Mercers....

[PriorityOne]

Mercers do not appear to be registered with the ICO for data processing purposes.... As a separate limited company, they should be.

 

Extract from an email from the ICO on this very subject, last year :

 

Thank you for your e-mail of 14th February. You are correct in assuming that a Data Protection notification cannot cover two Limited Companies, each would need their own separate notification assuming that they process data that requires notification.

 

Exemptions are possible for:

Some not-for-profit organisations

 

Individuals who are processing personal data for personal, family or household affairs are exempt from notification and most of the other provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998

 

Data controllers who only process personal data for the maintenance of a public register

 

Data controllers who only process personal data for any one or all of the following purposes for their own business :

Staff administration (including payroll)

Advertising, marketing and public relations (for their own business)

 

Oh dear....

[Guest Old_andrew2018]

bump

[PriorityOne]

Hmmm. Since they appear to issue Default Notices left, right and centre, this should be very interesting....

 

Had exactly the same saga with A&L last year... who found themselves in deep poo with the Information Commissioners Office and Inland Revenue for having their in-house brigade registered as "dormant and non-trading" when they'd been collecting token payments from me just fine.

 

Tsk tsk.... Intend to have great fun with this one !

[itsamomentintime]

naughty P1!!

[gh2008]

Would this extra piece of info be worth reporting to TS?

TS have now contacted me for full details regarding my complaints against Mercers.

Can only help can't it?

[cashins]

Sub. Love to know what they have got to say about that.

 

Don't they have a legal dept?

 

David

[PriorityOne]

I've just had a very unexpected nightly chat with Mercers.... and ended up having a laugh with him. Yes, a LAUGH!!... at his own expense, I hasten to add. My letter goes off tomorrow...

 

Will keep you posted....

[Patma]

This is fascinating info, PriorityOne. As Mercers also trade as Calder Financial, do you think this applies to them to?

I just did a quick check on them from the information I have on their letters and they don't come up either. At the bottom the small print states.

Registered number:2550639. Registered address: Citypoint, One Ropemaker Street, London, EC2 YSS. Mercers Debt Collections LTD trading as Calder Financial.

[PriorityOne]

Limited companies need to be registered in their own right. Not sure how Calder Financial fits into all this, but if Mercers aren't registered and Calder are linked up to them... then they should be in poo by association, so to speak.

 

In my case, Mercers issued me with a Default Notice last week and have also recently defaulted on a CCA request.... so I've drafted up a letter this evening pointing out a few home truths, including the above.

 

Wonder how they'll reply.... ... in writing, of course.

[Patma]

I seem to be in about the same position with their alter ego, Calders.

Soooo it looks like an email to the Information Commissioner is in order here. What fun:D . I'm getting onto it right away and thinking of how I can break the news to good old Calders/Mercers/Barclays. yipppeee!

[furnitman2003]

My wife missed a payment on a littlewoods credit card account earlier this month and recieved a default notice from mercers today i rang them on her behalf (as I have authority to deal with this on her behalf ) I offered to pay the arrears to littlewoods at the end of the month, I was told they can hold off till 29th Feb, after that it will go to doorstep collection. I replied that as part of balance is made up of charges I will be claiming them back etc. but will still pay arrears at end of month.

 

I then re-read the default notice and found that they have given me till 10th march to pay the arrears, got back on the phone and queried this they simply said "oh that's a misprint" I told her "I could hold you to the default notice if I wanted" she said that I would still get a doorstep collection if I failed to pay by end of month.

 

Alan

[Mamie]

Hi P1,

 

Glad you are still hitting back at these people, keep up the good work and good luck.

 

Mamie:)

[cashins]

Registered number:2550639. Registered address: Citypoint, One Ropemaker Street, London, EC2 YSS. Mercers Debt Collections LTD trading as Calder Financial.

 

From that entry Calder Financial is not a seperate legal entity, it is Mercers. A limited company (subject to some restrictions) can call itself whatever it feels like and churn out letterheads in that name. The only real care they need to take, is that the name is not already in use or obviously, a law suit can result.

 

Can be tricky as there is no longer any requirement to register trading names with company house.

 

David

[Brassed off]

Ooo err P1, definitely subbing to this one Go get 'em Tiger

[Patma]

I've just spoken to the Information Commissioner's helpline and they tell me Mercers is registered. Their number is apparently z5068082.

I'm going to try putting in the number now and see what it says about them.

Apparently the postcode given for the address I have on my Calders letters is not a valid postcode though.

This is a bit odd because I've recently discovered that another DCA, BLS Collections uses a false address on all their correspondence. Royal mail are currently investigating.

[cashins]

Not sure about 'false addresses' but many of the DCA's, (and OC's), use a box number and postcode which if put into 'Streetmap' will only give a very general area.

 

I would imagine they recognise that if you push people too and in some cases over the edge, somebody could walk through their front door with a shotgun one morning.

 

Such are the days we live in.

 

David

[PriorityOne]

I've just spoken to the Information Commissioner's helpline and they tell me Mercers is registered. Their number is apparently z5068082.

I'm going to try putting in the number now and see what it says about them.

Apparently the postcode given for the address I have on my Calders letters is not a valid postcode though.

This is a bit odd because I've recently discovered that another DCA, BLS Collections uses a false address on all their correspondence. Royal mail are currently investigating.

 

Oh berger !! You're right after all... must have been a glitch in the system when I was on the Information Commissioners Office website. However, the address under that ref. number is NOT the same as the one on the bottom of their letters, which is Ropemaker Sreet, London EC2..... . Drawing on my experiences with A&L last year, the address needs to be the same as the one reg. with the Information Commissioners Office.

 

Let's see how they respond to my letter anyway.... 'coz A&L shot themselves right in the foot with something similar.

 

[Patma]

I think you're right about the address thing. It's definitely worth pursuing. I also wonder if there are any rules about the addresses given on correspondence having to be accurate. In the case of BLS they have somehow managed to [problem] a fake PO Box as well as a false postcode. The PO Box doesn't exist but but a redirection is in place for their correspondence. This shouldn't be possible but it's been happening for years. I wonder if the one Ropemaker St Address is genuine?....I'll check up on it.

Patma

[Patma]

The address seems to be genuine. I've googled it and come up with other companies in the same building. It must be a pretty large building though because they all have different postcodes. Without going an searching on the ground, we won't know whether Mercers just have an accomodation address there Not much wiser yet. Patma

[PriorityOne]

The address that the ICO have for Mercers is Churchill Place, which appears to be the reg. address for Barclaycard.... but the address on the bottom of correspondence from Mercers is Ropemaker Street, so their registration is incorrect.

 

The ICO have been informed and if/when I get a reply, I'll let you know.

 

[PriorityOne]

Just checked the Inbox to see that the Information Commissioners Office need me to download and complete a poxy form.... oh, puh-lease!! Just don't have the time for all this stupid red tape...

 

If anyone wants to 'phone it though tomorrow though, that would be great. I do not ANY privacy for making 'phone calls at work at all right now either, or would do the honours myself...

 

Registration Number: Z5068082

 

Data Controller: MERCERS DEBT COLLECTION LIMITED

 

Address: ONE CHURCHILL PLACE, LONDON E14 5HP (actually the reg. address of Barclays Bank PLC)

 

The registered address on the bottom of all communication from Mercers however is :

 

MERCERS DEBT COLLECTIONS LIMITED

REGISTERED OFFICE : 1, ROPEMAKER STREET, LONDON EC2Y 9SS

 

[Patma]

Good for you P1, Well spotted! The postcode is wrong on the Ropemaker Street address too, so maybe having an incorrect address too is significant. I don't understand yet why theses DCAs would deliberately make their address incorrect, but I suspect they have some devious reason. I know for sure that BLS Collections have a totally false address on their correspondence and I am currently involved with complaints about that.

I'm looking forward to hearing what response you get.

[gh2008]

Mercer's - a non-trading company whose registered office is actually the office of Simmons & Simmons, the solicitors ....

 

MERCERS DEBT COLLECTIONS LIMITED credit report and annual accounts from Companies House - Sunday 2nd March 2008

[PriorityOne]

Well, well, well.... yet another limited company claiming to be non-trading. Wonder how Mercers are going to explain all those received fees for CCA requests; made out to them by name then.

 

The ICO were notified yesterday, by the way.

Inland Revenue will be next...

[cashins]

As I understand it, the term 'non-trading company' carries little legal weight. It is not a Dormant Company which is only allowed to have 'specific allowable transactions' going through its accounts, (to keep company staus, ie paying company house, accounts etc)

 

The following information is provide by Companies House website.

http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/

What is the difference between a non-trading company and a dormant company?

A company can be non-trading in the sense that it isn't doing business. But it may still have other accounting transactions going through its books, which means that it is not dormant in a legal sense. A dormant company must not have any accounting transactions except specific allowable transactions that can be disregarded.

 

 

What that means in practice, I don't know.

 

David