Don't want to settle unless Default guaranteed to be removed

[pt2537]

Nope its 40 calendar days for a SAR from the day when they recieve it

 

regards

paul

[pt2537]

Hi nocreditt,

 

i cant say i would phone them, i like to keep everything in writing, i appreciate that its frustrating sometimes and you can be tempted to call but if everything is in writing then you have proof to produce to a court if things go that far

 

regards

paul

[nocredit]

I'm naturally suspicious of having phone conversations with banks etc. for the same reasons plus they never seem to follow up on what they promise on the phone anyway. Although I want this default off it's not as important as getting rid of the next directory one as that will be stuck on my record until 2010 if I don't get rid of it. Don't suppose it'll do any harm waiting for them both to get back to me with the SAR info. even if it is another 3 weeks.

[nocredit]

Well the 40 days is up & no data has been recieved from next directory.

From what I've read on other threads a lot of people seem to write to the creditors telling them they have a further 7 days to provide the data before a complaint will be made to the information commissioners office. Is this necessary to issue a further warning?

Looking at other people's dealings with next directory defaults I doubt a further letter will spur them into action. However I don't want to be hasty in issuing complaint to information commissioner in case this will reflect badly on how they deal with my complaint. Any advice?

Also I note that at this stage legal proceedings may be started, I'm not clear as to my starting point with legal proceedings in this case & would appreciate any direction. I've looked at other threads but want to be sure about the procedure before I begin anything.

littlewoods did write to me saying they'd located my account numbers 2 weeks ago & are collating the data so I expect they'll send something eventually. I will send them a letter giving them a further 7 days to reply before I complain to info. commissioners office & begin legal proceedings.

as usual any suggestions are much appreciated!

[nocredit]

Hi again!

I've had no response from the SAR's I sent off despite the 40 day reply period ending, was wondering what your thoughts are as to if it's worth sending a reminder letter or is it better just to go straight to legal proceedings & complaint to information commissioners office?

Any suggestions much appreciated!

Thanks from cat

[lookinforinfo]

Don't be in too much of a hurry. If you are too quick off the mark, they may come up with some feeble excuse as to the lateness of their compliance-which may well be accepted by the ICO.

Do not send a reminder, but leave them stew for a few weeks.

[nocredit]

It's now 54 days since the SARs were recieved by next & shop direct financial services. I have taken the advice from lookinforinfo onboard & have not written any reminder letters or initiated any furter action as of yet. I am now doubtful that anything will materialise from next or SDFS if I leave this with them so I think it's time to prepare my next move...

I will look through the template library for guidance & as usual will post a draft on here for any useful comments from you guys (I'd be lost without the help!), does anyone have any pointers on appropriate templates for my situation?

I don't plan to send anything out until the end of next week which will take their non-compliance to 3 weeks past the SAR deadline.

[nocredit]

I have prepared my letters to post to London Scottish Bank (Next Directory) and Littlewoods Shop Direct. I have used Alanfromderby's template 3 to tell them if they do not satisfy my subect access request within 7 days I will begin legal proceedings without further notice.

Haven't mentioned complaint to information commisioner although I will lodge a complaint there if no response within 7 days of the creditors recieving this latest letter.

Hopefully I will get something back as I already feel as though I'm banging my head against a brick wall & I've only just begun...

[itsamomentintime]

keep us updated

[nocredit]

Finally a response from London Scottish Bank (Next Directory)....

 

We are in reciept of your letter dated 18.11.07 regarding your Data Protection Act Subect Access Request.

In line with the requirements of the Act, we will action this request within 40 days of 18th November.

As you indicate in this correspondance, you have requested this information from us previously. However to date we have no record of recieving any previous communication from you. As part of our investigation however, we will endeavour to establish why this information has not previously been supplied.

If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact me direct on 0161 830 2545

Yours Sincerely

Linda Bradburn

Customer Care Manager

 

Firstly they are caught out; for once I can't complain about Royal Mail- I have the electronic reciept of delivery so I can't see how they can dispute reciept of SAR.

Secondly; they would be acting outside of the Act if they sent data without having recieved a SAR. The letter before action I sent on 18.11.07 is clearly not a SAR, I can't believe they are in the habit of sending SAR data without the £10 payment either. Incidently I sent this with the SAR in the form of postal order (cant even get a cheque book due to this default), I am going to write to the post office to see if/ when it's been cashed but I believe this takes a few weeks.

 

There is no way I am giving them more time; this was legally requested on 14th September & they are telling me they'll provide it by the end of December? Hmm- cant imagine them accepting one of their customers taking twice as long to provide a payment.

 

Will put a reply together tonight & post it on here but (as ever!) any pointers from anyone are gladly appreciated!

 

The 7 day notice period I gave them in the letter before action expires next Monday 26.11.07. As they will not recieve my reply to their above letter until the same Monday 26.11.07 it is doubtful that they will meet this deadline.

Any thoughts?

 

Also as I now have a contact name should future correspondance be addressed directly to this person or should it remain general?

 

Thanks from Cat

[nocredit]

Ok, I've put a reply together myself as I can't find anything relevant to 'borrow' from anyone else on here....

 

Thursday 22 November 2007

 

Reference: 613322350

 

Dear Ms Bradburn

Thank-you for your letter dated 21st November 2007.

Your letter states that London Scottish Bank plc has no record of receiving any previous communication from myself regarding my Subect Access Request under the Data Protection Act 1998. I have proof of delivery for said Subect Access Request which has been signed by a recipient at the London Scottish Bank, 24 Mount St, Manchester. Signed proof of delivery is admissable in a Court of Law as evidence of receipt.

The 40 day period in which London Scottish Bank had in which to provide the requested data began on receipt of my Subect Access Request dated 14th September 2007. The 40 day period has already expired and you are now in breach of the Data Protection Act 1998.

I shall not extend the timescale for you to comply with this request & may I respectfully remind you that the 40 day period is set by law and is not subect to negotiation or dismissal due to administrative errors or inefficiency within your company.

Should I not receive the data requested by 26th November 2007 I will seek a court order obliging you to do so together with damages at the discretion of the Court.

Yours Sincerely

 

I've not mentioned the Information Comissioner; should I have done?

 

Also, am I barking up the wrong tree by still threatening court action even though they have said they'll provide the SAR data?

 

I know it's a bit last minute.com but I could really use some help on this so that I get it right to post out tomorrow.

[nocredit]

didn't get the letter posted as I wasnt sure if it was right then some fool crashed in to my car over the wk end so now it's gone past the 7 days anyway; what am I supposed to write back to next- any suggestions?

Also littlewoods shop direct haven't responded so I need to start the proceedings against them, however I am really confused...

I read the Data Protection Act & can see it's section 7 that they are in breach of but do I have to cite subsections too?

someone, anyone please give me a little guidance I'm struggling to find what I need here...does anyone have any links that may help?

[nocredit]

Reply re; Next Directory default, this time from Robinson, Way & Company:

 

I note that you have sent a SAR for information under the Data Protection Act. I understand that this was initially sent on 14th September 2007 by recorded delivery, however having checked our files, we do not appear to have recieved your request.

In order that we may assist you further could you please supply us with details of your signed proof of delivery along with confirmation that you have paid the £10 fee for this information, & that this has been cashed.

Thank-you for your co-operation in this matter & I look forward to hearing from you. If you have any questions or wish to discuss this further you can contact me on my direct number 0161-830 2469.

Yours Sincerely

Hayley Felton

Complaints & Compliance Manager

 

I am of the opinion that they are timewasting & if anything I am now further from getting the SAR information than I was a couple of weeks ago when London Scottish Bank replied: at least they said they'd send it even if it was going to be another 40 days!!

Dont see the point in sending them the delivery reciept & I still dont have confirmation re; postal order being cashed. I dont see why its relevant for me to provide proof of the postal order being cashed anyway, am I right in saying that I can prove it was sent to them so its not my fault if they've not cashed it?

 

Which would be the quicker route now; court or the Information Commissioners Office? My patience with these people has now run out, I just want the info from them so I can negotiate settlement IF they agree to remove the default

Any suggestions on my next course of action?

[pt2537]

oh dear,

 

dont these companies know its actually harder to mess things up than it is to get them right:rolleyes:

 

the DPA does not place a burden of proof upon you to prove what they have done with your SAR

 

as long as you have proof of delivery thats enough, after all if it was for you to prove that they had cashed the cheque or postal order all they would need to do is not cash it and they could frustrate matters and they would never have to comply with a sar again

 

right , in my humble opinion, it would be best to make a complaint to the ico in the first instance. you can always consider court should the ico fail to deal with this adequately

 

that would be how i would deal with this, and if you can bear with me i will put together a letter to send Next to explain what the law requires as they obviously dont under stand the DPA still its been in force since 1998 so they have had long enough to read it so i dont see what the problem is

[nocredit]

Thanks Paul,

I've already got the ICO complaints form so I'll get copies of everything together and send it in tomorrow. Hopefully this will get them moving

[nocredit]

Re: Next/ London Scottish default

I've put in a complaint to the Information Commissioners Office along with copies of all correspondance with London Scottish Bank & Robinson Way

 

Re: Littlewoods Shop Direct Group

Received a reply today which reads

 

I refer to your letter requesting access under the Data Protection Act 1998, for information which is held on file by the company.

You have requested information held on our database relating to your account.

A full investigation has been carried out, your concerns have been assessed & I confirm the findings as follows;

Both of the accounts held above were opened on 23rd January 2001. Unfortunately, our database records only extend back to September 2001. As the accounts were sold to an external debt collecting agency in May 2001, we are unable to supply you with any information.

I apologise that I cannot provide you with all the data requested but I hope that my explanation meets with your satisfaction.

Yours Sincerely

Liam Lloyd

Data Protection Unit

 

Am I right in thinking that this is a good response as Littlewoods should not be passing information about me to credit reference agencies if they have no record of any credit agreement, debt or default notification?

They mention 2 accounts, yet only one is marked with a default on my credit reports; the other one being satisfied. This makes me doubtful as to their having any information at all about my accounts on file.

My question now is do I approach this on the grounds of them not having information to substantiate debt or default therefore default is not valid as has not been executed correctly?

Or.. should I take the approach about them acting illegally by passing unsubstantiated information to credit reference agencies when I do not have an account/ agreement with them?

Incidently- I have no recollection of any debt collection agency contacting me about this £34 alleged debt. This letter doesn't even mention the name of any such collection agency. Surely if the 'debt' now

belongs to collection agency it should bethe debt collection agencywho inform credit reference agencies?

Or should I approach Credit Reference Agencies & point out to them that they should not be passing innacurate/ unsubstantiated information onto other parties?

Any suggestions please then I can do my homework & put a reply together... or borrow a template if anyone is kind enough to point me in the right direction?!

[nocredit]

Here's my draft letter to littlewoods, haven't spellchecked it yet but would appreciate feedback as despite working on this for 4 hours (what a way to spend my saturday morning off work!!) am still not sure if I'm barking up the right tree....

Account Number:

Dear Mr. Lloyd

With reference to your letter dated 10/12/07

You admit that you do not have any records of the above account including credit agreements, consents for your company to process my data ,legal notices or transactions pertaining to the default that you are communicating to Credit Reference Agencies.

May I respectfully remind you of the Fourth Principle of the Data Protection Act 1998, which requires that 'Personal data shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date'.You have failed to provide evidence in the form of data as per my Subject Access Request that substantiates the default that you have communicated to Credit Reference Agencies in relation to the afforementioned account.

As data subject, I dispute your record of default & by your own admission you have no records to uphold the accuracy of any such default. By communicating innacurate information to Credit Reference Agencies you are in breach of your responsibilities as data controller under the Fourth Principle of The Data Protection Act 1998.

You also state that you have not had any records of any such account or alleged default since May 2001. Therefore the information that you are communicating to Credit Reference Agencies has not been kept up to date & again this is in breach of the Fourth Principle of the Data Protection Act 1998.

 

I notice that you continue to communicate information that is causing substantial, unwarranted damage/distress to myself as a data subject.

Therefore I am serving you with this letter as:

DATA SUBJECT NOTICE UNDER SECTION 10 OF THE DATA PROTECTION ACT 1998

As per section 10 of The Data Protection Act, I require you to stop processing information about myself as a data subject.

As you have already communicated information that is causing substantial, unwarranted damage/distress to Credit Reference Agencies I require you to take action to prevent further damage/distress by way of you writing to these agencies instructing them to remove all previous reference to the afforementioned alleged default.

On doing so, please provide me with copies of said letters of instruction & correspondance from said Credit Reference Agencies showing their acceptance & complience with your instructions to remove all references to this alleged default from my credit file.

As per section 10 of The Data Protection Act; you now have 21 days in which you must provide me with a written notice informing me of your intent of complience with this notice.

May I take this opportunity to remind you that as data subject I have a legal right to compensation for damage & distress suffered as the result of any contravention of the requirements of The Data Protection Act 1998 by yourself as a data controller under Section 13 of this Act.

Should you fail to act upon this notice I shall apply to the Court for an order requiring you to rectify the information you are communicating as per section 14 of The Data Protection Act 1998 along with a claim for damages & distress as per section 13 of this act.This will be in addition to my making a formal complaint to Trading Standards & The Information Commissioner.

Yours Sincerely

 

 

Think I should of started 2 separate threads for my next directory & littlewoods default issues; any advice on how to move threads??

 

 

 

 

 

[nocredit]

Have moved my Littlewoods Shop Direct thread now:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/data-protection-default-issues/125106-littlewoods-shop-direct-financial.html

 

From now on will just use this thread here to deal with my Next Directory/ London Scottish Bank/ Robinson Way problem.

 

Quick refresher on this thread;

I have default on my file from London Scottish Bank for £650.

I sent them a SAR in September 2007.

They failed to acknowledge this & after a few more letters from myself in December 2007 I reported a complaint to the Information Commissioners office for non compliance with SAR.

The Info Commissioner has not yet acknowledged my complaint however I received this letter from Robinson Way...

 

Further to our letter dated 3rd December 2007 & your request for information under the Data Protection Act, we write to advise you that we are now in possession of your original letter.

We apologise for the delay, however your letter was addressed to our parent company London Scottish Bank plc, and contained no reference numbers. As a goodwill gesture we are returning the £10 fee and now enclose a full copy of the data we hold on our files. Please note we are only able to supply information from the 10th October 2005 and any information required prior to that date should be requested from Next directly.

We trust this is satisfactory & if I can be of further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours Sincerely

Hayley Felton

Complaints & Compliance Manager

 

Enclosed with the letter is data from October 2005.

This is where I need some help as I want to be sure that I am dealing with this correctly...

My credit reports list London Scottish Bank as putting a default on my file therefore I was correct in SAR them, not Robinson Way or Next Directory.

Therefore my communications should be with London scottish Bank not Robinson Way and my complaint to the Information Commissioner still stands as London Scottish are the data controllers.

Was thinking perhaps I should reply to Robinson Way & tell them the same & chase up the Info. Commissioner to let them know my complaint has still not been resolved by LSB.

Any thoughts on this?

[nocredit]

anyone got time to comment on this as I'm not sure what to do next?

[nocredit]

sorry to have to bump this up but I need some help here please!

[chris600uk]

Just looking in from the cheap seats:)

 

It's looks as if you are threatening them with a complaint to the I.C.O. or Court action if they continue to publish incorrect info about you.

 

It seems to me that you've established that they have no records to substantiate the defaults they've registered.

 

Well, maybe it's time to put 'em up and fight.

I've seen a couple of posts somewhere, can't see them now, where one of us has done just that.

 

Hope that helps a bit,

 

Chris.

[car2403]

Actually, a few weeks ago, I would have said issue in Court - but now...

 

The ICO seems to have "grown some b*lls" and sorted their stall out.

 

A complaint to the ICO that results in no signed agreement should now equal the complaint being upheld and a Default removal for you.

 

Give it a go - Court is the only option if that fails though, IMHO;

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/data-protection-default-issues/111211-defaults-background-removal-methods.html

[Robertxc]

If the default was put there by London Scottish then it is them you should deal with. If it were me I would have nothing to do with Robinson Way or Next, I woulldn't even acknowledge their letters. Bottom line, London Scottish need to corroborate the Default or remove it.

Have moved my Littlewoods Shop Direct thread now:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/data-protection-default-issues/125106-littlewoods-shop-direct-financial.html

 

From now on will just use this thread here to deal with my Next Directory/ London Scottish Bank/ Robinson Way problem.

 

Quick refresher on this thread;

I have default on my file from London Scottish Bank for £650.

I sent them a SAR in September 2007.

They failed to acknowledge this & after a few more letters from myself in December 2007 I reported a complaint to the Information Commissioners office for non compliance with SAR.

The Info Commissioner has not yet acknowledged my complaint however I received this letter from Robinson Way...

 

Further to our letter dated 3rd December 2007 & your request for information under the Data Protection Act, we write to advise you that we are now in possession of your original letter.

We apologise for the delay, however your letter was addressed to our parent company London Scottish Bank plc, and contained no reference numbers. As a goodwill gesture we are returning the £10 fee and now enclose a full copy of the data we hold on our files. Please note we are only able to supply information from the 10th October 2005 and any information required prior to that date should be requested from Next directly.

We trust this is satisfactory & if I can be of further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours Sincerely

Hayley Felton

Complaints & Compliance Manager

 

Enclosed with the letter is data from October 2005.

This is where I need some help as I want to be sure that I am dealing with this correctly...

My credit reports list London Scottish Bank as putting a default on my file therefore I was correct in SAR them, not Robinson Way or Next Directory.

Therefore my communications should be with London scottish Bank not Robinson Way and my complaint to the Information Commissioner still stands as London Scottish are the data controllers.

Was thinking perhaps I should reply to Robinson Way & tell them the same & chase up the Info. Commissioner to let them know my complaint has still not been resolved by LSB.

Any thoughts on this?

[nocredit]

Thanks for the pointers

I just phoned the ICO as I submitted my complaint to them about London Scottish Bank on 13th December & haven't heard anything.

Apparantly the team that will deal with my complaint are about 4 and a half months behind on their caseload so I have over 3 months left to wait before its even looked at.

I suppose my options are now either wait or court.

Am a bit apprehensive about court as I'm assuming its a lot of paperwork; can anyone advise as to approximately how long it takes to actually get a case up in court?

If its going to be as long as the ICO I might as well wait

[car2403]

Allow 4-6 months for a Court to deal with it effectively.