Perfect Home Breach Confidentiality

[gregwales]

Hi there,

 

i have had a account with perfect homes and

 

they harrased me when I got into arrears and as a result once standed out side my door for half a hour threatening to call the police.

 

the fellow resident within the block isnt prepared to make a statement of this.

But she did say on the phone to me that she would phone them which I had said in a letter.

 

they then decided to speak about my account to my ex partner and phone my mother who was a reference

asking both of them to ask me to get in touch with them as they wanted the dryer back.

 

I feel that this is a serious breach of confidentiality and after making a formal letter taking loads of advice on the law on here

 

a manager from the west of England ( I live in Wales) wants a meeting with me

 

i feel that he wants this to avoid paying any time of compensation.

As I cant see otherwise why someone would travel this far.

 

i was wondering if anyone had any advice on how i can request compensation

 

if they refuse how would I take them to court for breach of confidentiality.

 

As they have not stopped harrasing me I cant see I have a strong enough claim for harassment

 

the breach of confidentiality is a huge cause of concern as I dint want my ex partner or my mother

who is unwell to know that I am having financial difficulties.

 

They had been once when I arranged for someone to stay in before all of this to collect the washing machine and dryer

but only took the washing machine and this is the reason i havent given it back as i work full time

and never in so have to have someone to stay and at the moment I dont have anyone.

 

Thanks for all your help in advance.!!!

[deano_uk]

hi,

 

You say that you were harassed by them. You could send them a letter stating that you felt alarmed and distressed when they called to your home and state that you do not require any further visits from them. Should they make a visit after your request, you would then deem them to be breaking the Protection From Harassment Act, 1997.

 

As for compensation, - what are your losses? I know that you are annoyed because you did not want your mother and ex-partner to know you have financial difficulties, but in the Court I am sure the Judge would only award compensation for your losses attributed to their breach of confidentiality.

 

If their breach of confidentiality made them a profit, the Judge could award you all, or some of the profit they made as damages. (account of profits) But I doubt if they made any profit from this breach.

 

One legal case - campbell VS Mirror Newspaper saw campbell use the ECHR article 8 to sue Mirror Newspaper. I am not sure of the exact amount awarded to Campbell but I remember it being around £2,000 and certainly no more than £3,000... You can google it and find out the right amount.

 

The Court would award a celebrity more compensation that it would award us ordinary joe bloggs type people. This is because the celebrity has a wider audience and a reputation to protect.

 

So, to claim compensation for this breach, I think you would need to show what financial losses you have suffered as a result of the breach.

 

The above is just my opinion which could be wrong! Here is a PDF you can view, it explains how you can take this case to court.

http://www.ico.org.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/practical_application/taking_a_case_to_court.pdf

 

 

If I were you, I would forget about taking this to Court because basically it is your word against theirs - you have no proof. Even if you did win at Court I am afraid the compensation awarded to you (if any) would be very very small. You say that they are harassing you, if you do as I suggested earlier and inform them that you do not want them to call at your home again and if they do you would regard it as a breach of the Protection From Harassment Act. Send them a letter or email (or both) about this, make sure you have proof of sending (email would be proof?). If they then call at your home again after they have received this letter, you should then call the police. As well as this you would have a more stronger court case if you can prove that they broke the protection from harassment act.

 

Maybe someone else can offer you different advice, but my advice would be just to forget about this, even though the breach is annoying.