the missus v halifax **WON**

[kfdh1962]

Hi all,

sent and SAR letter off for my partners halifax account on the 12th of september with the £10 fee.

On the 19th of October, having been sent a reminder, i received a letter telling me that statements had been ordered.

To date i have heard nothing since, the cheque has been cashed though.

I sent this letter on the 12th November

Dear Sir,

You have failed to comply with my Data Protection Act Subject Access Request dated 12th September 2006 within the required 40 days.

Although you acknowledged receipt of this letter on the 19th October 2006, and advised me that copy statements had been requested. I have yet to receive any information

If you do not comply within the next 7 days I shall seek a Court order obliging you to do so together with damages at the discretion of the Court and without any further notice.

I shall also be filing a complaint with the information commissioner for failing to comply with a subject access request under the Data Protection Act 1998

i think they are taking the P... so, the question is do i start this court process? and if so do i start it in the same way as the moneyclaim, and what should i put in the claim

kevin

 

 

 

[embo]

Hiya

 

Have a look at this link

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/6971-data-protection-act-non.html

 

it has the particulars in there.

 

However you cannot! do this via Moneyclaim...

 

HTH

Emma

[David1004]

Hi Kevin,

I'm claiming on behalf of my son, when his statements were not forthcoming after the 40 day period I rang the customer service dept 'pretending' to be my son. I told them quite tersly that if the staements were not there within 7 days then I would take them to court and file a complaint with the information commissioner. The statments arrived within a couple of days so I think your letter itself should do the trick but you could hurry things up with a phonecall explaining that a letter is on it's way.

David

[kfdh1962]

Hi David,

i filed a complaint with the information comissioner yesterday. I will give the customer service department a ring as you suggest and point this out and as you say mention court action after seven days

 

cheers

 

kevin

[Aaronsdad]

Hi, check out my thread (link below - Aaronsdad v halifax) there are a few contact details there but by far the best one is Kelly Duffy she seems to get things sorted in minutes instead of months! A quick call to her with the very real threat of court for non compliance will surely do the biz!

good luck, PM me if you need more

A D

[Aaronsdad]

I think my signature is broken!

Anyway here's the link to my thread

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/halifax-bank/35380-aarons-dad-halifax.html

[kfdh1962]

Contacted kelly duffy as suggested by AD. Unfortunately still nothing. I think my only option now is to start an action for failure to comply with SAR, which i originally sent on september the 12th!!!!

[kfdh1962]

Hiya

 

Have a look at this link

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/6971-data-protection-act-non.html

 

it has the particulars in there.

 

However you cannot! do this via Moneyclaim...

 

HTH

Emma

 

Hi Emma, still nothing back from hellifax!. Looking at the thread you gave me i take it i do this via an N1 form, do i get this from the county court?

 

 

kevin

[kfdh1962]

i used the N1 form from the librarary and filled it in as per the non compliance particulars of claim from the library.

Took a trip to birmingham county court on friday and filed the claim for non compliance and damages. For damages i basicaly claimed the cost of extra letters, 2 hours loss of earnings to got to the court , parking and travel costs, approx £32 + court costs of £30. They said it will take 5 to 10 days to process....

[kfdh1962]

ok...received copy of notice of issue against the hellifax for DPA non compliance. will be deemed as served on the 26th january, defendant has until feb 9th to reply. This is what i put in for the particulars of the claim, as per the info in the librar

 

1. The Defendant is a Data Controller within the meaning of the Data Protection Act and is responsible for the processing of data of which the Claimant is a Subject.

 

2. The Claimant has an account number xxxxxx ("the Account") with the Defendant which was opened in 1997 .

 

3. On 12th September 2006 the Claimant sent a Subject Access Request, pursuant to Section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998 to the Defendant.

 

4. The Defendant has failed to comply.

 

5. By virtue of the Defendant's failure to comply with the Subject Access Request the Claimant has suffered damage.

 

6. The damage caused is:

 

Extra costs incurred in addition to court costs, due to the Defendants failure to comply - this includes the cost of additional correspondence and time spent preparing documents and seeking legal advice, I estimate this cost to be £xxxx

7. The Claimant seeks an order that the Defendant do comply with the Claimant's Subject Access Request

 

8. Under the terms of Section 15(2) of the Data Protection Act 1998, where the Defendant contests that information requested under the Claimant's Subject Access Request is not included within the scope of Section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998, the Claimant requests that the Court inspects that information, and where it finds that the Defendant's opinion is unfounded, that it orders such information be included within the information supplied to the Claimant under the Subject Access Request.

 

9. Damages and costs within the discretion of the Court.

 

 

 

I believe that the contents of these particulars of claim are true

 

 

Signed:

so, not having had to issue an action before for failure to comply with DPA, can anyone tell me what happens next? are they likely to comply with the SAR comply straight away and pay the damages & costs , or will it go before the judge?

obviously the main thrust of this action is to get my partners information so we can pursue repayment of her charges

 

 

[kfdh1962]

received a letter back from the information comissioner yesterday re the failur to comply by the halifax.

In essence, paraphrasing...."in view of the information provided they appear to be in breach of the 6th principle of dat protection (processing personal information in line with an individuals righst under the act)...because they did not comply within the statutory 40 day requrement...since the OFT's report about penalty charges there has been a significant incera sin the number of subject access requests, but they are still required to comply within the 40 dya timescale.....written to the Halifax to order them to comply as a matter of priority........but this is not a criminal offence and we cannot punish an organisation for breach of principle....blah blah blah.

 

in other words all we can do is tell them off and hope they behave themselves in the future

[kfdh1962]

nothing from the hellifax yet...tomorrow is the deadline to file their response. Reading the paperwork from the court if they fail to respond then i can request a judgement by the court ...which i guess would be to order compliance with the SAR, pay damages listed, and any other damages at the discretion of the court. Advice from anyone who has already done this would be appreciated.

The really annoying thing is Halifax continue to hit my partner with ever increasing charges whilst at the same time completely ignoring the SAR and all reminders, thus preventing us from getting back her charges and putting to an end this snowball effect.... GGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

[kfdh1962]

bump...bump ... anybody??

[kfdh1962]

Phoned the courts today, hellifax filed acknolwedgement of service on the 9th february... deadline day. the court advised me that they now have until 23rd to file their defence for non compliance under the data protection act

[sea-sidelady]

So now its just a waiting game. Its typical, they keep drawing it out till the last min then paying up.

 

I read that 1 person was an hour away from going to court and they paid...!

[kfdh1962]

HI seaside lady,

this action is primarily to force them to comply with the SAR under the data protection act. they took my £10 fee in september, wrote to me saying it was in process....then nothing despite several reminder letters and threat of legal action for non compliance and reporting them to the information comissioner

we cant even begin to recover the charges until they comply with the SAR. Right now my partner is caught in the snowball effect, and there is not a month goes by where she is not hit with charges.

i received acknowledgement of service yesterday, stating that they intend to defend the whole of the claim and have until the 23rd to submit their defence.

how can you defend a blatant failure to comply?

[kfdh1962]

had a copy of halifax's defence sent to me by their legal eagles. In essence their defence is based around their counter claim that they have attempted to comply with the request.

They claim they sent a recorded delivery letter after my first reminder letter and another one after my threat to start legal action stating that they would look into why we had not received the information. Apparently both letters were sent special delivery requiring a signature and both letters were sent back by the royal mail as "not called for" (dates stated for both). At no point have we been left a calling card from royalmail relating to non-delivery of mail requiring collection for these dates. The only correspondence that we have received was a letter way back in october stating they were ordering the copy statements, the solicitors letter on saturday, and a recorded delivery letter on the 14th of feb which we collected last saturday which ahs turned out to be the statements (this letter the solicitor didnt mention at all!).

In the covering letter the solicitor also states that they have tried to contact us and the numbers they have dont accept incoming calls!!! Unbelievable.

 

I intend to contact them this week, refuting the alleged delivery special deliver leters, stating we know have the information we requested, but will only advise the courts to close this action if they refund the costs incurred for this action.

 

 

 

 

 

they also claim that the contact phone numbers they have for us do not accept incoming calls as they have been trying

[kfdh1962]

really need some help here guys from somebody with a bit more legal nouse than i have.

having studied Hellifax's defence, most of it is based on whether or not indeed they did try to deliver this information. If they are to be believed there was one letter of response sent recorded delivery and a set of staements sent recorded delivery, which went undelivered as nobody was in, and the uncollected by my partner. This we dispute as we never recieved any "calling cards" from the royal mail to collect post until last week, whereas the incidents the halifax are quoting are both in December 2006.

Anyway, that aside, as i have disputed that anyway, part of their defence to the out of pocket costs i am claiming is as follows £30 courts costs + travel+ parking+ 2 hours loss of pay + £60)

 

5 As paragraph 6, the Defendant denies the claimant, as a litigant in person, is entitled to recover the alleged costs of pre-action actvity

 

6 Further, on the basis of the matters pleaded in the above paragraphs (undeliverd mail etc) the defendant

6.1 denies that it has acted in breach of any contractual or other duty owed to the claimant, as alleged otherwise

6.2 denies that the losses sort by the claimant (which losses are not admitted) wrere caused by any breach of duty by the defendant , and

6.3 denies that the claimant is entitled to the relief sort

 

what does all that mean? they dont believe the costs and even if they do they dont believe i am entitled to claim them back? So am i entitled to recover these costs?

I am not sure what to do. The main thrust of the claim was to force compliance to get the information on charges which i now have, so i could close this action and get on with going after the charges ( which are £3984 by the way!!!). But on the other hand i am out of pocket, in terms of hard cash shelled out, about £38 court cost and parking and photocopying.

[kfdh1962]

seem to be the on my own on this thread ha ha !!

 

anyway, spoke to the legal departemnt. Told him i now had the information and provided he repaid the costs of the action i would inform the court the matter was settled (in relation to the non compliance of data protectio and nothing else!). Got him to agree to repay legal fees so as soon as i have the cheque from him i will inform the court.

So onto getting back my other halfs charges. Having trawled throught he statements they taken £3866 from her!! the descriptions on the charges are not good, simply "charges as advised"

Preliminary letter being sent today

[livelylad]

We are with you.

[kfdh1962]

Hi livelylad,

was feeling a bit lonely ha ha !! Thanks for the message:)

[sea-sidelady]

Hiya kfdh1962,

 

Im sorry you felt on your own.

I have just re read your thread. This is the first time i have read some one having to go so far to get their statments. Its unbelievable..!

 

But im glad to see you have finally got them, and got the legal side sorted.

 

Hope getting your money wont be as hard as getting the statements..

[kfdh1962]

thanks seasidelady, sent of preliminary approach today for £3866!!!. So , here we go....

[kfdh1962]

seem to be the on my own on this thread ha ha !!

 

anyway, spoke to the legal departemnt. Told him i now had the information and provided he repaid the costs of the action i would inform the court the matter was settled (in relation to the non compliance of data protectio and nothing else!). Got him to agree to repay legal fees so as soon as i have the cheque from him i will inform the court.

So onto getting back my other halfs charges. Having trawled throught he statements they taken £3866 from her!! the descriptions on the charges are not good, simply "charges as advised"

Preliminary letter being sent today

 

 

Well the promised cheque to cover costs has not materialised yet. The AQ for the non compliance under th eDPA is due with the court by the 16th. So i will fill that out today and get ready to send it. Im not usre what to put in the additional information section, should i clarify here that no notification of attempted delivery was received on either of the two dates they specified in their defence?

i will also e mail their legal guy today and remind that i will be sending back th AQ as the refund of court costs for the non compliance action has not materialised

[kfdh1962]

PS.... LBA letter for charges refund will go this thursday, no response to my prelim letter yet...........