Bluecrest Health Screening

paulstar

My wife has received an invitation to a health screening from someone called Bluecrest. I've done a forum search and can't find anything about them. Does anyone have experience of them? Why would they suddenly out of the blue send her an invitation? All seems rather odd.

EDIT - just read the smaller print - it's £129 for the screening. We will not be taking up their kind offer!

EDIT 2 - nobody replied so I guess it isn't a scam as such. But seems to me they want to charge for something you can get free from your GP. Maybe they're just trying to rope you in to buy health insurance from them or something like that.

Wright1

I received an invite for a health check as well . I find it very suspicious as I
Have just had a free nhs health check . As a result of the health check I was
Advised by my gp to see a physio privately as it was a long wait on nhs .i asked him
To refer me to nhs and I'd wait . It made me feel very awkward that he had made the assumption
That I could afford private care ,which I can't . Bearing this in mind it made me very suspicious
Receiving the blue crest personalised invitation .i searched online and found similar experiences .so dang gp,s today to express my concerns . They assured me that my data isn't shared .it all seems very suspicious to me though

EuniDoc

We took Bluecrest up on their offer for the screening, however after we done the tests, they contacted me to tell me that they could not do any of my tests so they have to reschedule which was then rescheduled for September (that is 2 months later) and by that time my husband received his report and half of the tests that we paid for were not done so his was rescheduled as well for September. We have now received a letter from them to say that they have now rescheduled the tests for November. I contacted them to request my money back and they won't refund as they say the tests have been done. What a scam, I have not received anything back from them and only half for my husband has been done.
They are not reputable, do not book with Bluecrest. Its not worth it, rather get tests done elsewhere if you really have to

Honey_Bear

I've just received the same letter. Reading it carefully it doesn't actually say that anyone qualified is involved.



I'm sure the 'Health Professional' their literature talks about is a nice person, but I'd like to know what their qualifications are before I allow them to stick a needle in me when they take a blood sample.



Is the 'specialist' who screens my information a doctor? Or qualified to UK standards?


I'd like to know what happens to my data and who they'd sell it to, with identifying information about me.


I wouldn't touch this bunch of shysters with a bargepole if you paid me, and I'm certainly not paying them.


Final point: This letter arrived the day after the new General Data Protection Regulations came into force. This company does not have my consent to hold data, contact me or use my data for any purposes at all, so they're breaking the law.



Anyone who uses this organisation is falling for a scam.

pmduk

They've probably just rented a mailing list of people of a certain age they feel may be interested (or susceptible).

Col_Jessop

They have indeed rented mailing lists. In one data supply chain this includes data rented / bought from Read Group (they operate under a number of trading names / subsiduaries); who rented / bought the data from Omnis Data Limited; who rented / bought the data from The Original Data Company Limited; who claim to have bought the data from a company now dissolved, but whose owner is self-identified in linkedin as being the Operational Director at The Original Data Company. Bluecrest have already had complaints upheld against them by the Advertising Standards Authority. The latest upheld complaint being on the 31st January.

https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/bluecrest-health-screening-ltd-a17-389426.html

https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/bluecrest-health-screening-ltd-a15-315590.html

The Advertising Standards Agency Ireland has also upheld a complaint against Bluecrest.

The data brokers buying and selling your data and Bluecrest Health are admitting that they do not have consent to use your personal data. Instead they are utilising a loophole that still exists within GDPR. Technically, there is a breach of GDPR; however the ICO are choosing to turn a blind eye to this behaviour by allowing a claim of legitimate interest. This involves a self-assessment balance test carried out by the data brokers and direct marketing companies themselves. It looks pretty clear in this instance that there is no public benefit in the processing of personal data and the only beneficiaries from processing the data are the data brokers and Bluescreen Health.

The problem lies with the ICO who will not pursue data brokers claiming legitimate interest. In fact the ICO will openly admit that it will actually advise the direct marketing companies like Bluecrest and their data brokers how to "comply" with GDPR and ePrivacy. The reality is that the ICO should be protecting consumers - the reverse is true - not in a small part due to political lobbying against privacy protection legislation and their application.

My advice would be to pass any letter that you recieve to your GP. I think they will be only to happy to make a complaint to the Advertising Standards Agency on your behalf.

A great article in the BMJ by a GP who was direct mailed by Bluecrest Healthcare.

https://www.bmj.com/content/360/bmj.k598

I have received a letter of apology from the operations director at Bluecrest follwing a member of his staff using foul and abusive language when challenged on the use of my personal data - not a company I could recommend getting involved with other than to raise complaints with the relevant authorities.

Putting these types of letters in the bin is the easy option. However, best to take some form of action to help protect the vulnerable people they hope will open and respond to their ASA disapproved direct mailers when they drop through their letter boxes with zero consent.

lassfarfromhome

I've just had an invitation letter from Bluecrest which I'll be returning to them in the post.

Perhaps not exactly a "scam", but everything about it screams that they are unscrupulous and to be avoided like the plague.