suing a credit agency for defamation?

ceebee_2

You said that you were self employed, therefore your time costs money in dealing with the problem. Consequently, work out your costs (time, postage, etc.) and send an invoice to their registered office, f.a.o. The Company Secretary. They probably won't reply (big company delays) and you could then persue your costs through the small claims court.
Any future correspondence should always be directed at the Company Secretary
I know this sounds outlandish but I have partly followed this route after disputes with BG and Everest simply in order to get the companies to respond. The BG dispute was settled amicably; the Everest dispute appears to have been dropped by them, unresolved.
Sorry this doesn't help with your credit rating.

Xbigman

greenwich wrote:

Xbigman, I am not doubting what you say, but do you have any references for this or can you remember where you read it? I'd like to know in case this ever happens to me.

There are loads of threads that mention this (edit; on the debt free wannabe board). If you use the correct wording (again loads of threads have examples) and ask them to prove the debt then they must do so. These companies cannot just phone you up and claim you owe money that you don't. Complain to the OFT. This works because the OFT are the ones who grant the licences these companies use, and the OFT are starting to get really hacked off with all the rule bending.
Regards



X

Lady_E

Not sure if this helps but just done a quick google on orange CEO - names him as Sanjiv AHUJA and the French Telecom Chairman (believe orange is owned by them ) is Thierry Breton . HTH X

digp

(a) don't bother suing in defamation, just yet!

(b) write to the data protection act compliance dept. of the credit agency concerned and same at orange setting out the relevant facts, the issue(s), what you want done, how soon etc., if you have suffered loss set out what it is. then give them say 7 or 14 days to resolve the matter failing which you should serve on them a s.10 DPA notice and/or report them to the Information Commissioner and/or sue them in the court.

See also: http://www.debthelpuk.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=DHUL

happinessfactory

thanks for all your advice everyone, especially those of you who found addresses for me :-)

i have already written to sanjiv ahuja, the orange CEO. twice. the first time my letter was ignored. the second time i received a half-witted response from a typical 'customer services' operative which betrayed a complete lack of knowledge about my case, and of the english language in general.

i am feeling very blue about this, not least because the credit agencies keep writing to me to say that my 'notice of dispute' has been withdrawn because they are satisfied with orange's response. every time this happens, my remortgage application is stalled again.

but thank you for the other suggestions - i've already written to the office of the information commissioner and will now try ofcom. i won't give up. we northerners are made of sterner stuff.

as a transplanted northerner (i now live in london) do you think sanjiv ahuja would mind if i turned up on his doorstep one afternoon? it would only be as intrusive and unjust as his debt-collectors turning up on mine, and i've just discovered his (unpublished) office is only fifteen minutes' walk from mine ;-)

digp

happinessfactory wrote:

thanks for all your advice everyone, especially those of you who found addresses for me :-)

i have already written to sanjiv ahuja, the orange CEO. twice. the first time my letter was ignored. the second time i received a half-witted response from a typical 'customer services' operative which betrayed a complete lack of knowledge about my case, and of the english language in general.

i am feeling very blue about this, not least because the credit agencies keep writing to me to say that my 'notice of dispute' has been withdrawn because they are satisfied with orange's response. every time this happens, my remortgage application is stalled again.

but thank you for the other suggestions - i've already written to the office of the information commissioner and will now try ofcom. i won't give up. we northerners are made of sterner stuff.

as a transplanted northerner (i now live in london) do you think sanjiv ahuja would mind if i turned up on his doorstep one afternoon? it would only be as intrusive and unjust as his debt-collectors turning up on mine, and i've just discovered his (unpublished) office is only fifteen minutes' walk from mine ;-)

if it helps his email is sanjiv.ahuja@orange.co.uk

Poppy9

---lee--- wrote:

Personally, I don’t see what it’s got to do with the credit reference agencies. They are only publishing the information provided to them by their customers (Orange in this case). After all, that’s their job.

I thought that credit reference agencies were private companies not governmental departments. As a private company are they not therefore committing an offence by disclosing private information about individuals when they know this information may not be factually correct?

Moglex

---lee--- wrote:

Personally, I don’t see what it’s got to do with the credit reference agencies. They are only publishing the information provided to them by their customers (Orange in this case). After all, that’s their job.

Well, that certainly isn't how it works with normal publishing.

If a small magazine prints something libelous, the lawyers generally go for the newsagents as well as the original publisher because all the elements in the chain that gets from the writers pen to the readers doormat are liable in law for the libel.

(That technique actually stopped some small mags dead in their tracks because none of the big newsagents dared stock them).

Not sure what the case is with credit reference agencies. Our judiciary are so crap that I expect they'll make any case law the companies expensive lawyers tell them to.

---lee---

Poppy9 wrote:

I thought that credit reference agencies were private companies not governmental departments. As a private company are they not therefore committing an offence by disclosing private information about individuals when they know this information may not be factually correct?

That's my point. They are only publishing the information provided to them. If you have any issues with the data, you have to take it up with the company that provided it. Otherwise, everyone with a poor credit history would want there entries removed.

---lee---

Moglex wrote:

Well, that certainly isn't how it works with normal publishing.

If a small magazine prints something libelous, the lawyers generally go for the newsagents as well as the original publisher because all the elements in the chain that gets from the writers pen to the readers doormat are liable in law for the libel.

(That technique actually stopped some small mags dead in their tracks because none of the big newsagents dared stock them).

Not sure what the case is with credit reference agencies. Our judiciary are so crap that I expect they'll make any case law the companies expensive lawyers tell them to.

Well if you want to embark on legal action against them, that's your business. I think it would be very expensive as for starters there are 3 of them. All they are doing is publishing the information that Orange have given them.

You can add a comment to the entry on your data file to say that you are disputing the information with Orange and continue your efforts with Orange. If you can’t get anywhere with Orange, report them to the ombudsman.