Hi, Yet more grief with the above company.

This is more of a warning to you than asking advice. A stolen car hit my van which was a write off. I made a claim then decided to withdraw claim and use the MIB.

Now before i ceased the claim i have been getting unsolicted calls from ambulance chaser company's. The only people who knew about the accident were the Police and the insurance company. I written a letter of complaint to Swinton head office in Manchester saying why have they passed my personal information on with out my consent and breaching the data protection act. This is the response they give word for word.(main juicy bits)

I write further to your complaint received on the 25 September 2013 regarding the number of calls that you say you have recently received from Third Parties, who attempted to discuss any claims that you may have had. You believe that you are receiving these as a result of Swinton passing on your data to these Third Parties.

The investigation has included discussions, with external suppliers and business partners who manage our customers claims on our behalf. As a result of these discussions it has come to light that there has been a breach of data, not only in respect of our customers but other companies as well. I would like to take this opportunity to reassure you that the breach is limited to claims details and is not as a result of any action by Swinton.

I can confirm that this breach of data is in the process of being further investigated by the relevant authorities. In view of this i am unable to provide any further information at present. However, once concluded letters will be provided to those affected by this. I advise the information Commissioner is aware of this matter.

That's the ins and outs of the letter. So just be on your guard with this company. Also there chasing me for cancellation charges on my insurance but im playing the i want answers to this debarkle first so i suggest you freeze the charges or write them off as a goodwill gesture.

There passing the buck it seems and i firmly believe its there cock up and not a business partner of Swinton. Now why would the under writers want to get involved selling information seems to baffle me to. Can't be that much to be made from it and the risks out weight the results. Thats just my opinion.

If this is in wrong thread please move and sorry in advance.

Michael

Swinton would be responsible for the actions of whoever they pass your data to.

Be careful in regard to the cancellation charges. Swinton will pass on to debt collectors and your credit file may be noted. Suggest that you raise a complaint, linked to the data protection issue and that should hopefully avoid this happening. Swinton may be willing to waive cancellation admin fees and only charge the relevant time on risk.

If you were paying off the insurance over time, any insurance company will be able to claim the balance pro rata so be careful, i.e. policy cost was £600 for annual premium but spread over 12 months at £50 a month. After 6 months the policy is cancelled. You still owe £300 however pro rata you should get back £300 less admin fee plus a months notice if it had been paid in full up front. However as it was spread over 12 months that means that you may still owe them £50 plus admin fee. This is an example and figures are random for simplicity.