Please help (new member) Carphone warehouse

Jon_01

Only one person should have each password. If you want anyone else to to be able to access the acc they should be set up as a third party.

If, for example, a wife tries to access her husbands acc she'd be refused even if she knew the password. The CS agent has no idea if the husband knows that his wife has his pw and and wants her to have access. In this case, if the agent notes that the acc holder is 18 and the person on the phone sounds a lot older they will refuse access.

Under the data protection act the agent MUST ensure that the person their talking to is the person named on the acc. There a big fines for the network and the agent if the don't apply the DPA...

Exhortation

Jon_01 wrote: »

Only one person should have each password. If you want anyone else to to be able to access the acc they should be set up as a third party.

If, for example, a wife tries to access her husbands acc she'd be refused even if she knew the password. The CS agent has no idea if the husband knows that his wife has his pw and and wants her to have access. In this case, if the agent notes that the acc holder is 18 and the person on the phone sounds a lot older they will refuse access.

Under the data protection act the agent MUST ensure that the person their talking to is the person named on the acc. There a big fines for the network and the agent if the don't apply the DPA...

That's not the way I've ever experienced it. My wife and I have many accounts which we allow access to over the phone and when we ring up we simply say who we are and give the password. I'm not arguing with you as you may have a lot of experience in this field, I'm simply reflecting on my own experience in such matters.

Jon_01

If you've join acc's the rules are different.

And it would depend on the type of acc.
At it's most basic the DPA states that no personal info can be given to any third party. Say that there office of the data commissioner issue guideline documents on how to handle third party's who haven't been granted access by the named acc holder. Most mobile networks would tell you that all the info they hold is personal, which why they won't talk to anyone other than the acc holder (usually!)...

Exhortation

Jon_01 wrote: »

If you've join acc's the rules are different.

And it would depend on the type of acc.
At it's most basic the DPA states that no personal info can be given to any third party. Say that there office of the data commissioner issue guideline documents on how to handle third party's who haven't been granted access by the named acc holder. Most mobile networks would tell you that all the info they hold is personal, which why they won't talk to anyone other than the acc holder (usually!)...

The problem, however, is that the DPA isn't as much of a strait-jacket as companies would have the general public believe. They take advantage of the public's ignorance of what the DPA does or doesn't allow and use it as a cloak to hide behind. There's also a certain degree of paranoia in industry about the DPA which can lead to them just putting a blanket ban on the release of any information. You would think that after nearly 25 years (I believe the original act was entered into the statute book in 1987) everyone would be much clearer on what they can or can't do.

Jon_01

Exhortation wrote: »

The problem, however, is that the DPA isn't as much of a strait-jacket as companies would have the general public believe. They take advantage of the public's ignorance of what the DPA does or doesn't allow and use it as a cloak to hide behind. There's also a certain degree of paranoia in industry about the DPA which can lead to them just putting a blanket ban on the release of any information. You would think that after nearly 25 years (I believe the original act was entered into the statute book in 1987) everyone would be much clearer on what they can or can't do.

I completely agree, I've had major arguments with company's over the PDA, who feel its a great excuses to hid behind it. Some will claim the most ludicrous reasons for not giving information out and blaming the DPA.
The problem is that the CS agents have been told in training that they can't give out anything, full stop. Never mind the guidelines. They're told this because it makes thing so much simpler for the company. So arguing with them is pointless, they don't know any better, you have to go up the chain and find someone that has some degree of free will.
As long as you know the right words (and I work as a fraud investigator with on of the networks, I work with the DPA on a daily biases), you can, usually, get what you're after (but not always. Santander, for example, seem to think they can withhold anything under the DPA and won't move no matter who you talk to)...

Techhead_2

boliston wrote: »

But the phone is no more "used" if it's been opened, played with and had the sim put in than if it's just been opened and played with WITHOUT actually putting in the sim.

The DSR requires them to tell the customer that starting the contract means that it no longer applies. They therefore have to define when the contract starts.