The Money Shop...breach of my privacy?

Ceejaybuck

Yesterday, the money shop tried to contact me on my home number that I provided. Unfortunately I wasn't there to take the call but they got through to my mum instead. In this conversation my mum asked what the call was regarding, she was then told everything that I have ever done with the money shop,from the money I owe to the gold that I have sold and even what my financial options are.

I do believe this must be a breach of my privacy, My financial situations should surely not be discussed with anyone apart from myself I feel the actions of the staff at the money shop have been completely unlawful and I would like someone to tell me what I should do from here?

:mad:

crazyguy

Not a lot to be honest, agree they should not have gave your mum any info but to be frank what are you looking for here as compensation unlikely appology maybe,

Choices as follows report to the ICO, and raise a letter of complaint to there head office, though I doubt much will happen from either.

the_insider

And it'll be difficult to prove what was disclosed. Just because she knows your circumstances doesn't mean that they told her.
We once received a complaint where I work that a member of staff had disclosed all sorts of information to a customer, turns out that when our automated dialler called, the customer's mother picked up and confirmed all of the security questions (last four digits of card, date of birth and the numbers from the postcode) through the IVR, to deliberately find out where her daughter's money was going each month as she wasn't paying any housekeeping. Daughter took the complaint to FOS because we stood by our security process, FOS found no change in the customer's favour as her mother had acted dishonestly.

Not saying that happened in your case of course, god knows what those scum suckers at TMS will do to get money out of customers, more a Friday night anecdote.

[Deleted User]

borrow some more money off them to sue them with?

boogiemaster

I'm sure its a breech of the data protection act

dealer_wins

Owe them money do you OP? LOL

KingElvis

Get rid of your dirty washing then they can't discuss it.

paddyrg

It may well be in the terms you sign up for that they can discuss your account as they please - some of these places rely on social pressure to make you pay back debts, and would happily call all your mates if they thought it would get them their cash back.

skintandscared_2

No matter what people's views are on the OP's loan situaton, data protection is a serious matter and actually I think they are well within their rights to be upset about this call! The Data Protection Act prevents the company talking to any other person, aside from their customer, about that customer's account UNLESS they have written permission from the customer to deal with that person. Would all of you with mortgages, who happened to miss a payment one month, be happy with your mortgage company ringing your mum and telling her?? No, of course you wouldn't. Just because the company may not be as reputable as a high street bank, it doesn't exclude them from acting within the law.

If any financial company rings a customer about an account they start the conversation with identity checks before the call can proceed. How can this have happened in this instance, as the mother wouldn't have been able to answer those questions and was clearly not the customer!

If I were the OP I would be asking for an electronic copy of the telephone conversation.

crazyguy

skintandscared wrote: »

No matter what people's views are on the OP's loan situaton, data protection is a serious matter and actually I think they are well within their rights to be upset about this call! The Data Protection Act prevents the company talking to any other person, aside from their customer, about that customer's account UNLESS they have written permission from the customer to deal with that person. Would all of you with mortgages, who happened to miss a payment one month, be happy with your mortgage company ringing your mum and telling her?? No, of course you wouldn't. Just because the company may not be as reputable as a high street bank, it doesn't exclude them from acting within the law.

If any financial company rings a customer about an account they start the conversation with identity checks before the call can proceed. How can this have happened in this instance, as the mother wouldn't have been able to answer those questions and was clearly not the customer!

If I were the OP I would be asking for an electronic copy of the telephone conversation.

I can assure you now that even with a transcript of this call the chances of anything more than a rap on the knuckles and told not to do it again are slim to -1000.

I dont understand why people think that the ICO crack down on this sort of thing when I can assure you 100% that it would be nothing more than a few letters to the Company and the OP.

Now if this particular Company had some 10.000 complaints of a simular nature then yes if the ICO had made previous contact with them and they chose to ignore the rules/legislation then they could be landed with a fine of up to £500.000.

The best route here is to write a letter into the Head Office and raise a complaint direct, however as stated above the OP does in the likely event owe them money still so ultimately the complaint regarding Data Protection will not be taken that seriously and even if it is then I would imagine a letter of an appology and a gesture of goodwill for maybe up to £50.00 is resonable here.

skintandscared_2

crazyguy wrote: »

however as stated above the OP does in the likely event owe them money still so ultimately the complaint regarding Data Protection will not be taken that seriously

Sorry, this part makes no sense to me. Lots of people owe lots of organisations money. They are all still protected by the Data Protection Act. Owing money to someone doesn't make youa bad person or any less protected by law. I'm sure the OP will be paying plenty of interest to the loan company for the inconvenience of owing them money I honestly have no idea if compensation is appropriate or just an apology, but my point is that the loan company should not be disclosing this information to a third party and should be reported.