@vodafoneuk Vodafone DSAR - Failing To Comply - **RESOLVED - DEFAULT REMOVED**

[sickofbullies]

Need some advice on dealing with Vodafone.

 

I submitted a SAR request asking for all the usual (Contract Details, Pricing Structure, Allowance, statement.. the works) and eventually received less of a "Data Subject Access Request" but more a summary of screen notes:

 

For instance I called to change my address and this is what they have given me in the SAR

 

 

Now I agree, it notifys me of an address change, and could be considered screen notes however WHERE IS THE ACTUAL DATA? Changed address to what???

 

Now I know where I changed the address to as I have a tenancy agreement and could prove that however subsequently the following happens:

 

 

So I asked for a Signed copy of my default notice from the CS Agent who sent my SAR:

 

You have requested copies of correspondence held in relation to your account, in particular a copy of a default notice. Please note Vodafone does not automatically keep a copy of all correspondence. We use many standard letters to communicate with our customers for example a letter confirming payment by direct debit, or that a bill is overdue. However we do not attach actual copies of these to your account, instead we simply record the fact that a letter was sent and this will appear in the enclosed account notes, where appropriate. This is noted as an interaction on your account on the 12 November 2013; page 9 of 14 in the Crystal notes that you’ve received. This indicates that the default letter was sent to the account address.

Unfortunately, I am therefore unable to resend a copy of the original default letter to you. In relation to Vodafone terms and conditions and any price increases, these are also not noted on a customers’ account, they can be reviewed via our website though.

 

Now I was extremely confused because I knew that I 100% hadn't received the note at my new address however until just shortly I had lost all hope then suddenly while speaking to the new owners of my old address, they informed me that they did indeed have a pile of old mail for me in their cupboard:

 

 

Incase you haven't guessed THIS WAS SENT TO MY OLD ADDRESS DESPITE ME CHANGING IT

Edited August 10, 2016 by sickofbullies

[fkofilee]

Quite shortly and this is my own opinion, I dont think they have complied at all with your SAR Request. Just screen notes dont count.

Personally Id inform them that they have failed to address your DSAR request correctly but also to the ICO aswell.

[fkofilee]

FWIW I have tweeted your thread to Vodafone, lets see what happens.

[sickofbullies]

It get's even better, having asked for the T&C's of my contract and also Any Changes to T&C's / Pricing

 

In relation to Vodafone terms and conditions and any price increases, these are also not noted on a customers’ account, they can be reviewed via our website though.

 

Which I believe to be totally unlawful. How can you old me to a contract that you can't produce?

 

And then I asked for details of any pricing changes including copies of any correspondance informing me:

 

To which he reply was:

 

We use many standard letters to communicate with our customers for example a letter confirming payment by direct debit, or that a bill is overdue. However we do not attach actual copies of these to your account, instead we simply record the fact that a letter was sent and this will appear in the enclosed account notes, where appropriate.

 

However, in the treasure trove of old mail sent to my old address I found the following:

 

 

[fkofilee]

SOB... Whats this about... What are you trying to resolve?

[sickofbullies]

Based on what she has told me thus far, she wouldn't have been able to send me a copy of that document, however in her words "However we do not attach actual copies of these to your account, instead we simply record the fact that a letter was sent"

 

Which hasn't been done. Nor is their a date on said letter an dit's also been sent to my old address yet again?

 

They are required to give me 30 days notice of price increases so this makes me start to ponder what else they've got away with.

 

The price increase quotes the following "If these changes increase your total bill by more than 10% based on your recent usage, you'll have the right to cancel your contract"

 

However I am sure OFCOM ruled against this and allows people to terminate their contract based on any changes to terms and conditions.

 

I'm just trying to confirm this 100%.

 

Th

[fkofilee]

So you are trying to work out that you dont owe this money due to your cancelling within the 30 days of notification?

Didnt happen till 2014 im afraid -

 

http://media.ofcom.org.uk/news/2014/protection-for-consumers-against-unexpected-mid-contract-price-rises/

[sickofbullies]

I was in a serious car crash and hospitalised. I got out of hospital in october 2013 and was back in within a matter of weeks.

 

Finally leaving hospital in January 2014 and have been unable to work since.

 

I sent LOADS of correspondance asking about reinstatement etc and they ran all over me, said they issued a default and that was that.

 

As it seems the default they issued was sent to the wrong address!

 

I think I've got a good chance with this going to the small claims court.

 

The terms and conditions state that they have to give me 30 days notice of any increases.

 

 

There is no date on the increase form, nor is the communication listed in my SAR and I can prove they sent it to my old address

 

Also i had them investigating the complaint for me:

 

this is their response:

 

 

19 September 2013, the customer called to update the address and to set up payments it shows in the notes.

 

 

21 Jan 2014

- The customer raised a complaint with customer relations and stated that around two months after taking out the contract

the customer was in a bad car crash and was hospitalized up until just before Christmas.

 

 

The customer was advised that because the debt had been passed to XXXXX we would be unable to take this back from them

and the customer would need to pay the outstanding balance to them.

 

 

At this point when the complaint was raised it may have been possible to take back the debt

and offer the customer help with the balance which is what we should have done at the time.

 

22 March 2014, the customer raised an additional complaint with customer relations for the same issue and he was advised the same thing.

 

 

On the 22 march An email was sent to the customer to confirm that we cannot offer any assistance and he would need to refer to the debt collection agency.

I have an admission by them that when I contacted initially after coming out of hospital they should have took the debt back and offered me help.

 

Also any bills, demands for payment, default notices and DCA paperwork was sent to the wrong address.

I can therefore PROVED i didn't receive the default notice due to their negligence

[dx100uk]

I think I would be involving the ICO in this

if they didn't send said letters to the correct address even after being notified of it

then they are up the creek with no paddle.

 

 

dx

[silverfox1961]

Hi

Sorry that yet another team member stalks your thread

 

If you believe they have not supplied all the account data then that must be addressed to the Data Controller of VF. This must be in writing and sent to them by snail mail. You can get a free 'proof of postage' from the post office but I would send it by signed for delivery.

 

If you haven't raised a Formal Complaint in writing then it is highly likely VF will be treating this as a query and can thn take as long a they like to resolve. IF that is the case, a letter headed FORMAL COMPLAINT should be sent.

 

Since Vodafones 'upgrade' they have had serious issue with it and they have had to install 350+ fixes to get their new system running. In my opinion, information from the previous system hasn't been fully transferred to the new system ans as such, data will be missing.

 

If you need to phone VF tell them to record the call and ensure they lock it to stop it being deleted as well as you recording them. They don't need to be informed of this. If you do a live chat, save a copy of the chat.

 

These are the minimum requirements when dealing with VF as they are crap! Please report them to OFCOM as well. They are currently being investigated and more evidence will go a long way to get them to behave.

 

Back to the data, if they state they have no more info and you believe they do, complaining to the ICO is a waste of time. When a different company sent me a SAR, they stated that all was there but knew they were lying so gave them the chance to respond and when they didn't, I took them to court. I discontinued when a large envelope appeared containing data I had never seen before. that says it all.

[sickofbullies]

It just keeps getting better... While they are trying to fob me off to the DCA, they have told me the DCA name in question is CCM Prime however the default above which was sent to the wrong address is actually for DRS, a subsiduary of Ardent Credit Services Ltd.

 

If you google CCM Prime there is no mention of this fictional DCA.

 

Since I did a companies house search no companies knows as CCM Prime were listed

 

I then had a look at at Ardent Credit Services Ltd on companies house

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/04691960

 

They happened to be called COMMERCIAL CREDIT MANAGEMENT LIMITED prior to their name change however this is still a vast difference from CCM Prime.

 

Also upon checking my credit file the debt is still assigned to Vodafone without change.

 

Does anyone know a good example of a LBA template to use?

[sickofbullies]

Hi

If you believe they have not supplied all the account data then that must be addressed to the Data Controller of VF. This must be in writing and sent to them by snail mail. You can get a free 'proof of postage' from the post office but I would send it by signed for delivery.

 

If you haven't raised a Formal Complaint in writing then it is highly likely VF will be treating this as a query and can thn take as long a they like to resolve. IF that is the case, a letter headed FORMAL COMPLAINT should be sent..

 

I did do a formal complaint and this was their reply:

 

SAR REF: DP/16/352 RECEIVED: 18/03/2016

OBVIOUS COMPLAINT: Yes

SUMMARY CUSTOMER NAME: Mr XXXXXXXXXX

ACCOUNT: xxxxxxx

ADDRESS MATCH ON ACCOUNT: Yes

CHECKBOXES COMPLETED, SAR ABLE TO PROCEED: Yes

SAR REQUIRED AFTER COMPLAINT COMPLETION: Yes

COMPLAINT SUMMARY OF COMPLAINT: ¿

The customer has an outstanding balance on the account. ¿

This has been referred to a debt collection agency and the customer is disputing this.

 

INVESTIGATION: ¿ The customer had two numbers on the account. ¿

The number ending 345 was taken out on the xx March 2013 and the number ending 840 was taken out on the xx April 2013 ¿

The outstanding balance on the account is £1258.12 ¿

The last payment we received from the customer was June 2013 for £75.49. ¿

Both numbers were cancelled due to the collections path on the 25 October 2013 and the customer was charged an ETF for both numbers. £493.08 was charged for the number ending 345 and £475.25 was charged for the number ending 840.

¿ 19 September, the customer called to update the address and to set up payments it shows in the notes. ¿

 

21 Jan 2014- The customer raised a complaint with customer relations and stated that around two months after taking out the contract the customer was in a bad car crash and was hospitalized up until just before Christmas. ¿

The customer was advised that because the debt had been passed to CCM Prime we would be unable to take this back from them and the customer would need to pay the outstanding balance to them. ¿

At this point when the complaint was raised it may have been possible to take back the debt and offer the customer help with the balance which is what we should have done at the time. ¿

 

22 March 2014, the customer raised an additional complaint with customer relations for the same issue and he was advised the same thing. ¿

 

On the 22 march An email was sent to the customer to confirm that we cannot offer any assistance and he would need to refer to the debt collection agency.

PROPOSED RESOLUTION: ¿ Due to the debt being over two years old, we could not pull this back from the debt collection agency as this would have been sold to them. ¿

 

The customer has asked to correspond via email only. ¿

I have discussed the case with TM Simon Mellor and due to there being no adequate resolution for the customer, I will note mail the customer and the SAR will be processed.

 

CONTACT ATTEMPTS DATE: NA TIME: NA NUMBER CALLED: NA OUTCOME: NA NEXT STEPS DATE OF NEXT STEP: NA ACTION REQUIRED: SAR to be processed

they have even admitted "At this point when the complaint was raised it may have been possible to take back the debt and offer the customer help with the balance which is what we should have done at the time"

 

Also having been advised to contact CCM prime for the past 2 years, the company do not exist as an entity called CCM Prime?

Edited August 11, 2016 by dx100uk
removed inbedded code forcing text off screen - dx

[sickofbullies]

Well, I thought i'd update this thread.

 

After sending a LBA for non compliance of DSAR I was contacted by Vodafone Customer relations a few days later who then took it upon themselves to seriously review my case.

 

I've just received the posted confirmation from Vodafone that the negative markers will be completely removed from my Credit Record and that I've received a full credit for the outstanding balance of £1358

(Caused by them terminating my contracts and charging me early termination fee)

 

Thanks for the advice.

[fkofilee]

Well done truly! Another win against Vodafone...!

Title amended...

[dx100uk]

compo for how long its been on there and effect it has had?

[silverfox1961]

Well done. I am surprised that VF have capitulated so easily. Perhaps there is more they haven't told you??

 

As it stands, this is a good result. Balance wiped, Credit File to be cleansed.

 

What I would be doing is checking your credit file at least monthly for the next few months as VF have been known to put a default back on a file so if that happens, you need to keep on at them.

 

Keep all the paperwork safe as well. (Just in case)