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....

[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 !

[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....

[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.

[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.

 

[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

 

[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...

[PriorityOne]

Mercers is a limited company.... and therefore, cannot have transactions going through on behalf of anyone else, if I remember rightly. It's the limited that makes the difference.

 

My recent postal order (CCA request) was made payable to Mercers by name (typed), yet appeared as a credit on a recent Barclaycard statement. Curious to know which bank account processed that one for starters.

 

I've replied to your PM, gh.....

[PriorityOne]

**Interesting update**

 

This account was eventually sold by absolute assignment to CL Finance.... because CL Finance sent me a Notice of Assignment to say so before they were told to Foxtrot Oscar....

 

Heard no more until last week, when BARCLAYS write with a copy of a blank "Agreement" which is not an "Agreement" anyway, even if it was signed .... asking me to contact them re. the outstanding balance that's owed to THEM!!

 

Cheeky bergers....

 

No response given and filed away for now....

[PriorityOne]

Hi P1,

 

There's a discussion on one of the other threads about this. I believe that, in some situations (if not all), they actually only assign the 'future receivables' rather than the actual account.

 

OMG... I've heard it all now! Assign the receivables? So they sell the right to collect the account to someone else but keep the deficit on their books? At no point have I ever been told that the assignment was for receivables.... it was quite clear that the account was now owned by CL Finance.... yet Barclays have now written.

 

No Agreement though.... however they want to word things...

[PriorityOne]

In theory yes, but the Agreement would always have the creditors name on it.... so if the new bunch can't produce one and neither can the creditor, it begs the question of whether the assignment was lawful in the first place.

 

In my case, it wasn't lawful; due to unlawful charges at the point of sale.... although no-one has ever produced anything remotely enforceable anyway.... so there were several grounds for telling them to bog off

[PriorityOne]

Mercers are one of many in-house companies that debts get passed to.... it's nothing new. In my experience, the OFT are there to make us feel better but in effect, do very little at all.

 

Mercers were one of the worst for harrassment because of the telephone dialling software.... I knew they had nothing, so it was a case of who would get bored first...

[PriorityOne]

**Interesting update**

 

This account was eventually sold by absolute assignment to CL Finance.... because CL Finance sent me a Notice of Assignment to say so before they were told to Foxtrot Oscar....

 

Heard no more until last week, when BARCLAYS write with a copy of a blank "Agreement" which is not an "Agreement" anyway, even if it was signed .... asking me to contact them re. the outstanding balance that's owed to THEM!!

 

 

Have now had an angry red letter from the Lewis Group two years after telling them to tell their "client" CL Finance to berger off... demanding money with menaces again.

 

Are they assuming I've lost all track of previous correspondence? Not sure whether to dig it out, enclose a copy and tell them to berger off back where they crawled or to ignore it, to be honest.... greedy barstewards!

 

[PriorityOne]

Decided to tell them to berger off.... etc...