Issuing an SAR

Sunday_Morning

Apologies if this is not the right place. Basically I want to know if issuing an SAR against a company to find out why I am on their books when I have never had an account with them or signed up to anything with them. Is this a reasonable thing or is it only when there is a some legitimate financial aspect involved?

The history is as follows;- 

Last year I moved from the place I had been renting. I had British Gas accounts for both Electricity and Gas, both of which were satisfied in full and I can still see balances of 0.00 when I go into those accounts.

About six months after my move I started getting letters forwarded to my old address from Octopus Energy. They mentioned about a balance outstanding and, bizarrely, used an address which was part my own address and part one of a property which was 100 yards away on the opposite side of a busy high road!!

Then I started getting phone calls. At first politely, then with some venom, I informed them that I have never, ever, had an account with them and they should stop bothering me. I blocked the number but now I am getting calls from some legal lot (ACI?) who appear to have taken over the imaginary debt.

Now this doesn't worry me in the slightest. Ive had a time of dealing with such companies when the debts they were pursuing were legitimate!. But what does get me fired up is when they say I need to answer some security questions before proceeding! As far as I am concerned Octopus, or any debt agency they have appointed should not be in possession of any of my personal details to check if I pass a security check!!  I'm really annoyed they have got hold of my phone number let alone anything else.

eskbanker

There's no requirement to justify a SAR - you send it and the receiving company is legally obliged to disclose all personal data they hold about you (subject to a few exceptions), and, perhaps more importantly, to correct it if it's wrong.

born_again

Do they mention your name or are they addressed to someone else or just occupier?

part my own address and part one of a property which was 100 yards away 

So could be a simple address error. Or whoever lives at the other address has realised it was a rented house & is playing a game.

If it is not your name then a good chance SAR will produce nothing.

Sunday_Morning

Hi born-again....they have my name

Aylesbury_Duck

I wonder what would happen if you deliberately failed their security questions?  Like you, I'd be annoyed at being asked to confirm my identity, when it seems they have mix of incorrect information about you already.  All you'd be doing by answering security questions is adding to their knowledge of your details.

Undervalued

eskbanker said:

There's no requirement to justify a SAR - you send it and the receiving company is legally obliged to disclose all personal data they hold about you (subject to a few exceptions), and, perhaps more importantly, to correct it if it's wrong.

Whilst obviously that is all true, there still remains the real world problem of what you can do about it if they withhold some of the information!

cannugec5

Are you entirely sure you have never moved into accommodation where Octopus were the deemed supplier before you switched to your preferred supplier? 

This situation comes up frequently on the Energy section of this forum. People believing they have never been a customer but actually were, even if for just a few days. 

otb666

It sounds to me that the new tenants or landlord has provided your details when there was a difference in start and final reads. Hopefully you have a photo of your final reads on last day of your tenancy that you can email octopus with. The properties of the photo will confirm date. You could also email tenancy agreement confirming last date responsibility for your supply ended

eskbanker

Undervalued said:

eskbanker said:

There's no requirement to justify a SAR - you send it and the receiving company is legally obliged to disclose all personal data they hold about you (subject to a few exceptions), and, perhaps more importantly, to correct it if it's wrong.

Whilst obviously that is all true, there still remains the real world problem of what you can do about it if they withhold some of the information!

It depends on what the information is - if it's something you know they must have but are withholding without valid reason then the ICO should be able to intervene, but if it's just suspicion then yes, that's a different matter.

As suggested in a post above, realistically this is probably more of a matter for the energy board than one of data protection and consumer rights - Octopus will obviously have been provided with OP's details by somebody, presumably one of the other energy companies, who all share data when switching, so getting to the bottom of how and why that happened will be key to resolving the issue.