British Gas sold my personal data to Lowell

Router66

I closed my British Gas account in 2016 with a zero balance but 12 months later I was alerted by my bank that BG had attempted to take £95.79 out of my account. I managed to block the transaction and a few days later received a letter from BG advising that they had made a mistake when closing my account and that I owed them the money they tried to take from my account. I disputed their claim but they continued to press for payment so I raised a formal complaint. This dragged on for a further 12 months after which they sent me a deadlock letter allowing me to take my case to the ombudsman. The ombudsman found in my favour; I received an apology from BG Customer Relations and a cheque for £75 for the hassle they had caused me. The case was eventually closed in May 2019. Fast forward to September 12th 2022 and I receive a letter from British Gas advising that I still owed them £95.79 and they had sold this debt to a company called Lowell, along with all of my personal data. Since Lowell are inclined to report their purchased debts to Credit Agencies I need BG to sort this out quickly; I therefore emailed them using the address I had from earlier correspondence. My Email bounced back and I was directed to a link for raising complaints. However, the link only allowed existing customers to raise complaints. I have also tried to raise a complaint with the ICO but that requires me to contact BG and give them a month to respond.  It's my first post on this site so hoping for direction on any other options that might be available other than sitting on the phone all day trying to get through to BG, only to be fobbed off.
Any advice much appreciated.  

dunstonh

1 - Provide Lowell with evidence of debt being incorrect and removed by BG. 

2 - Make a new complaint with BG

Keep copies of all communications in case Lowell do take you to the small claims court.   The evidence you should already have about it being a bogus debt should prevent it getting to caught and being thrown out on the pre-hearing checks.

Router66

@dunstonh...have emailed Lowell with the apology from BG and copied in the data protection officer. Have also warned them I will charge £250 for every breach if they use my personal data to pursue me. 
I have contacted BG via Centrica but the resulting automated message doesn't make a personal reply look promising.
However, I have just found an alternative Email address... myhome@contactus.britishgas.co.uk
Will put together a new complaint over the weekend and hope for the best.
Thanks again for your post...much appreciated.

powerful_Rogue

Router66 said:

@dunstonh...have emailed Lowell with the apology from BG and copied in the data protection officer. Have also warned them I will charge £250 for every breach if they use my personal data to pursue me. 
I have contacted BG via Centrica but the resulting automated message doesn't make a personal reply look promising.
However, I have just found an alternative Email address... myhome@contactus.britishgas.co.uk
Will put together a new complaint over the weekend and hope for the best.
Thanks again for your post...much appreciated.

You know it doesn't work like that right?

Apodemus

As an aside to this, I wonder whether this would not be considered as the same case by the Ombudsman and therefore not require a new complaint to BG and the lag time before filing again with the Ombudsman?  My thinking is that the complaint was upheld, yet the complainant is still being pursued for the bill, therefore the Company remains in breach of the Ombudsman's findings?  Can anyone with greater knowledge of the Ombudsman process shed light on this?

[Deleted User]

Apodemus said:

As an aside to this, I wonder whether this would not be considered as the same case by the Ombudsman and therefore not require a new complaint to BG and the lag time before filing again with the Ombudsman?  My thinking is that the complaint was upheld, yet the complainant is still being pursued for the bill, therefore the Company remains in breach of the Ombudsman's findings?  Can anyone with greater knowledge of the Ombudsman process shed light on this?

The Energy Ombudsman has no statutory powers of enforcement. Arguably, if the supplier has paid £75 compensation then it has complied with the Final Decision. All companies have the legal right to correct a Final Bill and make a claim within the 6 year Statute of Limitations timescale. Clearly, the OP can use The Energy Ombudsman’s Decision when defending any claim made against him.

The OP seems focused on arguing that there has been a breach of data protection. All suppliers sell on debts to third-parties so I doubt that the OP’s present approach will work. What is needed here is a ‘prove it’ letter.

https://debtcamel.co.uk/prove-it/

Note the caveat about the 6 year rule.

stewie_griffin

Did the Ombudsman rule the alleged debt was invalid and that BG had to remove it? Do you still have a copy of the report from the Ombudsman?

Chrysalis

Router66 said:

@dunstonh...have emailed Lowell with the apology from BG and copied in the data protection officer. Have also warned them I will charge £250 for every breach if they use my personal data to pursue me. 
I have contacted BG via Centrica but the resulting automated message doesn't make a personal reply look promising.
However, I have just found an alternative Email address... myhome@contactus.britishgas.co.uk
Will put together a new complaint over the weekend and hope for the best.
Thanks again for your post...much appreciated.

I was going to say, make sure you make it clear that you will attempt to recover all damages, as you clearly know already the damage to your credit could cause you costs via lost access to cheap credit etc.

fatbelly

When  was the default date on this? You know records on your credit file only stay for 6 years from the default date?

Leave it till the 6 years are up then send Lowell the hybrid letter from the statute barred thread on dfw

It says that you don't accept the debt but it would be statute barred anyway.

frank901

Router66 said:

I closed my British Gas account in 2016 with a zero balance but 12 months later I was alerted by my bank that BG had attempted to take £95.79 out of my account. I managed to block the transaction and a few days later received a letter from BG advising that they had made a mistake when closing my account and that I owed them the money they tried to take from my account. I disputed their claim but they continued to press for payment so I raised a formal complaint. This dragged on for a further 12 months after which they sent me a deadlock letter allowing me to take my case to the ombudsman. The ombudsman found in my favour; I received an apology from BG Customer Relations and a cheque for £75 for the hassle they had caused me. The case was eventually closed in May 2019. Fast forward to September 12th 2022 and I receive a letter from British Gas advising that I still owed them £95.79 and they had sold this debt to a company called Lowell, along with all of my personal data. Since Lowell are inclined to report their purchased debts to Credit Agencies I need BG to sort this out quickly; I therefore emailed them using the address I had from earlier correspondence. My Email bounced back and I was directed to a link for raising complaints. However, the link only allowed existing customers to raise complaints. I have also tried to raise a complaint with the ICO but that requires me to contact BG and give them a month to respond.  It's my first post on this site so hoping for direction on any other options that might be available other than sitting on the phone all day trying to get through to BG, only to be fobbed off.
Any advice much appreciated.  

Do you still have a copy of the report from the Ombudsman?

pinkelephant12

This is the action I would take in your situation:

1. Send an email to privacy@centrica.com making a ‘data subject access request’ for all personal data BG holds about you including the ombudsman’s decision of xxx date.  This request is made under Article 15 of the UK GDPR and they are required to respond within one calendar month.

Data protection or privacy email addresses can be found on most websites in their privacy policy; there is usually a link at the bottom of the home page.

2. When they reply, you will be able to see what information they have got wrong.  Send a ‘data rectification request’ under Article 16 UK GDPR explaining what’s wrong (with evidence) and ask them to correct it and confirm that they have done so.

3. Personally, I wouldn’t bother with the ICO.  I have limited knowledge of data protection and most of their staff have less.  They won’t actually do anything.  At most, they might send a letter.

4. After this has all been resolved, consider suing BG through the County Court (small claims track) for sharing your data when there were no grounds for doing so.  You can claim for financial loss and distress, but it will only be for a fairly small sum.