Letters Issued to the Wrong Address

newbieni

Hi All,

I have recently been informed that letters sent to me by my credit card company have been going to a separate address due to an error by the credit card company. It only got discovered when the person receiving the letters was able to track me down. They advised that they had opened some of my letters whilst others were returned to the sender but the issue was never resolved. When I brought this to the credit card company's attention, they conceded that some letters, including those of a "sensitive nature," were issued to the wrong address and have offered £40 compensation. My question is, is this a fair settlement?

Thank you.

DE_612183

I guess that's up to you - you can't really take them to court as you've not experience any financial loss.

If you want a bit more, I'd go back to them and say you think the embarrassment and stress it has caused you should be reflected in the compensation offer and you'd accept £500 as a fair settlement for their error - see what they say - if they offer £250 that would be a result.

How much do you want out of this?

eskbanker

What losses or damage have you suffered?

newbieni

eskbanker said:

What losses or damage have you suffered?

Just the embarrassment of my letters being opened by someone else and for them to then arrive at my door.

Hoenir

newbieni said:

eskbanker said:

What losses or damage have you suffered?

Just the embarrassment of my letters being opened by someone else and for them to then arrive at my door.

How much has the embarrassment cost you in terms of financial losses? 

newbieni

No obvious financial loss.

elsien

It’s up for negotiation, basically, And then, if you can’t agree, take it to court. For something like this is really not worth the risk of having costs, et cetera against you.
it doesn’t have to be just about financial loss, there can be compensation for distress however you do have to somehow demonstrate that it was particularly distressing for you. 

https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/data-protection-and-journalism/taking-your-case-to-court-and-claiming-compensation/#:~:text=The%20ICO%20cannot%20award%20compensation,make%20a%20claim%20in%20court.

For me it wouldn’t be so much about any direct financial impact though. It would also be that I would want the organisation to take steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again in future.

etienneg

elsien said:

For me it wouldn’t be so much about any direct financial impact though. It would also be that I would want the organisation to take steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again in future.

In practice, though, this is most unlikely to happen. The organisation might make polite noises about better training, but will probably do nothing.

And the reality (however many times we hear politicians saying otherwise!) is that you can't "make sure it doesn't happen again in future". What are they supposed to do? Have a second person to check everthing that's done? That would be unbelievably expensive and extremely boring for the checker (who would therefore be more likely to make a mistake and let something pass that should be stopped).

Don't forget that these complaints are handled by someone without great authority. Their job is to "resolve" and close the complaint at minimal cost. Call me cynical if you like, but it's just business!

So my suggestion to the OP is to take the £40 and move swiftly on.