Jacamo - Credit search without my consent? Is this ok?

leaston · 13 June 2008 at 7:24PM

Hi,

I have an account with Experian (CreditExpert.com). Whilst looking at my report, I noticed a search done by a company called Jacamo. They are a clothing company who produce a catalogue that gets sent to your home (it's not a mail order catalogue though!). I think I filled in an advertising card requesting a copy of the catalogue initially.

Anyway, I've never filled in a credit agreement with them, nor have I ever purchased anything and other than the search, they aren't mentioned in my credit report anywhere else. They have said in the search that I have lived at my current address far longer than I actually have. So, basically, they searched without my knowledge or consent and made up the criteria.

Does this search affect my credit rating and is there anything I can do about this? I seem to remember reading that lots of searches can go against you. I'm annoyed that the cheeky !!!!!!s have checked me out without asking!

Cheers, Leaston.

Belnahua · 13 June 2008 at 7:26PM

Did you enter a competition? That's how I got a search!

leaston · 13 June 2008 at 7:27PM

Quite possibly, I can't remember now. But, I'm really not impressed.

Belnahua · 13 June 2008 at 7:34PM

This is one reason why I never give my exact details in competitions. I change my DOB by a couple of months and years; on the basis if they get my details, they'd be wrong if anyone tried to do anything with them!

leaston · 13 June 2008 at 7:38PM

I'll do that in future, thanks for the tip. I wouldn't mind so much if I'd actually applied for anything, but I just wanted to look at their catalogue.

A lesson learned the hard way I suppose.

wapta · 13 June 2008 at 8:31PM

I have bought clothes from this company.

£103.50 in total.

Should i be concerned? They sent the clothes, good service, quick etc so i assume they are genuine enough.

leaston · 13 June 2008 at 8:48PM

wapta wrote: »

I have bought clothes from this company.

£103.50 in total.

Should i be concerned? They sent the clothes, good service, quick etc so i assume they are genuine enough.

Wapta, don't misunderstand my post, I think you'll be fine in that respect.

My concern was simply that they did a credit search on me based on zero info and without my actually applying for anything from them. As searches stay on your credit report and affect your score (if my memory serves), I'm angry that they did this.

I hope I've explained it better than I did earlier.

johnx · 27 August 2008 at 1:12PM

I was very concerned when reading the sign up rules on the Jacamo site that they perform a credit check. This is not a normal way to do business. No-one wants to run up extra credit checks expecially if it's just to buy a pair of trousers etc. Here's a conversation I had with their customer service dept. They won't answer the question 'Why do you do this' at all. Sounds very fishy to me.

Me:

Why do you need to perform a credit check on sign up? That's crazy. All I want to do is buy a couple of things from your site and youwant access to my credit history. No thanks.

Them:

Thank you for your email.
>
> So that we may offer you an account we always verify your personal
> information.
>
> It is normal that when requesting a catalogue, all our new customer details
> are referred to a credit reference agency and also matched to the electoral
> roll.
>
> To be confident that we are checking your details we ask for your date of
> birth, full name and the length of time that you have lived at your address.
> We will be unable to send your choice of catalogue without this
> information.
>
> If you require any further help please contact us.
>
> Yours sincerely

Me:

I don't want a catalogue. I never did. I just want to order from the
website. Can you do this without the credit check? By the way, this is not
normal behaviour for an online retailer. It is not how Amazon work. It's not
how Play work. It is not how any online retailer I have been doing business
with for 8 years or so works.

Them:

Thank you for contacting us.

As a mail order company we would have to open an account to despatch goods to you, therefore we need your details sent.

If you need any further help, please feel free to contact us.

Me:

Again, you fail to answer my question. Can you tell me straight why do you specifically need to credit check someone just to send them stuff that they buy off your site? Amazon have my address and send me stuff that I buy with my credit card and that works just fine. They haven't ever credit checked me.

I'm happy enough for you to have my address but not for you to rack un unnecessary credit checks against my credit report.

I'll update any replies.

leaston · 27 August 2008 at 1:20PM

Hi johnx,

It's interesting that you got those replies from them. It does seem they don't want to answer your question! Which makes me wonder why?

I've been shopping online since 1995 and have never come across anything like Jacamo's business model before. I've drafted a letter to them asking for them to remove me from their records as I won't do business with them on principle. If they are sneaky enough to do checks like that even for people who buy up front from their site, then I question their integrity.

The other thing is that I definitely did not use their website to ask for a catalogue. I've never been on their site, so couldn't have read the T&C's.

I'll be interested in reading their response!

Regards,
Leaston.

johnx · 28 August 2008 at 7:23AM

OK, so they got back to me. It seems you can opt out of the credit search, at least when you sign up via the website. Here's goes.

Thank you for your email.

I am afraid that I am unable to discuss how other online only retailers run.

We offer a credit service and also a cash only service. This is what makes us different from many others. If you do not require a credit account then all you need to do is decline our credit agreement.

In order to open your account all you will need to do is go to the sign in page on the website and select option 3. This will then bring you to a page asking for your post code and house number, enter this as normal. After this you will see a page asking you for your personal information it is on this page that you need to do the following in order to open a cash only account.

At the bottom of the page you need to select 'Decline' its important that you select this option. This will bring up the following message:

You have declined the opportunity of a credit account. This means you will need to use either a credit or debit card every time you wish to place an order with us. Click 'Cancel' if you now wish to continue with your registration for a credit account. Click OK only if you are sure you do not want to register for a credit account.

This confirms that you have declined a credit check, once you click ok this will bring you to another page that you then need to 'ok' after this you cash only account will be set up.

At this stage we will sent you two emails one confirming your customer number and the next your password.

We also do many other checks regarding orders and payments which we are required to by law.

If you need any further help, please feel free to contact us.

Yours sincerely

The big problem here is clarity. At no point when you are signing up on the web do you think you are signing up for a credit account. It's clearly designed to dupe people into signing up for credit they do not want.

Normally I'd just walk away from a site like this but they do seem to have cool clothes in big sizes which are damn hard to find.

magicdogsbrain · 27 October 2008 at 7:45PM

johnx wrote: »

OK, so they got back to me. It seems you can opt out of the credit search, at least when you sign up via the website. Here's goes.

The big problem here is clarity. At no point when you are signing up on the web do you think you are signing up for a credit account. It's clearly designed to dupe people into signing up for credit they do not want.

Normally I'd just walk away from a site like this but they do seem to have cool clothes in big sizes which are damn hard to find.

I also noticed this on my credit reference file. I have written to them and copied the financial ombudsman service.

Can any business just search your file without your consent - If it is legal then it shoudnt be - especially since your apparent credit worthiness is affected.

This just makes me so mad.

Jacamo - Credit search without my consent? Is this ok?

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