Accident claims companies

jsmurray

I just took a call from some company (kicking myself for not asking which) on my home phone (I am tps registered), and the foreign voice said:
“I am calling because we understand somebody at your address has recently had an accident and may be entitled to register a claim. Could I speak to the person concerned?”

Now my little boy fell off his skateboard on Sunday, and put his teeth through his bottom lip. We called the doctors about it on Monday, and took him to the dentists today. We did not speak to a hospital or any other organisation about it.

So I asked the guy how he knew my boy had had an accident and he said:
“Our system does not tell me the source of our data, but we collect data from insurance companies and hospitals.” – hospitals????

So I reckon our local NHS doctor or dentist is cashing in by selling our contact details. Anyone else had similar?

I don’t think it’s a coincindence, as we rarely get cold callers due to tps, and he was very confident about his info.

John_Pierpoint

Seriously, I hope your boy has survived without scars.
(Us boys will be boys - I've still got the scar, when I gave myself a split lip and 5 stitches 50 years ago.)

My thoughts on these ambulance chasers are here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=8823413#post8823413

I tracked them back by doing a 1471, got a mobile phone number, so I phoned it and pretended to be a potential "client".

IvanOpinion

I would be surprised if your doctor or dentist was 'cashing in' ... it might just be that whatever company they are from they have access to the NHS system. Personally I think this sort of use is disgusting but I guess that is the world that we have developed for ourselves

Ivan

maninthestreet

Surely the Data Protection Act prevents hasd something to say about this?

KILL_BILL

The data protection act does

if it is the case that the hspital trust concenred has released personal data without the persons consent then the trust will be fined

contact the hospital adminsitrator concerned

Rex_Mundi

Nowadays it seems more and more normal for companies to presume permission to sell the data on.

A couple of years ago, I asked at the opticians to make sure I was opted out of their mailing lists etc. The assistant was surprised by my request, and it took her a while to find the relevant section on the computer to opt me out (she had never been asked this before). I thought that under Data Protection laws, companies had to offer an opt out when you sign up with them. Most of them don't seem to make you aware that the opt out exists.

jsmurray

The thing is, I don't have the company name for the guy that called me. Only my nhs doctor's surgery and the nhs dentist had been told about the accident, so there is no hospital administrator to contact.
I was just wondering whether anyone else had the same experience.

I may speak to the two clinics in question and see what they say.

grayme-m

Our local casualty has adverts on the walls for ambulance chasers, it just seems wrong to me. :-(