Barclays sending statements for previous occupier

Cuilean

First of all, while I'm a long-time MSE user, I don't usually post in this part of the board, so please excuse me if this is in the wrong section.

I moved into my house three years ago. The previous occupiers were Mr and Mrs W. Mr W appeared to work from home, while Mrs W, who is a foreign national, worked for a large photocopier company about ten miles away. When I moved in, it soon became obvious that they had told nobody they'd moved. It wasn't just personal mail which kept coming, it was her tax statement, DVLA letters about Mr W's car, correspondence from her national embassy, bank statements and credit card statements.

At first we wrote "Moved away" and posted them back in the letterbox. However, Barclays kept on sending statements and Barclaycard bills. We went to our little village branch, and they apologised and said they would ensure details were removed. Then more Barclays mail came. We went to the nearest big town, spoke to a manager and showed her all our documents proving it was just me and my husband who lived at our address, and watched as she removed our address from Mrs W's file.

Last month, a Barclaycard statement came, and I filled in a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman online. They posted me out a hard copy of my complaint to sign, and as I was on the verge of posting it back today, a second Barclaycard statement came for Mrs W.

What road do I proceed down next? Do I go back to the little village branch or the big town branch? Do I proceed with the ombudsman complaint? I've never had to deal with this before, and I'd like to think that a bank alerted to the fact it was sending documents to the wrong address would have sorted itself out pretty sharpish, which Barclays evidently have not.

Archi_Bald

Barclays bank and Barclaycard, although part of the same group, are two separate organisations. Seems you succeeded in getting the bank statements stopped but not the credit card ones. Did you tell Barclaycard?

Cuilean

Archi_Bald wrote: »

Barclays bank and Barclaycard, although part of the same group, are two separate organisations. Seems you succeeded in getting the bank statements stopped but not the credit card ones. Did you tell Barclaycard?

I have telephoned Barclaycard, and they recommended taking my documents down to a Barclays branch, and that would stop it, hence trooping into a branch with all my ID, a council tax statement and copy of my entry from the electoral register. The manager of the local branch made copies of my documents and said he'd send those on.

Paul_B.

Personally I would get that complaint ball rolling. You have already spent a lot of time on this matter and firstly Barclays should be recompensing you for the time and costs incurred rectifying this after first posting the letters back to them.

Secondly, why continue going on with an organisation that isn't functioning correctly? A complaint will force them to act (as they should have already) and also report your complaint to the Ombudsman in their half yearly complaints data.

SuperHan

Why not just bin them?

I get pensions statements, pay slips, bank statements, junk mail and doctors letters for the previous tenants of the apartment where I now live, over a year on. I used to leave them out for the postman to take back, but now they go in to the recycle bin next to my post box. If they can't be bothered to update their addresses, I can't be bothered to make sure their post reaches them!

worried_jim

SuperHan wrote: »

Why not just bin them?

I get pensions statements, pay slips, bank statements, junk mail and doctors letters for the previous tenants of the apartment where I now live, over a year on. I used to leave them out for the postman to take back, but now they go in to the recycle bin next to my post box. If they can't be bothered to update their addresses, I can't be bothered to make sure their post reaches them!

I still get them 10 years later- I just put them in the bin.

Cuilean

Thanks everyone for the information and ideas so far. The Ombudsman form is now in an envelope and ready to go into the postbox as soon as this rain dies down. I've also filed an email complaint with the ICO.

The idea of binning them is incredibly tempting! However, I shall be keeping them as evidence until I receive a reply from either the F.O. or ICO telling me it's sorted. Once that happens, I shall indeed throw them in the bin!

Uxb

SuperHan wrote: »

Why not just bin them?

I get pensions statements, pay slips, bank statements, junk mail and doctors letters for the previous tenants of the apartment where I now live, over a year on. I used to leave them out for the postman to take back, but now they go in to the recycle bin next to my post box. If they can't be bothered to update their addresses, I can't be bothered to make sure their post reaches them!

Fair enough..........until the debt collectors start arriving at the doorstep and then you will really really wish you had sorted it out long ago.

nwc389

If it was just general correspondence I would bin it - as other posters have said but if they have gone off and left debt then I would take it further.
If they have unpaid debt then this will get passed on to various collections agencies and it may well be that your address gets passed on too which could cause you some hassle down the line.
I work for another banking group and I can tell you that communicating with various debt collection agencies (even when they are'owned' by the bank is like smashing ones head off a concrete block !!!
So I would say go ahead with the complaint

TheBanker

Don't be surprised if the ombudsman say they cannot deal with your complaint, when they find out that you're not a customer of Barclays.

They should be taking your address off the account when you send the post back marked "Gone Away".

I am quite concerned that you "watched as she removed our address from Mrs W's file" - that in its self could have been a DPA breach depending on what you actually saw.

worried_jim

Uxb wrote: »

Fair enough..........until the debt collectors start arriving at the doorstep and then you will really really wish you had sorted it out long ago.

But they never will, and even if they did just tell them to Foxtrot Oscar!