Virgin, mystery extra line: 2 judgments for Data Protection breaches - so far!!

[lemon_martini2]

Confirmation of judgment received,entered against them on 16th December-received on 19th December,so a nice speedy arrival from Northampton.

 

I'm sending them all by recorded delivery mail so there's no chance of them getting 'lost' or 'never received'.

 

When I put in the next claim do I have to disclose that there's already been a judgment entered in this case and that this has neither been paid nor the SAR details received yet? Not sure if MCOL will automatically record that there is an outstanding judgment on the claim already.

[lemon_martini2]

Oh no I haven't sent Virgin any documents. I was referring to the letters before action-'if the SAR is not sent by this date, I shall put in a claim' or 'this SAR is now outstanding and you have breached the GDPR regulations' being sent by recorded delivery. Everything else to do with the claim has gone through MCOL. 

The judgment is rather uninteresting to see but a welcome addition to the files. 

[lemon_martini2]

Virgin have finally sent something in reply to the SAR. It is all in email format and since it arrived in the early hours l shall have to go through and see what's included. From first glance it appears that conspicuous by its absence is the signed contract for the handset..still. l did try responding pic as pdf but just got same result..l shall try later on on computer rather than phone.

 

No cover note,no reference to any claims,no notes from anyone.

 

Just first email stating what I had asked for and that the link necessary to download the data would be sent separately: and that authorization codes sent to my phone to enable me to access them-which is where we were before. 

This time,the link and codes both arrived correctly. It appears to be predominantly pdf's of bills although Complaint History and Contact History files should be worth a peruse through.

 

[lemon_martini2]

Had a sit down after Christmas has gone and looked through it more closely.

 

To clarify the previous post, the file arrived without any reference to the existing claim or judgment-when I opened the file one of the documents inside was titled Complaint History  and another was Contact History.

 

The file very much appears to be incomplete-the vast majority of it comprises bills and documents such as 'Mobile Glossary' or 'Details of Devices' which have no real bearing.

 

There are only 4 1/2 calls that have been saved(Call 1 only has Part 1-Part 2 has gone AWOL) and there is no mention of the signed contract-in fact one of the notes appears to state explicitly that 'we can not provide the signed agreement'.

 

Interestingly, in the Account History section, it has recorded the second handset number as being input in 2018-a year before I allegedly made the purchase.

 

 

 

[lemon_martini2]

Happy New Year- it seems that the items are not so much completely missing as incomplete so there can be no excuse that they are somewhere separate.

So far I have found that they are deficient in:

Bills-August-Dec 2018 not included

Emails to Customer-Only one included(I have saved all these and there are approximately 60)

Webchat Transcripts-Only Oct/Nov 2020 included.

Complaint History-Only from May 2020 included.

Calls to customer-Only 5 included,of which one is missing the second half.

Signed contract for handset-Not included.

 

There are two other pieces of evidence that support my claim-in their notes included it states they are unable to supply the signed contract and in the Account Marketing Consent the date input for the new handset number contradicts the date they state I bought it.

 

I have not heard anything from them since the judgment was granted.

 

[lemon_martini2]

16 December:Judgment entered against Virgin by default

19 December:Proof of judgment received from Northampton 

22 December:Letter of claim sent to Virgin.

24 December:Virgin emailed partially complete files in response to SAR request.

 

Nothing has happened since then. 

[lemon_martini2]

Super-many thanks for all the assistance! I also note that on my credit report, the score has gone down as the second-handset payment is still being recorded as arrears and is now showing as a 'negative factor'.

[lemon_martini2]

Oh heck I'm sorry-I've just realized that the answer I had typed out and put up on Monday hadn't actually been saved for some reason and that's why it appears that I haven't bothered to reply or lost interest-far from it. I hadn't received any new notifications for a day or two but particularly with lockdown coming in I assumed it was just keeping quiet for a while.

 

Here's what should have been posted:

Since they still haven't satisfied the SAR request and it will shortly be 14 days from when the request was made, rather than giving them just a nudge,perhaps it may be worth while putting in another claim via MCOL for failure to fulfil their duty, maybe upping the amount claimed as this will then be the second time I have had to make a claim and as such is not just a one off lapse but a pattern of repeated failure to comply with the request.

 

I think you're right in that we should leave the bailiffs aside-if I were to threaten them immediately it would just give them notice that they had slipped up and give them time to remedy the situation before the deadline-after all why should I be pointing out their failures to them and helping them fix them? 

Either they have not noticed they haven't paid this judgment or they have noticed and do not intend to pay it-either way will reflect badly on them.

 

I shall follow up with that letter as the boundaries have now changed- the letter on the 22 December was telling them they have failed to supply the data at all, now they have supplied some data but it is incomplete 

 

The second account has had some details disclosed as it has been attached to my main account-but just basic details and most tellingly they have disclosed that in the Account Marketing Consent that the handset details were added to the account(supposedly) a year before I allegedly purchased the handset.

 

 

 

[lemon_martini2]

Well I know for certain that the 'signed contract' for the second handset has not been disclosed, meaning it either doesn't exist or has been omitted.

 

Just one small point- the judgment itself was executed on the 16th December(it arrived on the 19th) so the 30 days would make it up to 16th January.

 

And for your entertainment, between these last replies I had an email from Virgin stating they are sorry that I have closed my account and would I like to give them feedback on how their team did and the service I received. I think my answer would be substantial and too not appealing to them...

 

[lemon_martini2]

Excellent. I shall send the letter from post 86 (with dates added in) today and then the warrant on about January 21. Today l received a letter from them stating they were investigating my complaint and to give them 28 days to reply. As it was a) undated and b) did not specify what the complaint was it appears to be another boilerplate letter designed so Virgin could say they had attempted to contact me to deal with the complaint.

[lemon_martini2]

So they have had their five days plus their extra deadline and the only thing to come from Virgin is a deafening silence.  Next step I assume is to send the warrant letter- on MCOL I can just go ahead and issue the warrant there (which will be an extra £70) as they have neither paid the judgment nor provided a good explanation as to why it remains unpaid. Is it worth beginning another claim against them for noncompliance as they have still failed to fulfil their obligations by providing all the data?

 

Just to keep all bases covered I actually modified the last paragraph of the letter sent on 11/2  to include the second handset details so it stated 'Therefore if I do not receive full disclosure from you(including all notes and correspondence you have regarding telephone number [Second handset line]) by XXX date [original deadline +5 days] I will sue you in the County Court and without any further extensions and without any further notice.'

 

[lemon_martini2]

I sent the letter of claim set out in post 86 giving them the five days extension-that is what was sent on 11/1 (just realized that 11/2 was a typo in the previous post) and has not been replied to at all,so they have missed the deadline .

 

The SAR relating to the second handset was included in the demand for full disclosure in the last paragraph of that letter.

 

[lemon_martini2]

Shall I send the letter about the proposed warrant or just proceed to MCOL and execute it?

Also how much should I sue for on the most recent disclosure breach? The first was £200 plus fees, as this is the second one this is not just an oversight but a continued breach so I feel it should be escalated to reflect the more egregious nature of their failure.

[lemon_martini2]

Warrant executed and second claim submitted- £102 to do both-I'll definitely get Virgin to pay for those.

And on my credit report,they have now marked both the payment for the handset and the payments for the second line as being in default... 

 

[lemon_martini2]

Just a quick update to keep everyone informed-I received confirmation today that 

 

a)Warrant on 1st unpaid claim has issued on 18/1 and sent for execution to Sunderland County Court

(the nearest one to Virgin's complaints address)

b)2nd claim issued on 18/1, will be deemed served on 23/1 and Virgin has until 6/2 to reply.

 

SAR remains outstanding as it has not been properly and fully supplied and I have heard nothing from Virgin since 8/1.

 

[lemon_martini2]

Yes-the outstanding SAR is for the second(and first) claims. The third SAR for the mystery number was sent on 11/1 and so far no reply.

[lemon_martini2]

Well, as Judge Judy would say-they don't know if they're afoot or horseback.

 

Virgin called this morning with a new bod(Paul at the Executive Office) who has taken over dealing with my complaint.

 

* He wanted to check that as my complaint was about a SAR and as this information now been received, was I satisfied for him to mark it as resolved and close the complaint? Definitely not.

 

*He stated that what I had received on 24/12was everything they had.If they had not sent it,they did not have it and so they had fulfilled the request's demands to supply 'everything they had'.

 

*He stated he would put in one more request,but it was extremely likely all I would receive was exactly the same as was sent on 24/12. After that, further requests would be refused and the complaint would be closed. If I was unhappy with this, I would have to take it up with the Financial Ombudsman.

 

Here's where we have an interesting twist:

*He asked whether I had accepted Stuart's offer of 6/12 for £500 (composed of £204[handset],£18[money taken out],£25[cost of the claim],£200[value of the claim] and the remaining £53[compensation]).

 

-If I accepted it, the £500 would be credited to my bank account. From that I would then have to pay back the £204 for the handset and the £18 repayment of money paid back, leaving me with just £278.Until the money was paid back,it would be passed onto a debt collection agency and continue to show on my credit file as an outstanding debt.

-If I rejected it, the complaint would be closed immediately.

 

As this would be significantly altering the offer, I demanded that if that is Virgin's amended offer, that it be put in writing immediately. 

 

Also according to him, there was no further notes or action to be taken this complaint-meaning that they appear to be in blissful ignorance that they have one claim currently being processed and  one that has had a CCJ issued and bailiffs instructed to pursue it. I certainly am not about to enlighten them.

 

 

[lemon_martini2]

I have been in touch with Sunderland County Court- Virgin have ignored two demand letters from and the third and final one has been sent(seems rather generous of them to give them three chances...)

If there is no reply,bailiffs will be sent in on 3 February.

 

The second claim will become due on 6 February-if I get a judgment on that I will get the bailiffs straight onto that one too. Do you know if the court  can combine the judgments into one amount for the bailiffs or if they have to be executed separately?

[lemon_martini2]

I was awaiting something too...they promised to send a form for Alternative Dispute Resolution. Perhaps it's spending lockdown in a box that no-one can get to as it certainly hasnt appeared here.

The timeline is:

Wed 3 Feb Bailiffs to be sent in if no reply(!)

Sat 6 Feb Judgment can be obtained on second claim if no reply

Thu 11 Feb 1 month time frame on SAR request for second handset becomes due.

 

It says something about their laxity that seemingly no-one has noticed that they have one CCJ that has not been paid and one due for judgment or taken any notice of letters sent by a Crown Court...

[lemon_martini2]

I've just spoken to Sunderland Crown Court-if nothing is heard by tomorrow(and they haven't replied to three letters from the Crown Court and two from the warrant hub) then the bailiffs go in

 The only problem they have intimated at is that they may not be able to go into the premises(especially if it's a business) because of Covid, but I shall leave that for them to sort out themselves.

I wonder if having the bailiffs come in on  one warrant will jog someone's brain to check and make sure that there's no

more outstanding ones coming up that should be dealt with!

[lemon_martini2]

Email from Virgin today- they have received the SAR(for the mystery handset)on 1/2 and will respond to it within one

month. Since it was sent to them on 11/1, that's almost a three-week gap.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if they have just realized it will nearly be expired and have claimed just to have got it in order to buy more time .

[lemon_martini2]

First CCJ remains unpaid-as of yesterday it is now in the hands of Sunderland Crown Court bailiffs.

Second claim remains unpaid-on 6/2 I shall be able to get a judgment on it if no reply.

 

So if no reply by Saturday they will have racked up two unpaid CCJ's and still not complied with the SAR request.

[lemon_martini2]

I can also see two more scenarios which given their performance so far seem very likely:

• They reply and state that they have already supplied all the information for this
• They simply don't bother to reply at all.

Presumably in either of these cases, we then tailor the action we take accordingly.

[lemon_martini2]

This latest acknowledgment is just from the 'Web Team' whoever they might be...

[lemon_martini2]

Applied for judgment on Saturday and Sunday and this morning-as before, it's saying I can't yet as the required number of days have not yet passed. I shall still keep trying until moneyclaim says it's good to go through.