Breach of data protection by Npower advice please?

gemlover

Sorry this is a long post.
Power breached data protection in adding my sons electric bill to mine without our knowledge. I only found this when I saw my first bill with them online in July.
I spoke to them immediately and the customer service rep for Npower said it was not an error and that it was for a property we used to live in. When I explained we had lived at same address for over 28 years she went off line to make enquiries and came back with an apology. It appears that our son owed £308 from a property he previously rented but was making agreed monthly payments to them. Npower offered us compensation which we accepted on the proviso that the account would be managed correctly in future.
My son was offered £40 for the breach which he declined as he was angry that we now knew he had this debt which he was trying to pay off and demanded that his account be settled in full for their error and also because he felt they didn't appreciate the enormity of what they had done. The subsequent letters since this time from Npower have resulted in the compensation being increased to £58. He has written to the Energy Ombudsman but not received any response from them.
Any thoughts please even if it is to say accept what is on offer.

undaunted

It depends whether his goal is to get compensation or just to ensure Npower don't do this again to anyone else but the Information Commissioners deal with Data Protection breaches

http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/data_protection.aspx

I'm not clear whether when you say "Npower offered us compensation which we accepted on the proviso that the account would be managed correctly in future." you mean that they compensated you in addition to what they are offering your son?

If so what did you accept? - I would have thought his should be higher than yours personally (as you may have been inconvenienced but suffered no loss or damages where he is reasonably entitled to expect his personal information to be kept private) though I'm not convinced it should amount to writing off his bill myself. Wrong as they appear to be (again!) it also seemed like he was chancing his arm to me when I read your post (as perhaps are they are £40 / £58 hoping he'll just go away?)

gemlover

Undaunted. Thank you.
Yes we were offered And accepted £30 which was less than his offer of £40.
I contacted the ICO and they suggested formalising a complaint which he has done. He is concerned more about the breach than compensation and wanted reassurance that this wouldn't happen again and a proper apology from them but to date they haven't acknowledged in any letters that they have done anything wrong hence him pushing them for an increased offer if not the full settlement of the account. If they were open and honest with him he would be more inclined to accept their offer.