HELP! DPA breach

Cfliam86

Hi

Not sure if this is the right place to post, but on Sunday I bought my daughter a portable DVD player for Christmas (yes, I know you're thinking.. But Liam..it's February) long story short, my ex and I split up and I only get to see her once a month.. This was the first time since the beginning of December (shocking enough)

Anyway.. She got home, and my ex rang to say the DVD player was chipped and the screen was broken, why was I buying her second hand goods .. I had the box in the car (she took the DVD player out to have a look.. As you do as a 4 year old) anyway, she was devastated it wouldn't work.. So naturally I look in the Argos bag / bush DVD player box - low and behold ANOTHER CUSTOMERS returns receipt. (Store copy) With address, full credit card number, expiry date and signature on it.

The DVD player was taken back 21 January I bought it 17th February. So it's been idle in their shop for almost a month and they've re-sold damaged goods to me.

I've posted in their Facebook wall my complaint and received over 100 likes in under 24 hours and numerous complaints. I've had them follow me on twitter and I've had an email from Gilian Galpin asking for a copy of the customers receipt.. And to phone her. I said I want all comms in writing, sent a pic of credit receipt and damaged DVD player photo.

Just after some advice of what the next steps should be?

My daughters so upset she hasn't got a "main Christmas present" from me... I'll be seeing her next March 9th.

Cfliam86

Link to original post. Maybe I shouldn't have done this.. I don't know? It certainly caught their attention!

On Argos fb wall..now at 110 likes and 89 comments

Dear The Grinch Who Shat On Christmas
It is with great sadness I write this letter of complaint. I am after all a single father that has just celebrated a belated Christmas with his only daughter. Whilst the nature of my complaint is very simple, I feel it’s necessary to paint a picture to ensure you understand the hurt you have caused.
It all started on December 25th, the day no doubt you spoilt your kids to remind them how much you love them. I woke up alone, unable to see my daughter who lives 200 miles away. The mother of my child and I have a complex relationship, one that often sees me unfairly painted as the father who is letting everyone down and who isn’t doing enough when the reality is I work every hour I can to provide everything I can, and given the opportunity I would drive the 200 miles to say goodnight to my angel every night. All I was able to offer my daughter that day was a promise, that someday soon we would have our own Christmas and it would be the greatest Christmas since the beautiful baby Jesus entered our world. This was my commitment to my daughter, my word, my oath and a promise that I so nearly kept... until I decided to purchase her gift from Argos.
A DVD player was what my angel desired, so a DVD player is what I bought her. I must admit there was a bit of trepidation about my purchase, Maggie had reviewed the DVD player and said “i know was not expensive but this dvd player is rubbish wont play dvds.” but still felt the DVD player performed well enough to score it 2 out of 5. Needless to say, the opinion of someone who could find a broken product worthy of a 2, is not the opinion of someone I would trust.
Fast forward to February 16th, the big day. I was as excited as a 5 year old about to get her 2nd Christmas in 7 weeks. Lily (my daughter) was looking forward to seeing her new favourite film, Despicable Me 2, and im not ashamed to admit, so was I. I had it all set up, she thought the film was her present but (being 5) had overlooked the fact that I don’t own a device that plays DVDs. I toyed with her for a while, the disappointment was saddening but I knew the delight that the Bush 10 inch portable DVD player hot pink - 907/7450 was about to provide would make it all worthwhile.
How wrong I was.
When I first opened the DVD player I was immediately concerned, it’s the first time I have ever bought an electronic device that came scratched. I thought this may have been part of the design at first but no where on the box did it make reference to this ‘feature’ so I decided to have a rethink. Perhaps there would be more clues as to how the scratches got there inside the box... indeed there were.
The DVD player had been purchased by someone prior to myself, that person was as equally satisfied with the product and returned it to you for a full refund. You then felt it appropriate to resell that unsatisfactory DVD player to the next mug who walked in looking for one (me). Complete with the return receipt of one Mrs Long who I can only assume is the lady who scratched my DVD player.
Im sure your familiar with Argos return receipts, but just in case your not it contains, FULL card number, expiry data, customer address and signature, or as my friend Luke Booth eloquently put it. ‘everything you need to rinse the poor !!!!!’.
I am also sure you are familiar with data protection law, but just in case you’re not, it means you have a responsibility to look after peoples personal information which includes (but not limited to) not giving card numbers to another random customer with their DVD purchase.
I wish I could tell you that’s the end of my complaint, but the ‘new’ DVD player in fact turned out to be faulty and would not read any disk I put in it and the icing on the cake, probably the reason Mrs Long returned it.
So here is my dilemma, the next course of action? I only see 3 options, perhaps you could advise which you feel is appropriate?
1. I have Mrs Longs address, I could go round there and wrap the DVD player round her head, she did after all maim my property.
2. Take Luke advice and ‘rinse the !!!!!’
3. Post the picture of all her details on your facebook wall, you do seem to have a real desire to share this information with the world after all.
I jest of course, I am not that way inclined, but don’t be confused by my tone. My complaint is genuine and I eagerly await your response to find out how you plan on compensating me.
The overall result of this mess is that my daughter has been let down, something that I take to heart and something that her mother will be keen to point out to her and that Mrs Long is lucky I was the recipient of her details and not my mate Luke.
I am a firm believer that setting deadlines gets results so if my complaint is not resolved by midday Wednesday 19th February to my satisfaction I shall be contacting the ICO and reporting you for a breach of DPA.
I also feel it is completely appropriate to contact Mrs Long and advise her what you’ve done with her data as I would appreciate the same courtesy so its possible at time of reading this the ICO have already been contacted.

chanz4

have a job as argos dont print the full card numbers

Cfliam86

Wanna bet????

shortcrust

What's data protection got to do with it?!

OP - It's really not clear what you want to happen. If you want advice you need to tell us.

Cfliam86

DPA ..

They've given me a store copy customer receipt with my broken purchase.. Which has the customers address, FULL credit card number, expiry date, signature...

As far as I'm aware this is a breach of DPA as one customers details shouldn't be given to another customer? It should be filed away safely until no longer needed? I think this is the most basic rule of data "protection" correct me if I'm wrong, please. I'm no expert that's why I'm here...

Plus they've sold me damaged goods as brand new.

The advice I'm after is, where do I go from here? Of course I want to compensate my daughter, they've ruined her eagerly anticipated present.. I'm just wondering if this DPA breach also adds weight into getting the most out of them, for this incident.

And just for the record.. I'm not one of these people who will go looking for compensation for the sake of it.. 9/10 I'd have brushed it under the carpet and gone to store for a refund ( thankfully I paid cash )

Unfortunately, because of the nature of it all I've now had to disappoint Lily, and let her know she's going to have to wait even longer, than the 2 months she's already eagerly anticipated, for her present

ilikewatch

I had an almost identical situation when I bought a drill a few weeks ago. I went back to the store, where the customer service person apologised profusely and explained that occasionally an item that has been returned as faulty is confused with an item that has been returned under the 16 day money back guarantee due to human error.
They replaced the drill with a new sealed one without any fuss - top marks to Argos customer service

ilikewatch

Cfliam86 wrote: »

Unfortunately, because of the nature of it all I've now had to disappoint Lily, and let her know she's going to have to wait even longer, than the 2 months she's already eagerly anticipated, for her present

Because you're choosing to blow the matter out of all proportion and try grubbing for a bit of compo, rather than returning to the store for a immediate replacement...

Cfliam86

ilikewatch wrote: »

Because you're choosing to blow the matter out of all proportion and try grubbing for a bit of compo, rather than returning to the store for a immediate replacement...

How would you feel if you bought returned damaged items - the device has clearly been dropped, with some force. Then you gave that item to someone as a Christmas present (fortunately it wasn't Christmas Day and completely ruined the mood!)

I'm sure you can see why were utterly disappointed and feel completely let down and have lost all trust in Argos' competency. I for one will never be buying from them again, let alone paying on card.

I'm writing to the customer today to make them aware.... I'm sure she will share the same views as myself.

All I'm after here is a bit of advice on DPA breaches to see how I should reply to Gilian and where to take this next, not a moral high ground on "grubbing for compo"

P.s the store is a 400 mile round trip, I don't feel it's worth going to a local store to be told to speak to head office.

Nevermind.

bengal-stripe

Cfliam86 wrote: »

.....someday soon we would have our own Christmas and it would be the greatest Christmas since the beautiful baby Jesus entered our world. This was my commitment to my daughter, my word, my oath and a promise that I so nearly kept...

That's what is called 'Purple Prose'!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_prose

Daxx

You cannot make a data protection complaint...it is not your information that has been breached.

If you choose to contact the other customer then it is up to them what action they take.

So your only issue is the faulty goods which you can follow up either by ringing head office (not using social media) or going into store. If they refuse to deal with your issue thats a different matter, but until then you have no reason to kick off.