Octopus LCS contact - anyone else? *Resolved*

EssexHebridean

Well I have an answer to how much personal information was passed on - as I arrived home last night to a letter from LCS - sent to my current address. 

I have now escalated the matter to a formal complaint with Octopus, and stated that I intend to report them for a data breach. Perhaps the worst thing here is the sheer opportunism they have displayed - in spite of knowing that we no longer had a link to the property in question, regardless they have seen fit to just pass my details on without ever making any effort to contact me about the matter first, presumably on the basis that when this situation arises a lot of folk are so scared at the involvement of the DCA that they just pay up.  

born_again

EssexHebridean said:

Well I have an answer to how much personal information was passed on - as I arrived home last night to a letter from LCS - sent to my current address. 

I have now escalated the matter to a formal complaint with Octopus, and stated that I intend to report them for a data breach. Perhaps the worst thing here is the sheer opportunism they have displayed - in spite of knowing that we no longer had a link to the property in question, regardless they have seen fit to just pass my details on without ever making any effort to contact me about the matter first, presumably on the basis that when this situation arises a lot of folk are so scared at the involvement of the DCA that they just pay up.  

TBH, given you said that the new owner & tenants had never contacted contacted them. You really can't say it's a data breech as they were going off the last data they had. Even if you gave them a closing reading. Guess no one at the address has responded to occupier letters 🤷‍♀️

Thread was started on 16th, & today the 19th, so odds on letter had already been sent. So given you spoke to Octopus on the 16th. Who will have contacted LCS maybe same day or next. It will take a while to filter through LCS system.

Best bet block LCS number.

PIA when stuff like this happens, as nothing moves fast when debt collectors are involved.

grn99

Well, EssexHebridean will have notified them of vacating that property over a year ago, so whilst they may not know who now occupies the property, speculatively handing out another's name, address and telephone number (plus whatever else) of the last known occupant is a problem. @EssexHebrideanMaybe dropping a line to their ceo Greg Jackson may grab their attention and avoid any needless to-ing and fro-ing bureacracy; greg@octopus.energy .

I'm hoping, having recently migrated to them, that I haven't made a mistake. I do hope you get it sorted to your saisfaction

EssexHebridean

Not only did they have a closing reading, the account was moved straight across to our new home using their "move home" facility - and indeed, that all worked seamlessly. The issue here is that they KNOW that I am no longer responsible for the account - had they thought I was, then they have had the last 12 months to contact me using the address that they have now passed to LCS. At no stage have they made that contact. It is not acceptable for a company to simply try to go after the last occupier of a property for energy use that they know they are not responsible for because the person who IS responsible for them isn't making contact!  if LCS call again I will simply repeat to them that the debt is not mine, that they need to go back to Octopus's credit control department, and I will now be adding that any further contact from them will be treated as harassment. 

@grn99 Until this point we have always been delighted with them - and I am hopeful that this will be sorted out swiftly and efficiently (and apologetically). I don't think it's likely that you will regret your move! 

Lorian

The octopus dpo contact details are on this page https://octopus.energy/policies/privacy-policy/

EssexHebridean

Thanks Lorian - I have already raised a formal complaint and had that acknowledged. They have also apologised, admitted that they were at fault, and confirmed that the debt has now been recalled from LCS and that it should not have had my details attached to it. 

EssexHebridean

Ok - conclusion to this. It took a few attempts to get LCS to drop their bone, as much to Octopus’s frustration as mine, I think. I now have a letter from LCS and an assurance that I will not be hearing from them again. 

Octopus having investigated have said that they didn’t give LCS my details after all - but the combination of their initial admission that they were at fault, combined with LCS having some details that it really isn’t likely that they would have easily got from the sort of tracing that they would usually do means I do slightly doubt that - I will do SARs in a few months both to LCS and to Octopus though and we will see what those show. As things stand though, I have allowed them to close the complaint based on the information they have given me, and that I won’t be troubled by LCS again. If it turns out that either of those things are not the case, it will be re-opened ! 

I’m happy with the outcome, and it has to be said that having a named complaint handler through the process definitely made things simpler. 

grn99

Sounds like a good outcome all things considered, but what an interesting final response. Someone in Octopus surely must've disclosed your details at some point, unless the new occupiers of your property knew those details? Running a SAR in due course is a good idea. Hopefully nothing further will arise.

EssexHebridean

Some details could have been obtained easily enough - Land registry would currently show us as the owners of the property for example as the registration is not through yet to our buyer. Our new address via electoral register… not everything though, hence my suspicion, so hopefully the SARs will help join the dots.