IrishRose v Egg**won**

[irishrose]

Sent my SAR to Egg on 26 Jan and received the standard 'ID' stalling tactic letter this morning. Just sent the following email through their website:

 

Re: Your letter dated 14 Feb 2007 from Louise Wiseman, Information Risk and Privacy Consultant; Ref xxxxx.

 

 

I am surprised to receive your letter requesting ID since my address remains the same as that you have on file, the £10 cheque I sent was drawn in my name, and my signature is unchanged from when I first opened my accounts with you.

 

However, I am sure you will accept this email -- through your own secure messaging system -- as confirmation of my identity. After all, unless I am who I claim to be, I would not be able to answer the security questions, would I? If you do not consider your messaging system sufficiently secure, perhaps you would let me know in writing.

 

Since your request for ID seems to be a stalling tactic, I am disregarding it in relation to the timetable for your compliance to my Subject Access Request. The 40 days began with my first letter, dated 26 January, not 40 days from this email.

 

I look forward to receiving the requested information, and will then proceed with a request for full refund of all penalty charges.

 

Yours faithfully

 

How I would love it if they said their messaging system isn't sufficiently secure! I'm a journalist. I would LMAO. And my keypad would be smoking!

[countrybake]

hi irishrose you sound like you won't take no c**p, best way to be when dealing with the banks be as ruthless as they would be, just keep at it you will eventualy get what you are after.

all the best CB

[irishrose]

Thanks, Countrybake. I have to confess I've really got it in for Egg, much much more so than for Lloyds who I'm claiming considerably more from. I found Egg absolutely unresponsive to my cries for help three years ago after I was suddenly made redundant. It ended up that every month I was going over my limit purely because of the charges they kept adding. I was in a nasty downward spiral and they just wouldn't throw me a rope. They seemed to be staffed by thoroughly unpleasant, patronising and soulless gits, so I intend to return their sarcasm and snottiness with interest! I have nothing to lose because I settled and closed the credit card account two years ago (and left 8p in my savings account for my own amusement!)

 

They deserve all they get, in my opinion.

[irishrose]

A quickie update.

Just sent Eggy an email telling them their 40 days is nearly up:

 

"I have still not received the information I requested in my Subject Access letter of 26 January.

 

May I remind you that you are required by law to provide me with the data I have requested within 40 days. Those 40 days will come to an end on 7 February 2007. If I have not received the information by this date I will be filing a report to the Information Commissioner for a breach of the Data Protection Act and will begin to force compliance through the courts.

 

If I have not received the requested data by 7 February, I will begin a claim against you for the charges levied from my account (plus contractual interest) using an estimated schedule of charges calculated from the statements already in my possession."

 

My heart has rather gone out of this fight because my lovely dad died of a heart attack last week. But I now need money to help towards his funeral expenses so I guess I have to keep at it. I reckon Egg owe me something between £600 and £1000, ad that would be very helpful right now. Not only that, but Dad would be furious with me for allowing any bas*ard to get away with robbing me.

[Mistermind]

Condolences. If the picture does not come through below, then please see Just our Pictures of Roses ~ White rose pictures ~

 

 

 

Fully agree about the Egg rotters.

[irishrose]

Aren't some people just lovely?! Thank you Mistermind.

 

I'm a bit up the creek still, and I've missed my own deadlines, but I'm determined to get back into the Egg fight.

 

The dates in my last entry are wrong -- I wrote February instead of March -- so the 40 days actually expired on 7 March and I've received absolutely zilch.

 

What should I do next? If I send the "you've got 7 days or else" template threatening a complaint to the Information Commissioner (which I don't imagine will exactly scare the pants off them), should I send it by email or post?

 

I've already got one year's worth of statements in my possession -- covering the last year I had the card before I cleared it -- but that doesn't seem sufficient to proceed with an estimated claim. I really need the previous years' of statements. What can I do to get Egg to fulfil their legal obligations?

[Mistermind]

Many of the Egg threads I read spoke of exasperation over the 40-day wait, but not one thread reported ultimate no-show. In every case Egg started the countdown from the day they received ID proof and £10 cheque.

 

At long last a one-inch-high bundle of paper arrives, although Maxine did report Egg "accidentally" omitting the pages which recorded unlawful charges !! She complained, then Egg promptly made good the missing pages.

 

40 days from 14FEB would expire on 26MAR, fourteen days away. I would be inclined to suggest the Egg papers should arrive within the next 7 days.

 

Spring sunshine has arrived, the daffodils have come out, and not a shadow of money vultures. Perhaps a little private time for yourself.

 

Love

 

Mr M

[daipp]

Excellent messages to Egg !! (I wanted to say Eggcellent but decided against it ).

 

David

[irishrose]

Dear Mistermind, your faith in Eggy is sweet but time has passed and I still have received no statements. What I did receive, however, was a letter dated 16 March from the ubiquitous Louise Wiseman. Here is the text:

 

"I am currently in the process of retrieving the relevant information, which will be sent to you within the next 40 calendar days. Yours sincerely."

 

They are taking the p**s, and I should have responded immediately, but with one thing another, I didn't -- until today.

 

Here's my reply:

 

"LETTER BEFORE ACTION

Section 7 – Data Protection Act 1998

 

 

Dear Madam

 

My request for information under the Data Protection Act 1998

Egg card Account: xxxxx

 

You have failed to comply with my Data Protection Act Subject Access Request dated 26 January 2007. The deadline for compliance based on that letter was 13 March.

In your reply on 14 February – when you sent your stalling tactic letter unnecessarily requesting proof of identity – you said you would provide a response within 40 calendar days of receiving my proof. I sent this to you through your own online messaging service on 15 February so, according to your own timetable, you should have provided the information requested by 26 March.

May I remind you that under the Data Protection Act 1998 Section 7 (10), the ‘prescribed period’ for providing the information requested is 40 days from the date you have received the fee and proper identification. I would argue that you received the fee and sufficient proof of identity with my letter of 26 January. You would, no doubt, argue that you received them on 15 February.

Either way, you have failed to comply with the Data Protection Act within the prescribed period.

Your letter of 16 March suggests that you intend to continue to flout the law as you seem to think you can miraculously summon up another 40 days for compliance. You cannot.

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.

 

Yours faithfully"

 

Right. I'm off to the FAQs and Templates Library to see what the next stage is. Anyone else been in this situation?

[Mistermind]

Hello Irish, how you keeping? Sorry you were selected as another target of exasperation tactics. To check past form, I performed

 

SEARCH, ADVANCED SEARCH, select OTHER->EGG FORUM only, search for "LATE and ARRIVAL". Alas I found 50 threads. Not so much looking for a needle in a haystack, but finding as many needles as hay.

 

Perhaps could save time by concentrating on the posters also showing among the 27 successful claimants listed in V-E Day?

 

Lets hope Elise's quote from 26 March 2007 still holds true. For sure the Egg Head Person reads this forum to keep up with opponents, so that a posting in here could be a shortcut to the top. If so -- a message for him or her:

 

"Keeping the Rose of Connemara waiting is not on !"

 

 

 

If you phone through on the 0845 1 233 233 number - then option 1 for Egg Card, then option 5 for all other enquiries, then you can get your statements posted out straight away.

 

Egg are currently charging £2 per statement, upto a maximum of £10 - and they are stating that due to postage it can take up to 5 working days for them to be delivered.

 

Hope that's helpful to some one

[irishrose]

Ah, Mistermind, you do make me smile, and I really appreciate your support.

 

Given how odious and stubborn the Eggheads are, don't you think it strange that the Egg forum on CAG is relatively quiet? Some days there are only two or three postings. I'd have expected a lot more activity as Joe Public fights back against this concrete-hearted corporation.

 

Still, at least your Roll of Honour is continuing to grow. Steady but sure, we will break the Egg!

 

All the best

 

Irish

[Mistermind]

Evidently, the Fast Track

 

26th March 2007

If you phone through on the 0845 1 233 233 number - then option 1 for Egg Card, then option 5 for all other enquiries, then you can get your statements posted out straight away. Egg are currently charging £2 per statement, upto a maximum of £10 - and they are stating that due to postage it can take up to 5 working days for them to be delivered. Hope that's helpful to some one

 

............ 3 weeks passed ...............

 

12th April 2007

Just been offered a FULL REFUND from egg before any court action. Prelim letter ( I had all my statements already ) to settlement :: 3 Weeks. Can you please change my thread to won, as I don't know about PM'ing on this forum software.

[irishrose]

Amazing! The statements arrived! Took them a mere 78 days!!

 

So, official complaint sent back requesting full investigation for their failure to comply with the DPA within the timelimits. It'll give them something to do.

 

Also, under separate cover, prelim letter requesting refund of £360.

 

From some of the links on Mistermind's Roll of Honour (for which, many thanks Mr Mind), it seems that old Eggy has taken to paying up some of the not-so-large claims shortly after their initial silly offer is rejected ie within a matter of only a few weeks. Maybe that is what will happen with my claim. (It's Monday, I like to be optimistic on Mondays).

 

More likely, given their SAR/DPA speed of action, I'll get my money back as the leaves start falling.

 

Do I care? Not much. Patience is my middle name.

[Mistermind]

Oirish, keeping a girl waiting is not on. Egg ought to offer you a bouquet, Mistermind said so.......

 

 

 

 

[irishrose]

The rose is beautiful, Mr Mind. You are spoiling me!

 

Two little missives from our Eggy friends arrived this morning. Usual old tosh.

 

Letter one from Guy Harrison re repayment of charges: We'll give you back £4 x 18 = £72 if you don't tell anyone.

 

Letter from Jeanette Hadfield re failure to comply with DPA's 40-day limit: We'll respond within the time frames set by the Financial Services Authority ie four weeks.

 

I'll check up on the timeframes set by the FSA.

 

My (emailed) response to Guy Harrison, at [email protected], as follows (mostly cribbed from other Egg threads but with the polite bits removed):

 

Thank you for your letter of 30 April.

 

I decline your offer of settlement and request, once again, that you return to me the charges imposed on this account: £360 (excluding statutory interest).

 

If, as your letter appears to imply, £16.00 reflects a genuine pre-estimate of the loss caused to EGG for each incidence of exceeding my credit limit or for an unpaid direct debit, then I request that you provide me with a breakdown of how this amount has been calculated. In the absence of such a breakdown I will continue to believe these charges do not reflect your true costs and are therefore unlawful.

 

I will, therefore, accept the sum offered (£72) only as part settlement and on the clear understanding that I will pursue recovery of the remaining £288, with a County Court claim if necessary. Should such a claim be necessary I will also be seeking interest at the statutory rate (which I calculate as currently totalling £68.96), Court costs and any other costs I incur in recovering this money from you. I sincerely hope that such action will not be necessary.

My Request for Repayment letter dated 23 April indicates that you have until 8 May to respond before I proceed to the next stage of my request. My deadline remains the same despite your offer.

 

For the avoidance of doubt, I wish to stress that I do not accept your offer under the terms stated in your letter.

 

I trust this clarifies my position.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Come on Egg. Pay up. You know you'll have to in the end.

[Mistermind]

If, as your letter appears to imply, £16.00 reflects a

genuine pre-estimate

of the loss caused to EGG for each incidence of exceeding my credit limit or for an unpaid direct debit, then I request that you provide me with a breakdown of how this amount has been calculated.

 

Trap - beware

 

Egg

can

produce calculation breakdown for a "Genuine Pre-estimate" -- they already have done so for the OFT. If a pre-event estimate turns out to be 500% too high, no crime is committed. If 15 pre-event estimates over 15 years are every time 500% too high, no crime is committed. The same for next year's 16th pre-event estimate.

 

OFT did not see fit to requisition a post-event costings audit, but you can, as your case stands or falls on the actual costing of Egg's charges. Just as you are not allowed to spring undisclosed evidence as a lastminute surprise at the trial, neither can Egg, or such evidence can be ruled inadmissible (see V-E Day, barcote case in November 2006). Any Egg post-event costings submitted to you pre-trial will no doubt make it to newspaper frontpages nationwide.

 

2 questions posed to Egg will cause them to run faster than Linford Christie:

 

(1) Show us your post-event costings audit?

 

(2) Why do Dublin banks charge £3 (V-E Day links), and you charge £16?

 

Moc1982's thread yesterday contains a template-worthy email, reaping for him a 100% harvest within a record-breaking two days.

 

Best regards.

[irishrose]

Damn good point, Mistermind. Am I glad you're on the ball!!

 

Lucky Mr Guy Harrison has now got another message in his inbox. (Given your reference to Linford Christie, I nearly wrote 'lunchbox' there!)

 

I'm off for a cold shower.

 

Thanks again, Mr M.

[irishrose]

I've won!!!! Just got the letter from the lovely Guy. Full payment of £360 will be made within 14 days.

 

They want confidentiality.... they won't get it. But I'm assuming they'll concede on that point, too.

 

So, from email to settlement: 22 hours! The words 'post-event audit' will forever be writ large in my life!!

 

Thanks to all those who've helped on this forum, especially MrMind who was a tower of strength and kind support.

[Mistermind]

Very well done Irishrose, holder of the 22-hour speed record, scorer of the 43rd goal !

 

The winning form of Animaleyes, moc1982, and now Irishrose suggest that Eggmail gets faster and better results than letters. Yes it is proven that when asked the right question, Egg

CAN

run faster than Linford Christie.

 

Long-drawnout struggles burden claimants with bitterness and no doubt cause loss of sleep. At last a win, a smile, leaving shadows behind to walk in the spring sunshine. To the victress a garland of laurel leaves, but the florist is fresh out of laurels, so the following instead:

 

[livelylad]

congratulations

please complete our survey here

donation?

[irishrose]

Just for completeness.....

 

I phoned Guy at Egg to say I'd accept the settlement but only on condition of no confidentiality. He agreed without any fuss.

 

Incidentally, he had only just received my second email (the post-event audit one) when I phoned which means he had approved the full settlement of my claim on the basis of the pre-estimate email (post 15).

 

With regards to my complaint about Egg's non-compliance with the DPA, I've learned from the FSA that the time scales quoted by Egg for dealing with my complaint are within the FSA's recommendations.

[Guest ian cognito]

CONGRATULATIONS

I love these posts - to answer your question, the reason the Egg forum isn't busy is because we know damn well they are gonna cancel the cards and call in the debt - hoping my credit rating is now good enough for a balance transfer and I'll be in there!!!!!!!

[daipp]

Well done - I thought my claim was going to be difficul but they quickly crumble !!!

 

David

[irishrose]

A small but perfectly cooked egg just landed in my bank account: £360 of readies:p.

 

Many, many thanks to CAG for setting up this site and to all those who have contributed advice and encouragement.

 

Gratitude doesn't pay the bills, however, so I've just made a donation to CAG.

 

Onwards with Lloyds and Abbey......