Virgin, mystery extra line: 2 judgments for Data Protection breaches - so far!!

[AndyOrch]

They cant request a strike out by email /letter anyway the court will ignore that...it must be made on application with notice and a hearing.

[BankFodder]

That's true – but it has happened a few times. We had several occasions where companies have managed to obtain strikeouts make other request simply on the basis of a letter that in fact should have been an application notice.

Only recently have I noticed on two occasions that applications have been refused because they haven't been made in the proper format.

There's no downside to sending the strikeout response and certainly even with a small risk that the judge might accept the letter, it will help to avoid the difficulty and complication of then having to make our own application notice – with a fee – to restore the case.

 

[lemon_martini2]

Yes l will be able to get it all done tonight. Emailed ICO and got standard acknowledgment back. Am at work rest of day so cant do anything until 5pm or so but have set aside evening for it and have all the documentation for the three claims.

[BankFodder]

When you send it into the court, I suggest that you send it asking for an email receipt and maybe even a read receipt.

I'm afraid I would probably send it to 3 times just in case it gets lost. The county courts are inefficient at the best of times and at the moment there are chock-a-block. Maybe send one without a receipt request either.

Any doubts – 

 

 

[lemon_martini2]

@BankFodderI've emailed you the drafts of the finalized letters for both the remote hearing application and the strikeout application to be got out to them tonight

 

Showing that they have breached the data regulations with proof is actually being made much harder by their haphazard paperwork which is allowing them to conceal things and make them look compliant when they aren't.

 

For example,an SAR was submitted on March 11, a reply was sent at the end of March,so at first glance it appears they are in compliance-but on closer investigation,that reply is actually in response to February's SAR request!

 

Also-in response to the SAR of February 11,I have received three emails thanking me for my SAR all of which claim to have received it on a different date.The cynical would say this is so they have a choice of dates so when they do reply they simply select the date that keeps them within the regulations... 

 

 

 

[dx100uk]

no good you emailing BF

 

helps no-one bar you, and people that might want to help or find your thread useful now or later will be in the dark.

 

 

[lemon_martini2]

OK-the only reason I didn't post them up here now is they now contain all my identifying information. I can post them up redacted but it'd be pretty much exactly what was already posted before.

[BankFodder]

Yes, we would prefer that you put up a redacted final version of the document that you are going to send off. This will be helpful to others.

I have added a couple of lines to the strikeout application – in red. Please see above.

Also, in the version you have sent to me, you have not used the Microsoft Word paragraph numbering system and it would be better presented if you did because that system gives a better sense of space and makes the document more readable. To forget that these judges have lots of reading to do and not a lot of time.

Also the version which you have emailed to me still contains our auto links and you will need to remove these by hovering over them, clicking your right mouse button and then "remove hyperlink".
I see also that you haven't given the statement of truth. You have simply copied out my words "statement of truth". You are intended to actually write out the statement of truth paragraph. You have an example on the defence document which you received from virgin. This is important to do. – Especially as you have remarked that the strikeout application does not contain a statement of truth at all.

Please will you post the eventual redacted final version. – But it needs to be sent off today

I'll have a look at the objections to the hearing on the papers and get back to you

 

[BankFodder]

The remote hearing document looks all right – except that you haven't used Microsoft Word to number the paragraphs, you have left in the auto links and these need to be removed and also you haven't typed out the statement of truth at the bottom.
They must bear a statement of truth
Don't forget that both these documents will need to be signed – at least by typing your name at the bottom

 

[lemon_martini2]

Redacted response to the strikeout application that has been sent to the County Court included. Fortunately our County Court seems to be on the ball, as I have now received an auto response which clearly states 'this reply is confirmation that your email has been received' in case anyone has any accusations later on that it might go walkabouts and not turn up where it should have done.

 

StrikeOut3.docx

[BankFodder]

Better send a copy to Nicola Smith - I suppose that it could go on Monday.  Then maybe Wednesday - send the request for remote hearing and copy to our Nicola

[lemon_martini2]

Copy of strike-out letter sent to Nicola Smith on Monday. Request for remote hearing sent to Exeter County Court and copy to Nicola Smith today as agreed (and an auto-response from the Court confirming it has arrived)

Cheque for £302 from second claim and warrant issued has arrived today!   (that's now £604 on two undefended claims,judgments and warrants...)

I'm now imagining them at Virgin Towers frantically running around realizing they have to justify how their defence was submitted over a week before the claim was made-should be very interesting to see what their explanation is!

[BankFodder]

Maybe we should send them some more sar's

At 300 quid a pop it's a pretty good little earner

[lemon_martini2]

Just a little email from our friends at the ICO:

'Thank you for your email of 26 May 2021. Your complaint had been closed as we had no reason to believe Virgin Media had not responded to you within 30 days.I have contacted Virgin Media today (3/6) to seek clarification of what action they have taken-as soon as I receive a response,I will contact you and advise you further'.

 

 

[BankFodder]

A very lazy attitude from the ICO. Frankly if I were you I would send them a message telling them that their laid-back complacent attitude is completely unacceptable and that you will tell them when there has been compliance. Furthermore, they should require from virgin confirmation that there has been compliance and a copy of whatever they have done to comply.

 

[lemon_martini2]

Another statement of arrears has landed on the doorstep-still stating the money has been owed since Nov 2019 despite the bank account showing payments in Dec/Jan 2020.

 

Another contact from the Executive Team to confirm I had received everything I had requested in the SAR and it could be marked as resolved to the ICO.

No,it couldn't be marked as resolved as there are still outstanding emails and letters that I have received that had not been included in the SRA.

In reply to their question-how do you know they haven't been included, I confirmed I had kept all the originals and checked off what was missing,so she was despatched to convey this to the Data Protection team. 

 

And surprise surprise instead I have had an email from the ICO stating that Virgin have informed them that the issues have all been resolved,they have complied and the customer is happy that they have done so-the ICO have been sent an email disabusing them of this notion.

[BankFodder]

It's all quite extraordinary.

I suppose the only thing one can do is to keep on storing it all up and include it in the general story of incompetence and mismanagement of your account and mismanagement of data.

There is certainly inaccurate data processing going on and that is another data protection breach which might be worth a pop at later on.

I suppose the payments that you made in December/January 2020 relate to your valid phone account and the arrears that they are identifying relate to the phantom account. Might that be correct?

I suppose we haven't heard anything more from the court since you filed your objections to deciding it on the papers.

[BankFodder]

It's been nearly 2 weeks else's the deadline for objecting to the order to decide on the papers.

I think it might be an idea to start telephoning the court to check what has happened. The courts often make mistakes and it would be a good idea to make sure that the objections have been overlooked.

Nothing to lose by doing this

[lemon_martini2]

Well no news to report. I contacted the courts-it has now been transferred to Exeter and when they decided to answer the phone on about the sixth attempt all we know now is that it is with the judge awaiting directions. I shall use the waiting time to do an SAR on other companies l have had cold halibuts with and see what that yields....

[lemon_martini2]

Ah of course that should be complaints.  Stoopid autocorrect. Out of my many and varied complaints, uncooked fish does not come into any of them...yet....

 

[lemon_martini2]

We have some action although it's a bit fluid in parts! Here's the main points from the notice of allocation.

 

1. *The case has been allocated to small claims track for 2pm on 20 Aug at Exeter County Court for no longer than 1 hour
2. *The case has been listed as a second fixture and will only be heard if earlier cases have been removed
3. *The claimant must contact the Civil Listing Officer on the last working day before to determine whether it will take place on that date or an alternative date.
4. *The case will take place via Microsoft Teams-court office is to make arrangements for this.
5. *By 20 July,each party must send to the court an email address to which invite to the video hearing will be sent.
6. *By 23 July(4pm) claimant must pay £80 or file a properly completed application for help with fees or the claim will be struck out and claimant will be liable for defendant's costs.
7. *By 27 July(4pm) claimant and defendant must exchange and send to court copies of all documents to be relied upon and written statements of all persons due to give evidence,including the parties themselves.
8. *By  3 Aug(4pm) parties will liaise and agree contents of trial bundle
9. *By 13 Aug(4pm) claimant must file and serve a paginated indexed digital trial bundle

 

 

 

[BankFodder]

Please have a read of our guide on how to prepare your court bundle

[lemon_martini2]

A further Virgin reply in the mail(undated) with an update to my complaint.I've quoted verbatim-fans of literacy should brace themselves now!

 

Our findings:

'We've understand that you requested for a call recording and spoke to one of the executive about it and was adviced that not all of the of the call is recorded and all of the data that we are obliged to send has been sent already.We offered compensation to provide resolution of £50.00 GBP.I see you have declined the offer as you already spoke to the executive team and was provided a much higher compensation. But we do not see any compensations which was offered from 50.00GBP. If you has any query or for any more information please call us on the below number to discuss in detail or follow the link for any help...

Resolution:feedback given'

 

It also noted that 'if we don't hear back from you after 28 days,we'll assume you agree with the result and close your complaint'.

 

 

[slick132]

Hi LM,

 

Virgin Media Customer Service is surely the best example of an Oxymoron !! They are beyond useless and, from my own experience, they're incapable of dealing with a customer problem or complaint.

[BankFodder]

Can you tell us where you are in respect of complying with the recent court order?

Most of the steps are mere formalities but have you complied with step 5 and step 6 (I've numbered the steps in your earlier post).

Have you started to prepare your court bundle as in step 7?

I think we should be preparing a skeleton argument.