Data Protection Abuse

The Sparrow

Last month my bank account got messed up because my car insurance took too much money by mistake. So that meant that my other direct debit to for my phone to 3 bounced as well... Which was fair enough and I rang them and paid it manually... Well apparently this caused them to cancel my direct debit unbeknownst to me. Therefore this month they didnt take any money out and instead rang me on wednesday to get another payment manually. Which was annoying but fair enough. But when they rang I was in a busy pub and couldn`t talk and said I would ring them yesterday but I didnt get a chance to. They left a couple of messages on my phone, but I figured it would be fine if I rang them today...

Well this afternoon I got home only to be greeted by a dissapointed looking mother asking me why I hadn`t told her I owed money on my phone! 3 apparently rang her today and said that I owed all this money and she would have to pay or my phone service would be cut off! She apparently asked could they wait until Tuesday or when I got home later on that afternoon and the guy said that if she didn't pay right away I would be cut off!

I can`t believe this... I mean I`m 26 years old and can easily take care of my own financial issues! How dare they start ringing my mum and worrying her and now I don`t know what she thinks!

So I rang them and thay said they would escalate (ridiculous word!) the problem but that was it!

Has this ever happened to anyone else? Surely this is against data protection guidelines!

daymobrew

As the car insurance people were the root cause, get them to pay any penalties that you are charged by other direct debits. Small Claims Court could be an option if they are uncooperative.

The Sparrow

daymobrew wrote:

As the car insurance people were the root cause, get them to pay any penalties that you are charged by other direct debits. Small Claims Court could be an option if they are uncooperative.

Its not that I have to pay penalties, its the fact that they rang my mother and disclosed my personal financial details to her and pressured her into paying for it thus worrying her and making me look like a complete loser!

MarkR

It is in breach if they revealed your financial situation to anyone but a person named by you as authorised to deal with the account. If she paid a specific amount that shows that the information was given to her.

Ring and ask who is authorised to deal with your account. Once they advise just you ask how your mother was able to make a payment.

Highlight the shame / humiliation aspect of it and take it as far as you see fit.

jaggeh

'escalation' is not a rediculous word, it means they are moving it up the line of importance.

if you have your mother named as a contact on your account then they can contact her. they cannot however demand money off her unless she is a garunture (sp).

if she isnt a named contact on your account contact the data protection commisioner and let 3 know that you have done so. they will bend over backwards to facilitate you.

The Sparrow

jaggeh wrote:

'escalation' is not a rediculous word, it means they are moving it up the line of importance.

It is a ridiculous word! It is completely out of context and has been adopted as corporate speak for some unknown reason to mean that they are moving it up the line of importance... In fact to escalate something is to make it worse! ( as in the conflict in Iraq has escalated!)

From the Oxford dictionary at [url]www.askoxford.com:[/url]

"escalate

/esklayt/

• verb 1 increase rapidly. 2 become more intense or serious.

— DERIVATIVES escalation noun.

— ORIGIN originally in the sense travel on an escalator: from ESCALATOR."

In no way does it mean moving it up the chain of command... It is a ridiculous word used by idiots who have no sense of the English language but are so busy trying to impress people with their corporate knowledge that they use it all the time. I used to work for Bank of Ireland and spend my life shaking my head as I heard people desecrating the English language with corporate speak like that!