Supplier 'loses' my CC details in post

Recoil101

I recently purchased several thousand pounds worth of household goods from a large retailer. I paid by VISA, the goods were received, but several weeks later I received a letter from the retailer saying that my credit card had been denied and that I needed to organise for the payment to be taken again. I assumed that this was a security check so I phoned VISA. They said that NO attempt had been made to take the money. I then got in touch with the retailer, and after some time they admitted that they had posted my credit card details to their head office where the payment was to have been dealt with but the details had been lost in the post and never arrived!

They seemed very unapologetic and just wanted to get the details from me again. When asked whether they had reported the details as missing to the CC company or police, they said not and seemed very surprised that I was at all concerned.

Can they do that? Isn't sending my unencrypted CC details through the Royal Mail illegal??

Any advice greatly appreciated

SteveScooby

Potentially an offence under section 1(7) of the Data Protection Act:

Appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data.

dzug1

SteveScooby wrote: »

Potentially an offence under section 1(7) of the Data Protection Act:

Appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data.

Potentially, yes.

But sending it by mail in a sealed envelope in reality is likely to be regarded as an adequate measure.

After all that's how (in most cases) you got the card itself in the first place.

nomoneytoday

I would ask them to send you the request in writing, that way if there is a dupe you have a hard copy to dispute it...

Recoil101

Good point!

Thanks to everyone for your comments, much appreciated