betty_lo Vs barclaycard ** WON **

[betty_lo]

onto the next corporation!... just drafted my Data Protection Act request, which i will send on monday:

fao simon walker
barclaycard
head of data protection, data protection team
legal & regulatory compliance dept
1234 pavilion drive
northampton
nn4 7sg

8 may 2006


dear mr walker,

data protection act (199 disclosure request
account number 4929 xxxx

i am currently reviewing the charges that have been levied on my barclaycard account over the past six years and i would be grateful if you could kindly supply me with a complete and exhaustive list of all charges relating to the above account since may 2000; this should namely include all instances where i have been charged for exceeding my credit limit, for late payment(s) and/or for the return of unpaid cheque(s). alternatively, a complete set of statements for that period will be acceptable. enclosed, for the purpose of this data protection act disclosure request, is the statutory maximum fee of £10 (ten pounds).

i look forward to a prompt reply to my request, which under the provisions of the data protection act (199 should be made and acted upon within the next 40 days. in the event that this request is not satisfied within that timescale, i will then have no alternative but to report your refusal of compliance to the information commissioner.

yours sincerely

[alanfromderby]

Not interested in any events of manual intervation then?

[betty_lo]

i never included that bit in my letter to first direct... but i guess, it won't hurt. i shall amend accordingly so as to cover all angles should the matter end up in court.

[betty_lo]

Data Protection Act request letter sent today, as follows:

barclaycard
simon walker
head of data protection
data protection team
legal & regulatory compliance dept
1234 pavilion drive
northampton
nn4 7sg




8 may 2006





dear mr walker,

data protection act (199 disclosure request
account number xxxxx

i am currently reviewing the charges that have been levied on my barclaycard account over the past six years and i would be grateful if you could kindly supply me with a complete and exhaustive list of all charges relating to the above account since may 2000; this should namely include all instances where i have been charged for exceeding my credit limit, for late payment(s) and/or for the return of unpaid cheque(s). alternatively, a complete set of statements for that period will be acceptable. additionally, where there has been any event in my account history over this period, which has required manual intervention by a member of your staff or any other person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in such manual intervention or other evidence of such manual intervention with regards to my banking business with you. enclosed, for the purpose of this data protection act disclosure request, is the statutory maximum fee of £10 (ten pounds).

i look forward to a prompt reply to my request, which under the provisions of the data protection act (199 should be made and acted upon within the next 40 days. in the event that this request is not satisfied within that timescale, i will then have no alternative but to report your refusal of compliance to the information commissioner.

yours sincerely

[betty_lo]

hi, 15 days have passed since my Data Protection Act request and i am yet to receive a reply from barclaycard. is a reminder necessary? if so, when would a good time be to send one. thanks.

[alanfromderby]

Assuming you sent the Data Protection Act request by recorded delivery, and enclosed the payment, then I shouldn't worry for the moment. Perhaps a reminder around the 30-day mark.

[betty_lo]

letter was indeed sent by recorded delivery (and delivered the next day) with a £10 cheque (which hasn't been cashed). will wait, as suggested. thank you.

[betty_lo]

here's the latest on my dealings with b/card. i received the following letter on 30 may:

dear
data protection act 1998 - subject access request
account number

further to you request for personal data held by b/card, please find enclosed a copy of the relevant information from may 2004.

under the data protection act we are required to produce personal information held about customers if it is held electronically or in a relevant filing system. account statements dated prior to may 2004 are held on microfiche stored in date order and statements for more than one account are held on each microfiche, they are not structured by reference to creiteria relating to individuals and therefore these statements are not held in a relevant filing system under the data protection act and are therefore not required to be produced. they can be obtained from our customer services dept at a cost of £3 per statement.

this information is complete in respect of the above account relationship with you at the time of extraction.

I REPLIED AS FOLLOWS ON 2 JUNE

dear ms shiels,

data protection act (199 disclosure request
account number

i am in receipt of the documents that you have supplied in response to my data protection act information request dated 08 may 2006.

the disclosure of personal data is incomplete in that you have failed to provide a complete list of transactions and charges for the full period requested since may 2000. as a result, you have not yet complied with your obligations under the data protection act 1988.

you have a further 10 days to comply with my request. should this not be satisfied within that time, i shall report your refusal of compliance to the information commissioner.

AND THEN SHE WROTE BACK ON 7 JUNE

thank you for your recent letter dated 2 june 2006, with regard to your request that we provide a computer print out of transactions on your account to date we are unable to provide the information requested. our computer systems do not permit us to print such historic data. neither do our computer systems allow us to search for and identify individual charges applied to an account. it is therefore not possible to provide you with a print out of such charges. i would also add that barclaycard did not introduce default charges on its accounts until mid 2001, the print out that has been provided to you contains the information that we currently have recorded relating to charges on your account.

as explained previously copy statements held prior to may 2004 are stored on microfiche. the statements copied onto the microfiche in date order and more than one customer statement may be held on an individual film of microfiche. these statements are not stored by reference to account number of customer name and are not 'readily accessible' within the meaning of the data protection act. these statements are therefore not retained in a relevant filing system and therefere do not fall within the class of documents to be produced pursuant to a subject access request.

accordingly we are unable to disclose any further statement documentation to you pursuant to your request under the data protection act. as previously advised you may contact the customer services team for copy statements. there is a standard charge of £3 per copy statement.

barclaycard is not attempting to obstruct you or delay you. we are however ensuring that all subject access requests made to barclaycard are dealt with in the same way, whether or not they relate to default fees, so that all requests are processed fairly and properly, barclaycard have made it clear to customers for many years that copy statements held on microfiche are not required to be produced pursuant to a subject access request.

please do not hesitate to contact me if you wish to discuss the above issues further.

my questions now are:

shall reply again using the Data Protection Act non compliance template letter 1? or shall i wait until the 40 days expires and report them to the Information Commissioner? OR, shall i just get on with estimating the charges prior to 2004 and send them my preliminary letter?

[alanfromderby]

Originally Posted by betty_lo

my questions now are:

shall reply again using the Data Protection Act non compliance template letter 1? or shall i wait until the 40 days expires and report them to the Information Commissioner? OR, shall i just get on with estimating the charges prior to 2004 and send them my preliminary letter?

If you are intending to send the Data Protection Act Non-Compliance template letter then it is important that you are prepared to follow through with court action.

You could contact the Information Commissioner - but I would not expect any fast result

Estimated claims are not to be advised, but that is really up to you. An alternative is to put in a claim for the period you know - and then put a further claim in when you have extrcted the remaining information.

As I say though, it is your call.

[betty_lo]

i am happy to follow through the Data Protection Act non compliance with court action. in the meantime, i shall start the ball rolling with the information i have so far. cheers for the advice.

[betty_lo]

Originally Posted by alanfromderby

If you are intending to send the Data Protection Act Non-Compliance template letter then it is important that you are prepared to follow through with court action.

You could contact the Information Commissioner - but I would not expect any fast result

Estimated claims are not to be advised, but that is really up to you. An alternative is to put in a claim for the period you know - and then put a further claim in when you have extrcted the remaining information.

As I say though, it is your call.

hello, i sent my preliminary letter on 12 june based on the information i have so far, requesting of repayment of £500. in that letter i also reminded them that the clock was ticking regarding my Subject Access Request and that i would report them to the Information Commissioner and would apply to the court to enforce compliance. the deadline for my sar has now expired, do i send them Data Protection Act non complicance letter template 2 or shall i just file my claim to the court for non compliance?

[betty_lo]

just a quick update... sent my Data Protection Act non compliance letter today. also received a reply to my prelim letter earlier this week telling me to go away. expiry as per my prelim letter expires on monday, so lba will will be on its way unless a cheque turns up between now and then...

[betty_lo]

after a plethora of letters from b/card designed to waste my time and deter me from claiming what is mine, here is their latest missive offering £200 out of the £500 i am claiming:

blablabla... with regard to your request for a refund of charges i am sorry you feel the charges you have incurred are unfair. we believe that our charges are both fair and transparent and we make them clear in our t&c's, and on the reverse of every monthly statement. these charges are avoidable by staying within your limit and making your monthly payment on time.

in your correspondence you have outlined case law which you say supports your view. as i am sure you will appreciate b/card is aware of all the information you have drawn to our intention. i must inform you however, that we disagree with your legal analysis.

however as a goodwill gesture and without any admission of liability b/card is prepared to credit your account with the difference between the charges that you have incurred and the £12 fee recommended by the oft. in accordance with the charges incurred this would amount to £200.

so this letter came as i was about to file my claim with moneyclaim. shall i just get on with that or be courteous and let them know that yes, i'll have the £200 but will still seek to recover the £300?

[alanfromderby]

If it were me, I would tell them that the time for negotiation has passed, and that they have until (say 12 noon on Tuesday) to confirm that they will settle your claim in full, failure to comply will result in a claim being submitted at that time.

But that's if it were me.

[betty_lo]

alan, i like your style: stern but fair! i had just drafted a letter giving them 7 days, but noon by tues (might go for wed though) sounds much better. thanks.

[betty_lo]

hello, just a quick update. received a partial refund of £200 early august. i've recently filed my claim for the remaining amount, which was acknowleged (at the eleventh hour). and i am now awaiting for b/card to file their defence...