Data Protection Act

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Effervescent

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On Friday, 11 January 2008, at approximately 6pm my husband telephoned Card Protection Plan Limited in York to activate our new joint Alliance & Leicester visa cards. The agent informed him that as a long term customer who had been paying for 15 years she could offer a better deal than the £20 per year currently being charged for the card protection policy. The offer was to pay £50.00 for 3 years cover: thereby a saving of £10.00. He agreed to accept the upgrade. The Agent told him the fee would be collected in August.

When he came off the telephone and explained the deal to me I became concerned. The Card Guard Protection Policy is in my name (my husband has an additional card) and the policy fee is paid by direct debit from my HSBC bank account. I couldn't understand how he could possibly authorize activity on my accounts without my permission.

My husband and I have a joint Alliance & Leicester bank account. Unfortunately, my husband couldn't confirm to me which account would be debited in August because he was not asked to provide any details. I could only presume the payment would be collected from our joint Alliance & Leicester bank account because this was the only account he was authorized to agree to a direct debit being processed.

In an attempt to resolve the problem, my husband recalled the same CPP telephone number. He was told he had got through to the Tamworth office. The person there couldn't help. Also, he was not aware of the promotion my husband had just been offered by the York office. In fact, the agent tried to sell him Fraud Protection. He was given another telephone number which turned out to be a fax number.

By this time we were both feeling very frustrated. Once again he tried to contact CPP in York on the original number he had used to activate the visa cards (0845 6088860). The agent, Rodger Johnson, couldn't offer a satisfactory explanation. He told my husband that the payment would probably be taken from my HSBC account. I then took the phone and expressed my concerns about Data Protection and asked for an investigation into the matter. I was advised that someone would probably return my call the following day.

By the 23 January 2008, I had still not been contacted. I decided to seek advice from my HSBC bank. It was confirmed to me that HSBC recommend card guard protection to their customers but no action should take place without my verbal permission. I was told that they had spoken to card guard and they were going to listen to the recordings of the conversation that took place regarding this matter and I would receive a letter within one week.

To date, I have not been given an explanation. The only communication I have had is a letter from Card Guard dated 12 January 2008, thanking me for choosing to upgrade and informing me that payment will be collected automatically and they will contact me again with the details...

As previously explained, I have not personally requested any upgrade and still do not know which account is to be debited with the policy payment.

I feel I should be covered by Data Protection. It is very worrying to think that someone, even my husband, could upgrade my card protection plan and authorize direct debits on my bank account without my permission.. Can you please offer me any advice? I believe if I call the bank or CPP again I will be going round in circles because no one seems to be able to deal with my enquiry. It is expensive, time consuming and very frustrating trying to find out who is accountable and seek reassurance that my account affairs are private.

Thank you in anticipation of your help.

Denise Wrigley


(Telephone Home: 01625 268992
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You should be consulting with a British lawyer since this site's experts are mostly trained in U.S. and Canadian law.
 
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