8) I wonder if anyone can give me some advice.

I sent off my SAR (recorded delivery) on the 20th Feb at the same time my wife sent off hers to Natwest, she receives her statements within 10 days so i thought i would chase up mine with a phone call. The branch then tell me that they are no longer dealing with "these letters" and that they are being forwarded onto to customer complaints in Edinburgh. I then phoned the number given and after waiting for 30mins supposedly in a queue i was told that because my account was closed they would not be able to tell me if my letter was being dealt with and would have to wait for a letter from them. I then asked when i could expect this and was told it could take eight weeks because of the backlog.

So do i wait the 40 days until the deadline expires and have them tell me they haven't received it, meaning i'd have to resend or do i then have grounds to complain and start court proceedings?

The Data Protection laws are very clear on this. If you have submitted a properly formatted data request, the recipient has 40 days to comply fully.

If they fail to do so you you start a Small Claims action on MCOL for non-compliance.

Thanks Hydra

I've still the best part of two weeks to go until the deadline is up, so i guess i'll spend the time reading the forums and FAQ's.

You know what they say, knowledge is power.

Well i received a letter from Edinburgh today and i'm fuming!!

I'm sure this is just a delaying tactic but they have sent back my letter, telling me that with the information supplied they are not able to trace a closed account even though i put the account No on the letter (couldn't remember my sort code at the time).

I sent this SAR to my old branch which should have been a clue as to the sort code, I also put on my Mortgage acc. No (which is also with RBoS) just so there was no confusion about my address details.

Where do i go from here? do i have to send the SAR again or have i got grounds to complain to the Information commissioner?

I have now phoned the branch and asked for the sort code (yeah it was that hard) Grrrrrrrrr:-x

Send them another letter, give them all the details again, point out it took you one call and 2 minutes to find the sort code, amazing how they can't do it.

Tell them the clock os already ticking, no more delays etc etc

Be polite but firm.

Tell them the clock os already ticking, no more delays etc etc

To reiterate what Hydra is saying here, this is the key bit. Their time started when you sent your SAR for the first time. It is THEIR time they are wasting not yours and ensure you say so in the letter. Tell them when you sent your first SAR, tell them how many days have already passed and tell them how long they have left to comply.

I believe I sent a similar line on one of my letters to RBS in RBS2 which you can find in my signature.

Thanks guys

Sent off my response today saying pretty much what you advised. Just to set my mind at rest i rang the branch and asked them about my account and they found it within 30 seconds, but then i was told that it was neither open or closed (eh!) I was then put on hold for about ten minutes, i got bored and hung up.