SAR includes sombody else's letter

[Fyffesy]

Hi all,

 

I recently recieved the results of a SAR which i issued to a DCA. It includes the standard things but it also contains a copy of a letter which was sent to the DCA by a person i do not know.

 

Has anybody got any suggestions about what i should do about this?

[pinky1977]

I would personally write them a strong lettter informing them how worried you are that they could possibly send you someone elses personal information

 

of course keep the letter thats evidence of how useless they are !!

[Fyffesy]

Surely this is against some kind of privacy laws though? I'm sure that the person who wrote the letter to the DCA wouldn't appreciate the fact that a total stranger now knows that they are in debt with this company.

[pinky1977]

I would agree totally

 

i had a similar kind of error they sent me a copy of my loan details but addressed it incorrectly

hence it went to the wrong person

 

i wrote to them a while back never got an aplogy

[cerberusalert]

They are in breach of the Data Protection Act & you should report them to the Information Commissioner https://www.ico.gov.uk/Global/contact_us.aspx

 

If they send information about someone else to you who are they sending your information to?

[Fyffesy]

Thanks for the link.

 

Do you think i should write to the person who wrote the letter to the DCA? I think i would like to know if this had happened to me.

[cerberusalert]

Yes and suggest they make a complaint too. It's about time these DCAs were brought to book over their nerfarious activities, if they want to hold licences allowing them to process peoples data they should be made to do it in a responsible way.

[Huff&Puff]

I would definititely write to the person, I have a feeling that only they can make a formal complaint anyway, though I may be wrong about that. But they should definitely be informed IMO.

[Fyffesy]

I agree. However, aren't they likely to claim that i am in cahoots with this person and say i have somehow obtained this copy in order to claim it arrived with my SAR?

[cerberusalert]

I doubt it particulary if the other person isn't even in the same town as yourself. Besides, what would you have to gain by doing it?

[Fyffesy]

The other person is on the other side of the country. Ok so maybe i'd have nothing to gain but I will indeed do whatever needs to be done to drop these muppets in it. I'm sick and tired of all these mistakes they make as well as their more deliberate dubious acts!

[cerberusalert]

When I said 'what would you have to gain?', I meant if the DCA accuses you of colluding with the other party.

[deathbycrayons]

I agree, firstly report them to the ICO, I've had to do this with Natwest as exactly the same thing happened to me. I don't think you have anything to lose by informing the person who's letter was sent to you of this. If they're doing this to him/her then the same thing could have happened with your information.

[Fyffesy]

I know. I could only imagine that they may think that i'm trying to get them to drop their collection activity against me by threatening to inform the actual author of the letter, thus dropping them in it.

[Fyffesy]

I will report them asap and inform the person that i have done so. Do you think i should inform the DCA of their error too?

[cerberusalert]

You don't have to notify the DCA, once the ICO has chewed them out they will be in touch with you full of apologies. It has happened in the past, in fact just recently where the same thing happened to someone with Wescotts and suddenly they found that the debt had suddenly been reduced on their credit report.

[Fyffesy]

How difficult can it be to double check what they put in the envelope? It's shocking and i dread to think how often it happens. These DCAs are remarkably arrogant when explaining their errors. I've been liaising with one for over a year and the errors and false claims just keep on coming. Their response is to either deny or not respond at all then continue with their dubious tactics.

[cerberusalert]

What else would you expect with employees like this

 

 

[Huff&Puff]

And that's the department manager. He has a degree in peeling bananas you know

[Fyffesy]

Ha ha that's brilliant. How did you access their internal CCTV though? I'm surprised that they allow their staff near one of these? They should only be allowed crayons and potato prints surely?

[cerberusalert]

[Fyffesy]

Bless the little fella. He used to have a really easy job before the internet came along and exposed their antics to the world. They seem genuinely offended when you ask them to give you some evidence don't they. How vey dare we!!!

[cerberusalert]

They seem genuinely offended when you ask them to give you some evidence don't they

 

Even more so when a CAG templates are used. Only this morning someone PM'd me a copy of a letter from a DCA who had decided not to pursue a debt any further, they included the fact that they recognised the 'Notice Before Action' letter as coming from here, they even mentioned the template link. :D

[Fyffesy]

That's fantastic. I don't know why they felt the need to mention that though. It's irrelevant where the letter came from as long as it is correct. They just don't like the fact that the vulnerable average joe bloggs can question their dodgy methods instead of being bullied and deceived until they have no choice but to cave in.

 

I salute everybody who helps others to take on the DCAs and kick their sorry posteriors!!

Edited April 4, 2009 by Fyffesy