My Smile journey starts here

[Dave J]

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I have recently sent the Data Protection Act request letter to our friends at Smile. I have received the following text in reply which on first glance is not satisfactory.

I acknowledge receipt of your request of the personal data held by this Bank in connection with the above numbered account. Under the Data Protection Act, this is referred to as a Subject Access Request.

If you have not already done so, please make your request in writing to the above address, together with a cheque value £10.00, made payable to The Co-operative Bank, which represents the fee we can charge under the Act.

Please note that a full Subject Access Request does not include:

* Information held by the credit reference agencies.
* Statements of your accounts.
* Archived customer notepads, unless specifically requested.

It may be that you actually only require details of specific information held on our files. If transactional information only is required, this can be provided at a reduced charge of £25. In addition, certain information can be provided free of charge and I enclose a form for your completion and return, in the prepaid envelope, should you only require limited information.

Firstly they obviously haven't read the letter which clearly stated my exact requirements. Furthermore, statements of my accounts are included as backed by the Durant vs FSA case.

Any advice how i should treat this response greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks

David

[rivendale0506]

...and since when has a £25 charge been a reduction on a £10 charge???!!

[Dave J]

That was a typo, apologise completely to all concerned. It was £5

[rivendale0506]

oh damn, and there was me thinking we had a brilliant quote from a bank!!

[Docubot]

Any news on Smile?

It was so easy to get my money back from them it was almost comical.

Especially when the chap on the phone's voice went all squeaky when I said "I'm going to sue Smile for my money back."

He said "but....but...I don't understand - it's in your T&C's"

Poor deluded soul.

[karlkarl]

What's the best address to send the letters to please?

[martinwhite]

At least you had an acknowledgement. I sent two requests to Nationwide last week and have heard nothing in return. Never mind, the 40 days are ticking down!!

M

[BankFodder]

DaveJ
Repy to them quoting Durant that it has been held that data does include statements. Remind them that they have fiduciary duty towards you under which they are obliged to excercise utmost care in the accuracy of the statements which they make to you and that to make a false representation would be a serious breach of this duty and that if they persist that you may bring the matter to the attention of the Court as well as the Information Commissioner whene you make your complaint.

Remind them also that they have a contractual as well as a statutory duty to comply fully with your reasonable requests unther UK legislation - viz. the Data protection Act and this also might be brought to the attention of the court.

[Dave J]

Many thanks for your response i will draft a letter this evening, i will also provide the address i have which is on the letter at home.

Thanks

David

[sunseeker]

Hi DaveJ / Dave,

Still waiting for my reply to my letter to Smile on 15th Feb!

Given the encouragement that once the info comes through it may be a short process, I'm going to ring them tomorrow....again....as they said they would ring me back last Wednesday when I called them then.

What is it they say about monkeys and Shakespear

[BankFodder]

Suggest you start writing reminders as per my post above.

[Dave J]

My reply

I am deeply unsatisfied with the response i have received to my letter as per my request for data you hold about me. You claim that the request does not include statement information held on my accounts. I can only point you to the case of Durant v Financial Services Authority [2003] EWCA Civ 1746 in which the judge ruled that statement information does indeed fall under the act.

I would also like to remind you that you have a fiduciary duty towards me under which you are obliged to exercise utmost care in the accuracy of the statements you make. To make a false representation would be a serious breach of this duty and if it were to persist I may bring the matter to the attention of the courts as well as the information commissioner when i make my complaint.

Further to this I would like to remind you of your contractual duty as well as your statutory duty to comply fully with my reasonable requests under British legislation with regard to the data protection act and this also would be brought to attention of a court.

I would ask you to again look to my previous letter and provide the information as requested, as such I have enclosed the necessary £10 fee.

The letter is going to

Jenni Fairbairn
Customer Care Officer (not sure if this is a worthwhile contact but i know it has been passed to her)

PO Box 101
1 Balloon Street
Manchester
M60 4EP

[Dave J]

They have banked my cheque but no sign of the data, still early days i guess. Coincidently i went £2 over my limit again and received a secure message (automated im sure) telling me that there is a charge. There is no sign of this on my statement though which is interesting given recent events.

I will update until i get my money back.

[richardc]

Keep at it and keep us posted.

[sunseeker]

Hi DaveJ,

I sent a request using the template to Smile on 16.02.06 and after receiving no data rang them on 12.03.06. The Managed Account Dept siad they would look into it and I received a secure message stating that they had received my complaint and would be looking into it.

I rang again, stating that my letter was not a complaint but a request for data. They stated that it was being classed as a complaint and so they only need to respond in 40 working days on the complaint. Dependent on what their view was on that, they would then have a further 40 days to comply with Data Protection Act!

Then got a letter on 31.03.06 stating that they had now reviewed my complaint and would be forwarding the data within 40 days.........that is 40 days 31.03.06!!!!! Have printed all secure e-mails off incase they are in breach of Data Protection Act and also to show judge of their un co-operativeness.

Seems they are trying to stall as much as possible but once I get the info, they'll get 14 days before I start the court action

[lois]

hiya DaveJ

have you got any further with Smile? just wondered how you were going with them? I've just got the standard letter back saying that they will provide the information within 40 days.

lois

[Dave J]

Hi i sent a secure message asking where my data was, i was told 5-7 days as the cheque was received April 15th or something.

They cashed the cheque in MARCH!!!!!

I'm not going to go down the Information Commissioner route personally but i won't leave them in peace i know that for certain.

[NigelR]

Hi Dave,

I'm also with Smile and am about to start the same process. Could you let me know if you used their "send Message" facility or did you deal with them in writing. I have sent them a complaining message as they charged me £20 for a day when I had previously authorised them to move money from my Hi interest Account to cover any excess on my current account. Of course they refused to do so. And they are supposed to be an ethical bank.!!

I look forward to hearing from you and compare notes

Regards NigelR

[Dave J]

I used the standard Data Protection Act letter in the library Nigel, the only time i would use secure messages are to chase things up.

I will keep you informed.