Receiving someone else's mail.

itsanne

Rev wrote: »

I just don't understand how someone is allowed to give my address in to their boss, the DWP and HMRC (and god knows who else) and because of their data protection there is nothing I can do about it.


What about protecting my data? Surely I should have some rights too.

Perhaps contact them again, but making it an official complaint rather than giving them information? I agree with Mupette that the word "complaint" makes a big difference to the action taken.

bundly

Don't let this rest.

I once found, in a vacant rental property, a huge pile of mail, dated over 3 years, all addressed to "Sir Anthony White". Knowing this to be a character in Brideshead Revisited, and that nobody of that name had ever lived in the property, I took the whole lot home and opened them all.

I could see from the letters that this person had successfully opened bank accounts and applied for credit cards and loans, all from that empty flat. Later letters showed that he went into debt - overdrew the current accounts, defaulted on the credit cards and the loans, and in fact never made a single payment. Even later letters were from debt collection agencies, stating that they were coming round to see Sir Anthony. By this time he (?) had defrauded these companies out of more than £50,000. How on earth they did this with nothing but a false address, I have no idea.

Don't let anyone use your address.

hazyjo

bundly wrote: »

Don't let anyone use your address.

Might be a pain having debt collectors at the door and letters piling up/being returned, but it wouldn't be the home owner's problem. Debt relates to a person, not a house.

Jx

Tuesday_Tenor

I once had a letter from HMRC, with an important tax statement, which I opened before I realised it wasn't mine. Address and postcode were mine, not the name. I've lived here for nearly 30 years, and know who the occupants were for 20 years before that. This person has never lived here. ( I suspect postcode error, at the town code level, as I couldn't find anyone local with that name.)

I wouldn't expect HMRC to deal with this over the phone; how do they know it's not a practical joker/malicious nuisance on the line? They need to SEE that their documents aren't getting to the intended person. But I'm very surprised they were so unhelpful. I would have expected them to ask you to return something with a written declaration/complaint.

In my case I just sent it back to HMRC with a covering letter saying that this person did not and had never lived at this address and asking them to correct their records. Job done.

Cost me the price of a stamp, but much more efficient and effective than phone waffle or months of 'return to sender; not known at this address' could have been.

Rev

Recruit right didn't reply to my email and weren't interested when I called.

I tried DWP and HMRC again and they weren't bothered either.


Will send em back with a cover letter saying he does not and had not ever lived at this address.


I'm still genuinely annoyed that someone can give my address in to HMRC, DWP and his employer and there's seemingly very little I can do about it.

Skint_yet_Again

Rev wrote: »

I'm still genuinely annoyed that someone can give my address in to HMRC, DWP and his employer and there's seemingly very little I can do about it.

You are assuming that this person has given your address to each of these organisations individually but these days all it takes is the employer to type in the wrong house number and then the wrong address goes electronically to HMRC & DWP. There may not have been any malicious intent.


I would speak to the postie - if you have the same one every day & are home when he /she delivers - or put a note on your door along the lines of "Dear Postie, no post accepted here for Mr XXX please return as undelivered".


As others have suggested maybe the cost of 3 stamps would be worth it - open each letter and return to where it came from with a complaint to each.

redpete

Mupette wrote: »

So I can see why DWP etc will not change do anything, it's because they can't.

Not every organisation uses 'data protection' as an excuse for poor policies.

Mupette

redpete wrote: »

Not every organisation uses 'data protection' as an excuse for poor policies.

So if rang DWP and said i was redpete and i wanted to update my details and i changed your address details, would that be acceptable?

Rev

Skint_yet_Again wrote: »

You are assuming that this person has given your address to each of these organisations individually but these days all it takes is the employer to type in the wrong house number and then the wrong address goes electronically to HMRC & DWP. There may not have been any malicious intent.


I would speak to the postie - if you have the same one every day & are home when he /she delivers - or put a note on your door along the lines of "Dear Postie, no post accepted here for Mr XXX please return as undelivered".


As others have suggested maybe the cost of 3 stamps would be worth it - open each letter and return to where it came from with a complaint to each.

I didn't think of it that way tbh.

Either way it's been going on for months now and surely if you weren't getting wage slips or letters the DWP and HMRC were supposed to be sending you then you'd call and inform them of that?

I've got 12 wage slips sat here. 12 weeks is more than enough time to realise you're not getting any wage slips as you should be and call up to ask why. The same if you're expecting letters from the DWP and HMRC. Surely when a few didn't turn up you'd call and check they had the correct details.

So I still think someone has deliberately given my address in.

I will be sending them back to where they came from on Monday with a letter stating he doesn't live at this address and never has.

xoxo_2

Rev wrote: »

I've got 12 wage slips sat here. 12 weeks is more than enough time to realise you're not getting any wage slips as you should be and call up to ask why.

Not necessarily. Where I work all our payslips are viewable online and an email is sent the day prior to payday informing you it can now be viewed. We've got a huge folder of employees wageslips who don't bother collecting because they've already viewed it online. There's at least 10 for one guy. That's 10 months worth and almost as long as he's been with the company. Because they see an online copy nobody really bothers with their paper copy. May be the same for this guy.