House of Fraser data security warning!!

tamsle

Last night my OH placed an online order with HoF, went through no problem.

This morning he checks his emails and there is another confirmation order for something he did not order. Thinking it is CC fraud he rings HoF to check. In the meantime (as he was on hold for so long) he checks online and can see on his HoF account that someone else's order details are on his account so he now has:

-their full name
-their full address
-their contact telephone number
-their CC saved on his account
-all other details of the order (eg the store they are collecting from, what they are buying etc)

HoF assured him that his details have not been passed on to anyone else but this demonstrates a serious lack of security and breach of Data Protection Act, leaving us now in the annoying position of having to cancel the CC in case our details have also been passed on.

So, if HoF can process your order on someone else's account, how safe is it to use their website??? And if you have ordered from HoF, has anyone got your details??

Personally I think this is dreadful service and the customer services team were extremely unhelpful in solving this matter.


(-Rant over )

Techhead_2

Or is it a one off mistake caused by human error? Or is it should security problem at your end?

You could report it to the Information Commissioner but I would at least check your own PC to make sure it's ok.

kazzah60

Techhead wrote: »

Or is it a one off mistake caused by human error? Or is it should security problem at your end?

You could report it to the Information Commissioner but I would at least check your own PC to make sure it's ok.

I'm not very technically minded, could you explain how the OP's computer could retrieve another customers information in this manner?

( this is a serious question - I'm not being facetious)

ukjoel

Would also report it to FSA as well as Information commisioner.

This is happening everywhere at the moment due to 3 main reasons.

Human error - they are not paying the right money to the right people and are cutting back on training and checks.

Computer systems are being launched to early or being outsourced - again to save money.

They are sharing your information with to many third parties any one of whom can lose your information.

In the last few months we have had several govt depts, as well as several major internet companies report these data losses and for everyone that reports it there are others that dont or just cover it up.

I would put in writing details of what happened and ask for a full explanation of why this happened and what has broken in their system and how it will be repaired and when. I would also ask for assurance that your data was not misused (in writing).
I would also contact the other person with all the details as well.

Maybe people think I am overreacting but when we are phasing out chequebooks and increasing our levels of cashless technology and electronic payments they need to get the basics right first.

ukjoel

kazzah60 wrote: »

I'm not very technically minded, could you explain how the OP's computer could retrieve another customers information in this manner?

( this is a serious question - I'm not being facetious)

I think that relates to the first point. Human Error.

ie item purchased online - went global to indian process centre - 2 orders selected both for Mr Smith in London and someone just copied and pasted wrong order into an email. Easy mistake to make.

Problem is if it provides credit card details and name and address info then its new credit card time which is often inconvenient.

tamsle

We found out that the other customer (whose details we have) placed an order over the phone, so presumably they had our order open at the same time and then added this second person's order onto our account, which assumes this was human error. (Surely their systems should be able to recognise when it is adding a completely different name, address and CC to an order that it is in the wrong person's account?)

However, if this has happened once it shows how easy it is for them to make mistakes and consequently pass customers details around.

The phone call to sort this out took almost half an hour and we are calling from abroad at the mo, so as 'a goodwill gesture' they have given us a £10 online credit. Which to be honest is a bit of a joke because it'll cost more than £10 to pay for the phone call and that would only just cover the international delivery charge we would have to pay on the next order. (They wouldn't take £10 off the order we already placed as it had already been processed). Plus now we are canceling the credit card in case our details have been passed on too.


And no, this can't be anything to do with my computer, we placed the order, went to bed and this morning we just got the email conformation of someone else's order sent to us and then checked our HoF account to find all their details on it.

I had some trouble with HoF online over Christmas too but after this I will not buy online from them again.

Equaliser123

ukjoel wrote: »

Would also report it to FSA as well as Information commisioner.

This is happening everywhere at the moment due to 3 main reasons.

Human error - they are not paying the right money to the right people and are cutting back on training and checks.

Computer systems are being launched to early or being outsourced - again to save money.

.

Why would the FSA have jurisdiction?