Business sharing my personal data to other businesses

EllieJade1995

Good morning,

Looking for some advice. I’ve had a business email me to say that they’ve spoken to other “small businesses” about me to see if I have made any missing item claims with anyone else. I haven’t even made a claim with this business, I was missing an item which I said to them about and then asked me to provide some pictures for the courier, but then the item had fallen out near a neighbours house as I believe the box wasn’t sealed properly or had broken or whatever.

I’m pretty sure the business has gone against GDPR regulations by sharing my personal data/details with other businesses, particularly as I don’t have a claim with this business and I told them weeks ago that I have my item and I sent it back to them. I even paid £15 to make sure it was tracked and signed for. I was wondering if anyone knows more about this? I’d want to report to trading standards and ICO as I believe this is against GDPR rules. They even said in the email they were going to report me! Really threatening email combined with the leak of data & a false claim has really made me think I need to make a complaint against this business. 

DullGreyGuy

EllieJade1995 said:

Looking for some advice. I’ve had a business email me to say that they’ve spoken to other “small businesses” about me to see if I have made any missing item claims with anyone else. I haven’t even made a claim with this business, I was missing an item which I said to them about and then asked me to provide some pictures for the courier, but then the item had fallen out near a neighbours house as I believe the box wasn’t sealed properly or had broken or whatever.

I’m pretty sure the business has gone against GDPR regulations by sharing my personal data/details with other businesses, particularly as I don’t have a claim with this business and I told them weeks ago that I have my item and I sent it back to them. I even paid £15 to make sure it was tracked and signed for. I was wondering if anyone knows more about this? I’d want to report to trading standards and ICO as I believe this is against GDPR rules. They even said in the email they were going to report me! Really threatening email combined with the leak of data & a false claim has really made me think I need to make a complaint against this business. 

There are too many things being described as businesses to follow the question. 

It sounds like you have had a speculative email from an ambulance chaser claiming others have referred them to you (which is unlikely to be true). They've no idea who you are nor if you have ever had a problem with a courier, they are just mass mailing millions of email addresses saying the same thing hoping that someone will bite. 

Its questionable how you got onto the list of millions but chasing that is a task that will get you nowhere and there is nothing to say that the ambulance chasers have shared your details with anyone.

EllieJade1995

DullGreyGuy said:

EllieJade1995 said:

Looking for some advice. I’ve had a business email me to say that they’ve spoken to other “small businesses” about me to see if I have made any missing item claims with anyone else. I haven’t even made a claim with this business, I was missing an item which I said to them about and then asked me to provide some pictures for the courier, but then the item had fallen out near a neighbours house as I believe the box wasn’t sealed properly or had broken or whatever.

I’m pretty sure the business has gone against GDPR regulations by sharing my personal data/details with other businesses, particularly as I don’t have a claim with this business and I told them weeks ago that I have my item and I sent it back to them. I even paid £15 to make sure it was tracked and signed for. I was wondering if anyone knows more about this? I’d want to report to trading standards and ICO as I believe this is against GDPR rules. They even said in the email they were going to report me! Really threatening email combined with the leak of data & a false claim has really made me think I need to make a complaint against this business. 

There are too many things being described as businesses to follow the question. 

It sounds like you have had a speculative email from an ambulance chaser claiming others have referred them to you (which is unlikely to be true). They've no idea who you are nor if you have ever had a problem with a courier, they are just mass mailing millions of email addresses saying the same thing hoping that someone will bite. 

Its questionable how you got onto the list of millions but chasing that is a task that will get you nowhere and there is nothing to say that the ambulance chasers have shared your details with anyone.

Sorry, no that’s not the case. I ordered from a retailer & one of the items didn’t turn up so I contacted them at the time, they said to me I’d need to send pictures over for the courier but in the meantime a neighbour told me the item had been left outside theirs, I assumed either the package wasn’t sealed correctly or a delivery driver had opened but either way, I let the retailer know I had the item and would send back, so they never had to make a complain.

It’s now a few weeks later & the retailer has reached out to say they’ve contacted a number of other small retail businesses to see if I have made claims against them & they’re threatening to report me even though, I have told them I found the item and I’ve sent it back to them. Therefore, I can’t understand their point as there is no financial loss to the retailer because they haven’t had to make a claim.

essentially, I think they have breached GDPR rules by contacting other small retailers with my details/name especially on the basis that this particular retailer has not actually had to make a claim to a courier company on behalf of me.

born_again

So is this in relation to your other thread & DPD flagging your address?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6595794/dpd-have-flagged-my-address-what-does-this-mean#latest

Ergates

EllieJade1995 said:

It’s now a few weeks later & the retailer has reached out to say they’ve contacted a number of other small retail businesses to see if I have made claims against them & they’re threatening to report me

They've contacted who?  There are literally *thousands* of small retail businesses in the UK - they just contacted some of them, picked at random?

And report you to.. who? 

It's unlikely they've breached GDPR because it's unlikely they've done any of that.

EllieJade1995

Ergates said:

EllieJade1995 said:

It’s now a few weeks later & the retailer has reached out to say they’ve contacted a number of other small retail businesses to see if I have made claims against them & they’re threatening to report me

They've contacted who?  There are literally *thousands* of small retail businesses in the UK - they just contacted some of them, picked at random?

And report you to.. who? 

Literally no idea! I guess similar businesses to them? They do different bits like party decor, kids stuff. No idea who they would report to as they haven’t said, they just said they’d “report” me if they heard back from another business to say I’d made a claim. Police? I don’t know! Which in my eyes is madness, as over the course of years I could have of course made a claim and secondly my area has a problem with a particular delivery driver.

The main thing is I’m trying to work out if this goes against GDPR regulations, essentially they’re admitting to sharing my data with people outside of the business which I would say is not allowed. 

DE_612183

So you think t hat Business A who you had a problem with ( hoever minor ) has phoned up Businesses B, C & D and said - "Have you had an issue with Ellie Jade of Number 7 Nowhere St?"

I'm guessing they are insinuating that if you are a serial reporter of missing goods they'll contact police and report a fraud.

However as someone else has said they are just talking rubbish - I'd call their bluff and say you are reporting them to the ICO for breach of GDPR regulations by contacting other businesses using your personal data which you have not agreed can be shared.

Ergates

EllieJade1995 said:

Ergates said:

EllieJade1995 said:

It’s now a few weeks later & the retailer has reached out to say they’ve contacted a number of other small retail businesses to see if I have made claims against them & they’re threatening to report me

They've contacted who?  There are literally *thousands* of small retail businesses in the UK - they just contacted some of them, picked at random?

And report you to.. who? 

Literally no idea! I guess similar businesses to them? They do different bits like party decor, kids stuff. No idea who they would report to as they haven’t said, they just said they’d “report” me if they heard back from another business to say I’d made a claim. Police? I don’t know! Which in my eyes is madness, as over the course of years I could have of course made a claim and secondly my area has a problem with a particular delivery driver.

The main thing is I’m trying to work out if this goes against GDPR regulations, essentially they’re admitting to sharing my data with people outside of the business which I would say is not allowed. 

Emailing your name and address to a random selection of businesses would be a breach of GDPR, yes.

Threatening to report you to the police for having raised missing item claims would be *beyond* madness - of the level of the person who dialed 999 to report their icecream didn't have enough sprinkles.

The person who is emailing you is either a liar or they're insane.

DE_612183

Ergates said:

EllieJade1995 said:

Ergates said:

EllieJade1995 said:

It’s now a few weeks later & the retailer has reached out to say they’ve contacted a number of other small retail businesses to see if I have made claims against them & they’re threatening to report me

They've contacted who?  There are literally *thousands* of small retail businesses in the UK - they just contacted some of them, picked at random?

And report you to.. who? 

Literally no idea! I guess similar businesses to them? They do different bits like party decor, kids stuff. No idea who they would report to as they haven’t said, they just said they’d “report” me if they heard back from another business to say I’d made a claim. Police? I don’t know! Which in my eyes is madness, as over the course of years I could have of course made a claim and secondly my area has a problem with a particular delivery driver.

The main thing is I’m trying to work out if this goes against GDPR regulations, essentially they’re admitting to sharing my data with people outside of the business which I would say is not allowed. 

Emailing your name and address to a random selection of businesses would be a breach of GDPR, yes.

Threatening to report you to the police for having raised missing item claims would be *beyond* madness - of the level of the person who dialed 999 to report their icecream didn't have enough sprinkles.

The person who is emailing you is either a liar or they're insane.

or both...

eskbanker

EllieJade1995 said:

I’m pretty sure the business has gone against GDPR regulations by sharing my personal data/details with other businesses, particularly as I don’t have a claim with this business and I told them weeks ago that I have my item and I sent it back to them. I even paid £15 to make sure it was tracked and signed for. I was wondering if anyone knows more about this? I’d want to report to trading standards and ICO as I believe this is against GDPR rules. They even said in the email they were going to report me! Really threatening email combined with the leak of data & a false claim has really made me think I need to make a complaint against this business. 

You could submit a subject access request to them, seeking further detail about what personal data they hold about you and what they've done with it - if nothing else it would let them know that you know about data protection legislation, but the nature of their response could help any complaint to the ICO.

EllieJade1995

DE_612183 said:

So you think t hat Business A who you had a problem with ( hoever minor ) has phoned up Businesses B, C & D and said - "Have you had an issue with Ellie Jade of Number 7 Nowhere St?"

I'm guessing they are insinuating that if you are a serial reporter of missing goods they'll contact police and report a fraud.

However as someone else has said they are just talking rubbish - I'd call their bluff and say you are reporting them to the ICO for breach of GDPR regulations by contacting other businesses using your personal data which you have not agreed can be shared.

I would assume that’s what they’re insinuating too but it’s concerning someone can just do that, as of course there will have been problems with deliveries. 

I have already gone back saying I will report to ICO & trading standards because they have openly admitted to sharing my data with random people on email! Haven’t had a reply yet.