Is somebody at Vodafone selling my data?

amorphous

I'm convinced that somebody at Vodafone has sold my personal details!

Let me briefly explain..

I have been a Vodafone customer for over 10 years.
Around 20 months ago, I decided I could do with a new handest, I logged on to the website and looked about.
Within 24 hours I had been contacted by 2 mobile companies (Communications Direct was one) trying to sign me up.

I had never been contacted before by any cold callers, and thought it was just an extraordinary coincidence.
Anyway a few days later I bought a handset from Vodafone, and had no calls since, until...

Yesterday I logged on once again to Vodafones secure site with a view to buying a new handset.
Within 4 hours, I was contacted by 2 mobile companies trying to sign me up, quite aggressively.( I didn't catch their names..Phones Direct, and Phones4U perhaps?)

To summarise - I only ever get cold called when I log into Vodafones 'secure' sight and look into upgrades,

Although my name and number is hardly confidential, I have never revealed any details regarding phone contracts to anybody.
I concluded that somebody at Vodafone has sold my personal info to a third party, about my search for a new handset and contract being about to expire.

I have contacted Vodafone who deny everything, and say I must have leaked my own personal data.

To make it crystal clear, I don't give a !!!! about cold callers, and I am aware of the TPS.....what I do care about is my personal details being passed on to a third party.

This is obviously hard to prove, but I don't want to let this matter drop,
This is surely a breach of the Data Protection Act?
Does anybody have similar experiences or be able to recommend what course of action I should take?

gjchester

It's pretty unlikely Vodafone as a company would why would they point you to a competitor, and although it could be someone inside the company.

Do you have any toolbars on your PC that may have been leaking data or tracking your web movements?

bubblesmoney

Or someone in their IT section might be able to misuse the data logged on their systems when customers log in to their website and look for upgrades etc.

A bit like how companies make money selling data about accidents to solicitors etc for accident claims etc, but in this case some employee may be using data from their website to sell to 3rd parties for money for giving leads.

If it was the customers computer being compromised then they would have been affected every day and not just when they use vodafone website.

Come to think of it I was getting cold calls many many times and they were very persistent for mobile upgrades from other companies based abroad when i was with vodafone a few years ago and have never got such calls since i moved to three about 5y ago. So the OP may be on to something valid.

amorphous

Thanks guys.

I am unable to prove anything against Vodafone, but i have made the decision to no longer give them my business.

Apart from the above matter of my details being compromised, I am somewhat troubled by their business ethics - In particular its corporate policy of tax avoidance.

gjchester

amorphous wrote: »

Apart from the above matter of my details being compromised, I am somewhat troubled by their business ethics - In particular its corporate policy of tax avoidance.

I'm not sure if you can really single out Vodafone here. Every corporation does it, Ebay and Amazon are based in Luxemburg to minimise tax. Many compnaies set up operations in Jersey and Gurnsey to avoid tax too.

The CEO would be remiss is he/she didn't take steps to minimise what they pay in tax to any goiverment.