AOL breach of data protection?

[paulandgayle07]

Hi everyone!

 

Sorry to intrude -need to ask some questions but ill explain in full what happened last night!

 

At 7.55pm i was called by a man claiming to be from AOL and who then demanded payment for 4 months of aol subscription which hadnt been paid - which i have no notice of from the bank or themselves!

 

I was pretty darn shocked as he demanded full or half payment immediatly and started giving me information from my account which was wrong to begin with.

 

I stopped him mid sentence and demanded to know who he was - where he got his information and to prove he was from AOL - he then said he forgot to ask me security questions and the proceeded to give wrong information of the account again.

 

After finally getting proof of his employment from him i said i would be a secnd while i spoke to my husband about what we could afford as im unemployed at the moment and we have a very tight budget after the bills are paid - i was promptly hung up on!

 

At 8pm we recieved another phone call from someone claiming to be from AOL who said these exact words :

 

'Hi Gayle, you just spoke to my collegue and your due us £99 payment for 4 months subscription - your details are blah blah blah"

 

I stopped her right there and demanded to know how she knew my information as she had not identified herself - again - hung up on.

 

Quite cheeky to persume to use a customers first name and then devuldge private and protected information over the phone without account security!

 

I was actually physically feelin sick as i dialled AOL customer services at 8.09pm and spoke to a lady who asked me all the right questions and listened to what had happened - i had to pass the phone to my husband as i was really freaking out as they said they had been contactin a house and telephone number that i have not lived at for 5yrs and which was removed earlier in the first call (to which i added if it was removed - why are you quoting the details?)

 

According to my husband she removed £25 goodwill gesture from the balance and the rest would be due asap - i know it was not her fault personally but still!

 

I was so ill last night with worry i had to go to the out of hours clinic as i had a panic attack due to my personal details were being sent and given to an address i have not lived at for 5yrs and the first caller was quoting my bank details over the phone - and unknown if they had done the same in letters etc.

 

I am now left until monday to go to the bank and change all my details, my account numbers, passwords etc and report any suspicious money being taken to the customer services.

 

I know when i first moved over to glasgow i phoned AOL up to change the details of address, the main email account, my banks address etc as per required when moving the service - this was not updated and my personal details are flying around the east coast of scotland somewhere - possibly for the last five years!!!!!!

 

I am sending a formal complaint to AOL by recorded mail on monday - can anyone give me any ideas to which i should include as i still feel so unsecure and violated in what they have done to me.

 

Many thanks for your kind help

 

Paul and Gayle

x

Edited January 3, 2009 by paulandgayle07
added details

[paulandgayle07]

sorry guys but i need to bump this - any help is much appreicated!!

[paulandgayle07]

Just had another 3 phone calls as such

 

2.35pm - someone called and claimed to be from AOL, devuldged wrong info again (so much for it being changed on account!) - promptly hung up on again when asked to confirm id.

 

2.40pm - woman called claiming i just spoke to colleague - she went straight into account again and devuldged details (wrong again) and was hung up on again.

 

Used 1571 and found number - called BT who verified number for me and i called customer services to be told they will not devulge callers IDS - but he then went into my account without asking any questions????????

 

Do i have a case as the system they use is the same as Skys and records any activity with employee number and date/time - i can get proof that way?

 

Any help is appreciated!!!!

[godpikachu]

hmm, so the way im reading it is that they are chasing you for a debt from an address you have lived at for 5 years?.

 

AOHell have a notoriously bad customer service record, just google "AOL problem" and youll see this for yourself.

 

It appears from what youve said that they were unaware of your present address, and have been fishing for you, theyve probably scoured phone books etc and bothered a lot of other people before finally getitng hold of you.

 

Ok, first things first, dont panic, they are basically trying to terrorise you into paying, dont let them intimidate you.

Log the time and date of every call they make to you (inc any messages they leave), along with notes on whatever gets said (try to get names).

Th next call they make to you, ask for their correspondance address, then, once you have it, tell them that as of now, any communication with you must be in writing, and that you no longer give them permission to call you.

 

DONT accept any crap off them about "their" proceedures state that they can only deal with you by telephone...they contacted YOU, so they will follow your proceedures.

Remind the person who is calling you that no further phone calls will be accepted, and you will be contacting them in writing to sort this matter out, and that you will consider any furthur calls they wish to make as harassment inder the 1997 protection from harassment act.

Then (and this should feel good) hang up on them.

 

Once you have sorted that out, you will need to write to them and establish a few things...

 

#1. What this debt is for.

#2. How old this debt is.

#3. Wether this debt is actually enforceable.

 

so, send them the following by recorded delivery to their correspondance address...

 

 

(name, address)

(date)

 

Dear Sir or Madam

Re:- (account number here if you have it)

 

I DO NOT AKNOWLEDGE ANY DEBT TO YOUR COMPANY.

 

On (date) I began to recieve telephone calls from persons claiming to be calling from/on behalf of (delete as appropriate) yourselves.

 

Please note that as of (date of letter), I revoke your right to telephone me, any and all calls made after this date will be considered as harassment under the Protection from Harrassment Act 1997, and will be reported to the police.

 

Your agents say they are calling me with regards to an outstanding debt to yourselves, please note that I have no knowledge of any debt owed to yourselves.

As you are most likely aware, OFT debt collection guidelines state that in order to pursue a debt, the pursuer is liable to prove their right to collect to the person they are wishing to collect from, and that attempting to pursue a third party for a debt that is not theirs is illegal, and punishable under law.

 

As such, you have not yet provided me with any reason for your continued, harrassing contact, I must also point out that during several telephone calls made to me, your callers have not followed basic Data Protection Act regulations, and have divulged sensitive personal information over the telephone without going through basic DPA checks, so I will be making an official complaint to the information comissioners office at my earliest convenience.

 

In order for this matter to be brought to a close, I require you to provide me with the following:-

 

#1. A "true copy" of the agreement between myself and yourselves for provision of service, in the form of a signed service agreement or contract.

 

#2. A statment showing when and how this alledged debt occured, including dates and amounts.

 

Under law, you are required to provide me with this information before any outcome can be arranged, and, should I not recieve this information within 14 working days of this letter, you should be aware that the matter would be considered to be in default, and as such, according to OFT guidelines:-

 

You would NOT be allowed to request payment, nor would I be obliged to offer it.

You would not be allowed to add any charges or interest to the outstanding amount.

You would not be able to pursue legal action against me.

You would not be allowed to allocate this matter to a third party (such as a debt collection agency).

 

Once I have recieved and perused this information I will contact you in writing to let you know how we will proceed in this matter.

 

I await your reply.

 

(print name here DONT sign)

 

make sure this is sent to them via recorded delivery, so you can check to see if they have recieved it, then, wait 14 working days and see what happens.

[paulandgayle07]

Hi

 

Sorry i should have probably made myself a wee tad clearer - stress n all!

 

I took over the aol account in 2004 from my dad - new account created- name, address, payment details - everything.

 

2005 i moved to glasgow - to do this i needed to give them my new address - telephone number - same payment details etc.

 

for 3 yrs everything has been fine - no issues etc.

 

on saturday i got those phone calls and thy are chasing me for a debt i didnt have a clue there was a problem with as the bank nor aol had sent any letters to me about missed payments etc

 

4 months aol hasnt been paid - no written letter to prove it?

 

so after all the problems in the phonecall regarding the serious breach of DPA and my security - they still dont have my details correct - have sent letters to the address i havent lived at for 5yrs in the chance of contacting me.

 

We are ex-directory - aol only have our email address and our home address - to which they sent everything to the wrong address which shouldnt be on the account in anyway!!!!

 

By law (and working for SKY) i know as an exdirectory number i should not be on an outbound call dialer or recieve any ghost calls which direct me to dial numbers.

 

Basically :

 

all my details - bank, account security sent to address in Fife while i live in Glasgow - unknown persons have my details now which i have alerted my bank too etc but now need to change banks etc.

 

wrong details on account for 5yrs - resulting in abusive phoncalls from india -

 

breach of DPA on several occasions now - harrasment calls etc

 

Sorry but just got off the phone to them as they are calling every day and i just read them the riot act with them on loud speaker at work.

 

Annoyingly - they dont even tell you that call can be recorded - which ive added to the rough copy of the letter im doing right now as how did the second caller know i had just been called????

 

ARGH!!!!

[Vinzon]

Are these people are fro AOL? Or former AOL employees who got access to AOL data base?