Accessing phone call history with utility company

Al_Cider

Hi all,
I'm in dispute with one of the big energy companies. I believe I was misled into accepting a worst deal. How do I get hold of the phone records of all calls between myself and the utility company?

Johno100

Al_Cider wrote: »

Hi all,
I'm in dispute with one of the big energy companies. I believe I was misled into accepting a worst deal. How do I get hold of the phone records of all calls between myself and the utility company?

I can't see how a list of the calls you made to the utility company, which you can probably get from your own provider, is going to help prove if you were mis-sold or not.

I suppose you could ask them if any recordings of your calls exist, but just because the recorded message says they will or may be recorded for training purposes etc. dosen't necessarily mean they are.

Your best bet would be to ask for a customer log that may detail their understanding of what was discussed in your interactions with the company.

agrinnall

If you're in dispute they probably won't be prepared to do anything voluntarily, so you need to make a Subject Access Request, which they can make a charge of up to £10 for.

http://ico.org.uk/for_the_public/personal_information

Ectophile

You need to contact their Data Protection officer to make a request under the Data Protection Act. Specify, as well as you can, what data you want. They are allowed to charge you up to £10 for the work involved.

Al_Cider

Thank you for your replies.
There are rules for "hardship" and "financial difficulties" that all companies collecting money have to follow these days. The deal I accepted with the utility provider has certainly put me in hardship and financial difficulty. I can web search for those rules and use your responses and follow the moneysavingexpert guidelines here to build my case. ...com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits
Once I'm ready, I will post a new thread in the appropriate place Forums/Household and Travel/Energy.
(Can't post links as a newbie)

There is a thread headed NPOWER - Head Of Customer Relations ?? showthread.php?t=5075819 from which I quote naedanger
"Good luck trying to get hold of a telephone conversation. Npower are ignoring my requests to send me a subject access request Form.
Npower are just unbelievably bad. They are ignoring the Ombudsman decision (in my favour) and it seems there is nothing I can do."

InsideInsurance

Al_Cider wrote: »

Hi all,
I'm in dispute with one of the big energy companies. I believe I was misled into accepting a worst deal. How do I get hold of the phone records of all calls between myself and the utility company?

What exactly are you wanting? Just dates/ times of your calls to/ from them or the actual content of the calls?

A SARs as already highlighted is the mechanism to force them to provide either of these however for both you are going to be limited by what records they actually keep. If they dont record calls then you wont get recordings of calls.

SARs are also limited to data that is stored on a computer or in a highly structured filing system (see http://ico.org.uk/for_the_public/personal_information) and so if they just record all calls simply by agent receiving then on tape and just keep the tape in a safe then its likely to be excluded.

If you are just wanting times/ dates then you may be better off getting the data from your phone provider rather than the energy company who may not actually record such data.

When you make your request, you should ask for all data they hold on you but also explicitly call out things that you want to help them "remember" what data they hold. This can be a genuine requirement because rarely do companies have a true "single customer view" and if you wander into a call centre's office one day then a year later do a SARs they are unlikely to think to check if the CCTV records still exist or not.

bod1467

Al_Cider wrote: »

"Good luck trying to get hold of a telephone conversation. Npower are ignoring my requests to send me a subject access request Form."

I wasn't aware the company was required to send out a SAR form? In fact the link provided by agrinnall mentions nothing about the company providing a SAR form, just the consumer writing to the company with a Subject Access Request. It looks like naedanger is his own worst enemy.

Ectophile

You don't need a form - just a letter will do. You can find the correct address for the data protection officer via the ICO's search site https://ico.org.uk/esdwebpages/search

Once you know the address, write to the Data Protection Officer stating what information you need. There's some recommendations and example letters here http://ico.org.uk/for_the_public/personal_information

bod1467

Bump to kick the SPAM off the first page.

LilElvis

bod1467 wrote: »

Bump to kick the SPAM off the first page.

Bumping .....