halifax harrassment most foul. help me

[leeds1]

the SAR list of 170 (ish) calls start date is 22/12/07

the end date is 20/05/08

 

Amanda

[steven4064]

THanks for all that Amanda. I have rewritten the letter to reflect all of that - I haven't used all the detail, taht will come later. Make sure you keep all letters, etc filed away safely. I have extended the time for them to reply a bit as we are sending the letter later than I originaly thought.

[Your address]

 

 

Optima Legal Services Ltd,

Arndale House,

Charles Street,

Bradford,

BD1 1UN

 

22 December 2008

Letter Before Action

Dear Sirs

Halifax Bank

 

I had an account number XXXXXXX with the Halifax Bank.

 

From some time in 2006 until the present, your client, Halifax Bank, has subjected me and my family to a sustained campaign of telephone harassment, despite repeated requests on the phone and by letter for them to stop and only communicate with me in writing.

 

I sent Halifax Bank several requests under s7 of the Data Protection Act 1998 for information concerning this campaign, which they have answered only in part. From this partial information, Halifax Bank admit that they telephoned me over 170 times between 22 December 2007 and 20 May 2008 – a period of 5 months - sometimes as many as 4 times a day, demanding payment of the above account.

 

The information they sent, does not cover the large number of calls they made from August/September 2006 until the end of 2007, nor does it cover the large number of calls they made later in 2008. The information supplied does not include any records Halifax Bank made on my file concerning my complaints nor records of any action they took as a result.

 

Late in 2007, I started keeping detailed records myself and I also have actual recordings of many of the calls. Again, the information supplied did not acknowledge all of these calls.

 

Late in 2007 and going on into 2008, your client even went so far as to subject my elderly parents to 10 months of calls, again up to4 calls a day. This campaign only stopped after I issued a formal complaint to your client (to which they replied on 20 October 2008) and after they were contacted by Mr Marc Gander of the Consumer Action Group. This campaign of harassment against my parents is not covered by the information supplied by Halifax Bank, either.

 

Quite often the calls to me and my family were aggressive or rude and the sheer number caused me and my family severe distress - I have been diagnosed by my doctor with a stress-related disorder as a direct result. I have supplied copies of the recordings to a number of people to listen to and they all agree that these calls amount to a sustained campaign of harassment against me and my family.

 

Despite reminders, your client has failed to comply fully with their obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998 and to provide any further information. I know from my own records that they must have much more data of which I am the subject and only surmise that their failure to supply it to me is a deliberate attempt to cover up or minimise this campaign of harassment.

 

What I require

 

I require the following:

 

1. Your client complies fully and immediately with my Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act 1998;

 

 

2. Your client gives me a written undertaking that they will cease their harassment and that they will not contact me again by telephone about this or any other matter;

3. Your client gives my parents an apology and a written undertaking that they will not be contacted again by telephone about this or any other matter;

 

4. Your client makes me an immediate and realistic offer of compensation for the distress caused by their campaign of harassment; and

 

5. Your client makes my parents an immediate and realistic offer of compensation for the distress caused by their campaign of harassment.

 

I will give your client until Friday 9 January to respond positively to this request. Failing that, I will commence proceedings in the County Court for

 

i) An order of the court that your client should comply with my request under s7 of the Data Protection Act 1998,

 

ii) Compensation under s3 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 for the distress caused by your client’s harassment of both me and my elderly parents, and

 

iii) An order under s5 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 on your client to prevent them contacting myself or my family by telephone,

 

without further correspondence. I also give notice of my intention to commence criminal proceedings under this same latter Act.

Yours faithfully,

 

[You]

 

 

CC A O'Brien (RAH)

Head of Legal Services

HBOS plc

Legal Services Retail Division

Trinity Road

Halifax

Note, I am also suggesting you, although the letter is addressed to their solicitors, you should also copy it to Halifax themselves

[leeds1]

this is excellent and i thank you thoroughly for your help.

 

 

Amanda

Edited September 11, 2009 by leeds1

[steven4064]

I've just picked that one up. If the one in post #38 is OK I suggest you get it in the post firsth thing Monday.

 

If you want me to include anything from the one you sent me, let me know and I'll try an ddo it tomorrow (decorating this afernoon )

[leeds1]

post 38 letter is great.

i will send two copies. one to the Optima address and one to Head of Legal Services at HBOS.

Edited September 11, 2009 by leeds1

[steven4064]

Send the one to the solicitors signed for, the one to the bank can go pidgeon-post

[banker_rhymes_with]

I'm just wondering if you should not also send a Copy to their Company Secretary at the Registered Office?

 

That would mean they cannot slide out of this saying the documents were not Served correctly.

 

Barclays recently managed to duck a Court Claim on this basis, so for the cost of another Special Delivery Letter, I'd send the Company Secretry a Copy as well.

 

Cheers,

BRW

[steven4064]

I'm not sure it is necessary BRW - if it were the actual claim, then yes. THis is just an LBA

[banker_rhymes_with]

I'm not sure it is necessary BRW - if it were the actual claim, then yes. THis is just an LBA

 

Probably right, I just don't trust bankers, so now send anything that is even slightly important to their Company Secretary.

 

If nothing else, it annoys them, and they cannot say it is incorrect as it's their Primary Address for Service.

 

I particularly like annoying them, so please forgive me.

 

Cheers,

BRW

[steven4064]

I particularly like annoying them,

Someone's got to do it

 

 

 

 

 

 

[banker_rhymes_with]

Someone's got to do it

 

...and I'm just the man for the job!

 

 

Cheers,

BRW

[leeds1]

Steven,

 

i have sent you copies of the letter sent to me refusing to deal with Curtis Solicitors without my written permission to discuss my account with them due to DATA protetion laws.

 

i wonder how many third parties of their choice have been given my details without my written permission?

 

should i also send a copy of the LBA to the Customer Care Manager who sent me this?

 

i have the final version of the LBA. i had to very slightly change a couple of things in the first paragraphs. i will e mail it to you now.

 

Amanda

[leeds1]

denying this harassment is one big crime and should be investigated

 

i have been reading the

 

Freedom of Information Act or Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOI)

 

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000(RIPA)

 

 

would an investigation show an overall view of what is happening within these companies?

[BankFodder]

You could always try it. You would have to be careful how you phrase the request.

[leeds1]

it is my assumption that it is the right of every man, woman and child to expect protection against crime and where crime is committed against them they should in turn expect action against the criminals.

 

Infrastructure Division

UU CERT:

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA)

Overview by Andrew Cormack, Chief Security Advisor, UKERNA

Today, 5th of January [2004] [0], the data access powers contained in the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) [1] at last come into force. The powers are set out in Chapter II of Part I of the Act, sections 21 to 25. These give law enforcement and other public authorities the ability to require service providers, including most JANET-connected sites, to hand over information about the use of their networks.

 

can this refer to the banks communication systems also?

 

information and advice is welcome on this as i am not a legally trained person.

 

Amanda

[leeds1]

is it a third party when the banks disclose personal information to a company

that is in fact also owned by the banks?

 

i also found this case study interesting and possibly relevant.

 

Case Study 1/01 Bank and Insurance Company - Data Protection Commissioner Ireland

[steven4064]

I have replied to your e-mails.

 

I think a summary of the Curtis/HBOS/BOS situation on this thread might be helpful so the others are up to speed

[leeds1]

ok.

 

i will do that tonight in the next couple of hours.

 

Amanda

[leeds1]

after a telephone conversation with Niel Mercer of Curtis Solicitors on 13th November 2008 two letters were sent out to Bank of Scotland Plc and HBOS Plc respectively.

 

They said that their (HBOS) repeated contact was causing me distress and anxiety and asked that they desist from further contact.

They were asked to direct any further contact to Curtis Solicitors and that further contact to myself may result in injunctive relief proceedings against them.

 

once again, my requests were ignored by HBOS and further contact followed in the form of more letters to me.

 

one of the letters dated 24th November 2008 refused to deal with Curtis Solicitors because i had not provided a letter of authority signed by myself giving HBOS permission to discuss my account with them.

 

it said ' we are legally obligated to abide by the Data Protection Act which states "we may only discuss or divulge information of a sensitive nature with a third party if we have a written and signed letter of authority"

 

they gave me 8 weeks to reply and if i did not reply in that time they said they will assume i am satisfied with their response.

 

i am replying tomorrow in the form of LBA and sending out three copies.

one to Optima Legal Services, one to Head of Legal Services and one to the Customer Care Manager who sent me the letter dated 24th November 2008.

 

Amanda

[steven4064]

Good. Then let the fun begin.

[leeds1]

i found this, which is a request under the Freedom of Information Act for information about banks and how they keep their records. September 2008.

quoting part of the response from the Information Comissioner, it says...

 

"I can confirm that subsequently visits were made to three organisations

- Abbey, Barclaycard and Lloyds TSB. These visits were considered

necessary because at the time the banks were failing to respond to a

large number of subject access requests which individuals were making

for information held in microfiche. Thus the meetings were not solely

focused on non-electronic records, but rather the banks' overall

capacity to meet their subject access obligations."

 

the rest is here

 

Research visits re: non-electronic records - WhatDoTheyKnow

 

Amanda

[leeds1]

just to say,

 

three LBA letters were sent out today guaranteed delivery by 1pm tomorrow

23rd December

 

 

Amanda

Edited December 22, 2008 by leeds1
got date wrong

[steven4064]

A nice Christmas present for them

[leeds1]

this time last year was bleak

 

my account was unaccessible and i had nothing at all to live on except charity.

 

it is only fair that i remember them this year.

 

 

Amanda

Edited September 11, 2009 by leeds1

[leeds1]

i have just checked the Royal Mail site and all three letters have had their deliverey confirmed.