfiche. (*I also acknowledge receipt of the information you forwarded.)

My request was for a complete list of transactions and charges relating to my account since April 2000 – in short, a list of charges with dates and amounts – alternatively, a complete set of account statements for that period will be acceptable. This should be retrievable from your accounting systems, and easy for you to produce. I will accept a computer print out of these transactions.

I am aware that you have been willing and able to provide other customers with a print-out of transaction information covering this period – and am ready to bring this to the attention of the Information Commissioner should it prove necessary. I would also draw your attention to Smith v Lloyds TSB Bank plc (2005) EWHC 246 (Ch).

This letter has been sent by first class recorded delivery, and therefore should have reached you by 19/04/06 – as you will be aware, as of this date you have just 26 days in which to comply with my request. As stated above, a complete set of account statements for the period in question will be acceptable; however, I expect this to be provided within the initial 40 day time period for Data Protection Act compliance.(Initial Data Protection Act request submitted 5/4/06.)

Should there be any further attempts to delay compliance, I will be left with no alternative but to escalate this matter into an official complaint to the Information Commissioner and/or the County Court under s.7 and/or s.13 Data Protection Act


Yours faithfully,

Kruger x

	County Court guidebook by Judge Patricia Pearl Follow this link to read the review of this excellent Small Claims Guidebook. This comprehensive and very accessible guide will take you through the process of suing or defending a claim. This guide will help you take control of your litigation and make you more confident about doing it yourself. Applies to England and Wales

[Kruger]

Top post edited to include full details.

[Don Quioxte]

go get em son! Good letter. Good research. Should = Good result.

[Kruger]

Just to update, I'm looking forward to the post now as Barclaycard have cashed my Data Protection Act cheque today, hopefully the full list of charges is on its way.

[Don Quioxte]

Good - post when you have received statements and calculated charges ready to send prelim letter..

[blobalbob]

Hi Kruger,

We are at exactly the same stage. I got the same fob off letter from Lindsey Hilton at Bstardcard legal blah blah team.
I did the same searching on here and have replied with the same letter.
The only other change I made is to include a line that states that i have already paid the statuary £10 fee for this entire service and therefore their request for an additional £3 for statements is invalid. No idea if this will work but lets see what happens?
Good luck and I'll keep you posted.
Bob

[Kruger]

Originally Posted by blobalbob

The only other change I made is to include a line that states that i have already paid the statuary £10 fee for this entire service and therefore their request for an additional £3 for statements is invalid. No idea if this will work but lets see what happens?
Good luck and I'll keep you posted.
Bob

I was going to add something similar into the letter just to cover that aspect but left it out as the 40 days is ticking away reardless, but after they received mt second letter they cashed the original cheque, not sure if it was just a coincindence though from the initial Data Protection Act request, looks like they are going to drag this out for a while now so I'm not expecting anything until the middle of May

[Kruger]

Wow it was the end of April since I last updated this thread, its been a busy 6 months, with the stress and depression a dissertation brings, finished uni with a 2.1, have moved house twice since as my partner got a decent job for which we've relocated 250 miles away, left my job as a result and have been unemployed for 2 months, but things are looking up I've got a job to start in 3 weeks,

Been occasionally lurking here and very slowly plodding through the steps and have just eventually filed a claim on Money Claim against Barclaycard.

So that has brought my situation right up to date heres a summary of whats been going on inbetween.

After the initial Data Protection Act and Subject Access Request farce I decided to claim based on the statements I had which go back to mid 2002, when my account unfortunately was conducted much better.
With all the information BC provided and what I had kept myself there was only 1 statement missing for which I thought there was a late payment charge pre May 04, so a quick call to Barclaycard to request this 1 copy statement, the lady said that will be £3, I said thats fine, and then she realised as the account had been closed she could not charge the £3, even onto an alternative debit card, she agreed though to waive the fee, and within a couple of days I had the copy statement, a real poor microfiche photocopy - at least there is some truth from BC as I seriously doubted the use of Microfiche post 1986, lol.

Mid August
Prelimanary letter sent

Standard "were sorry your not happy" reply recieved, have a read of our customer service leaflet and we'll aim to resolve matters and contact you within 4 weeks.

Mid September
1st Letter Before Action sent

Replied with;
Part settlement offer of the difference between the charges and OFT £12 reccomendation, they credited £32 to my CLOSED Barclaycard account and sent me a statement telling me I'm in credit. Someone wasn't too good with their sumds that day as the offer was only the difference of half the charges.

Mid October
Settlement rejection sent, said I would take their offer as part settlement but would need the money as a cheque as I dont have access to the closed acoount as I have no card, and also reminded them that I would start a court claim after a further 14 days.

Today
Moneyclaim filed

So its taken a while to get this far, and its only for a couple of hundred pounds but I want it back!

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	Subject Access Request A Subject Access Request is a demand which you can make to any organisation to disclose any personal information which they hold on you. The right to disclosure of data is provided by the Data Protection Act. There is no time limit. The organisation is obliged to reveal everything they have about you - which you ask for - as far back as you ask for. There are very few exceptions. It does not matter whether the data is held on microfiche, in an archive, on tape, in a cardex system, in sound recordings or in screen notes. Some companies are saying that they do not have to disclose where it would be difficult to do so - "disproportionate effort". This is untrue. Disproportionate effort refers to something else under the Act. If you are seeking bank charges information then you should ask for "all data held on you" and you should make it clear that you want everything as far back as it goes. Do not be put off by excuses. Do not accept being fobbed off. It is not in your bank's interest to make full disclosure to you. This means that it is in your interests to get it. If you have not started gathering your bank charges information yet, then you should start now. There will soon be a big rush once the OFT test case has been settled. Get all of your bank account informtion as far back as possible. At least as far back as 1995. If your bank says that they don't keep data as far back as this, don't accept it. Be persistent. They've got what you need in some form or other.