When does Data Protection cease to be in the interests of those it claims to protect?
Well, let me tell you a little story ...
Today was book launch day for me so Mr Misfit and I headed to our lovely local pub on Putney Common with The Alfie Dog for a quick lunch and a glass of wine. As we crossed the common we spotted two lads on a scooter chucking (what I thought was) a bag of rubbish. Grumbling and complaining about their lack of consideration for our environment, we approached it. It was only when we got closer that we realised that it was a hand/baby changing bag. Once we realised that the bag contained a purse, bank cards and car/house keys it was too late. The little b*stards had done a runner before we could get their number plate.
SO ... off we headed to the pub where the young barmen were very helpful, offering the phone and advice.
Far more helpful than the police when we called 101.
'We don't deal with lost property.'
Erm, it's not lost property, it's clearly a theft (or possibly a mugging and the poor woman could be bleeding to death somewhere?!)
Furthermore, they only took details of where the bag had been dumped and OUR contact numbers - not the victim's name or address, which was on her driver's licence.
We then asked if they could contact her via the DVLA, knowing they have access to their records.
Nope!
Really? Wouldn't that make sense? Give her a call, put her mind at rest and stop her cancelling her cards or having her house locks changed?
OK. So, following their guidance (I use that word loosely), we called NatWest and asked if THEY could give her a call. We were then told that they could only report her card as stolen. Even when we explained that we didn't expect for them to give us her number, all we wanted was for them to contact her and say we had her bag, bank cards and HOUSE keys - with her ADDRESS - we hit a brick wall.
Madness!
It seemed easier to head to her house - basically giving up on a world that has gone PC to the point of obstruction.
No-one home.
Left a note and our mobile number.
Eventually we received a call from a police constable who told us that he was with the lady who was terrified that the b*stards might have broken in to her home with her house keys. No sh*t, Sherlock!
To cut a long story short, we have now delivered the bag back to the frazzled mum and, had the system worked more efficiently, she might not have had QUITE such a crappy day. She told us that the police were just leaving her house and telling her that she'd need to have all the locks changed, at considerable expense, when she just happened to see our note in the letterbox.
She called us her 'angels'.
If it wasn't for 'angels' like us and if the bag had fallen into the wrong hands, the police and the banks would have been partly responsible for the possible outcome. Surely authorities should act while the trail's still hot and realise they have it within their power to shorten the victim's agony by reuniting them with their precious belongings as quickly as possible and prevent any further angst.
God help us if the man in the street has more common sense than those whose duty it is to 'protect' us.
Showing posts with label data. Show all posts
Showing posts with label data. Show all posts
Wednesday, 2 December 2015
Monday, 14 July 2014
Don't Mess With Me, O2 Mobile
It's a ranty blog I'm afraid but I'm standing up for the little people and all those who have been lied to by O2 Mobile.
At the beginning of the month, the teen's contract on his Blackberry was due to run out. Now we're talking a young man who uses an extraordinary amount of data in a month so he knew he had to be very careful about the next deal he got himself into.
After endless calls to their 'advisers' and 'Gurus'- trust me, I am now using both terms VERY lightly - he was told in a black and white transcript on 'chat', later confirmed in an email, that he'd be allowed unlimited data but his speed would be slowed down to 15 kb/s, but not stopped, once he reached his allowance. He also wouldn't have to pay any extra for this. Their website also states (at time of writing):
If you don’t purchase additional data and continue to use the O2 network, your service will be slowed down.
So we weren't best pleased to find, two weeks into the new phone contract, that this was an out and out lie. On reaching his limit today, his data allowance was stopped altogether.
I was not a happy Misfit when I found that, due to the fact that my son's phone is in my name, I had to spend the best part of an hour on the phone to be talked over, talked down to and eventually told by 'Matthew-I'm-Sorry-I-Can't-Give-You-My-Surname' that there was 'no one above him' (Oh, perlease!) and we had clearly been 'misadvised'.
So that means that we had entered into a contract based on false information. Fact. So if I go and buy a car and the salesman tells me the brakes are fine but the first time I drive it, I find myself wrapped around a tree due to brake failure, my family would just have to console themselves with the fact that I'd been 'misadvised' would they?
By my reckoning, 'misadvising' is telling porky-pies - unless the 'adviser' hasn't been given up-to-date information - in which case they should at least check their facts when asked to clarify a specific point. In any event, the company should stand by what clients are told by their representatives.
I was then offered the option of buying a 'bolt-on' to resolve the situation. Excuse me? My sausages and cauliflower cheese are burning in the oven while I try to sort the mess you've created and you expect me to pay extra for the privilege? I don't think so.
At no point could I get 'Poor-Matthew-With-No-Surname' to admit that we were at a deadlock ('I'm not at liberty to answer that question') and that my only option would be to take our complaint to OFCOM - the one bit of training these so called 'Gurus' must have received is to just keep talking over people until they roll over and die.
But I am The Misfit so I carried on regardless until I eventually spoke to someone above 'Poor-Matthew' - yes, such individuals do exist, you poor deluded man! This gentleman was so helpful and so polite, he was even able to give me his surname - funny, that! But he could still only admit that we had indeed been given false information and was actually surprised when I quoted his company's website info back at him.
'No. That shouldn't still be on our webpage.'
More lies, I told him.
I was met with what I can only imagine was a panicked silence. Eventually the deal that was put on the table to me was a fair one and one that I was prepared to accept. But we can't be the only people having the wool pulled over our eyes by tricky words and back-tracking on deals, so I won't leave it at that - I once won a case for my mother over a £500 gas bill because they'd stopped sending her bills even though she'd alerted them to the fact!
Anyone that knows me will know that I won't be unfairly treated, lied to or 'misadvised' - that's a surefire way to get The Misfit's feathers ruffled. And you don't want that!
At the beginning of the month, the teen's contract on his Blackberry was due to run out. Now we're talking a young man who uses an extraordinary amount of data in a month so he knew he had to be very careful about the next deal he got himself into.
After endless calls to their 'advisers' and 'Gurus'- trust me, I am now using both terms VERY lightly - he was told in a black and white transcript on 'chat', later confirmed in an email, that he'd be allowed unlimited data but his speed would be slowed down to 15 kb/s, but not stopped, once he reached his allowance. He also wouldn't have to pay any extra for this. Their website also states (at time of writing):
If you don’t purchase additional data and continue to use the O2 network, your service will be slowed down.
So we weren't best pleased to find, two weeks into the new phone contract, that this was an out and out lie. On reaching his limit today, his data allowance was stopped altogether.
I was not a happy Misfit when I found that, due to the fact that my son's phone is in my name, I had to spend the best part of an hour on the phone to be talked over, talked down to and eventually told by 'Matthew-I'm-Sorry-I-Can't-Give-You-My-Surname' that there was 'no one above him' (Oh, perlease!) and we had clearly been 'misadvised'.
So that means that we had entered into a contract based on false information. Fact. So if I go and buy a car and the salesman tells me the brakes are fine but the first time I drive it, I find myself wrapped around a tree due to brake failure, my family would just have to console themselves with the fact that I'd been 'misadvised' would they?
By my reckoning, 'misadvising' is telling porky-pies - unless the 'adviser' hasn't been given up-to-date information - in which case they should at least check their facts when asked to clarify a specific point. In any event, the company should stand by what clients are told by their representatives.
I was then offered the option of buying a 'bolt-on' to resolve the situation. Excuse me? My sausages and cauliflower cheese are burning in the oven while I try to sort the mess you've created and you expect me to pay extra for the privilege? I don't think so.
At no point could I get 'Poor-Matthew-With-No-Surname' to admit that we were at a deadlock ('I'm not at liberty to answer that question') and that my only option would be to take our complaint to OFCOM - the one bit of training these so called 'Gurus' must have received is to just keep talking over people until they roll over and die.
But I am The Misfit so I carried on regardless until I eventually spoke to someone above 'Poor-Matthew' - yes, such individuals do exist, you poor deluded man! This gentleman was so helpful and so polite, he was even able to give me his surname - funny, that! But he could still only admit that we had indeed been given false information and was actually surprised when I quoted his company's website info back at him.
'No. That shouldn't still be on our webpage.'
More lies, I told him.
I was met with what I can only imagine was a panicked silence. Eventually the deal that was put on the table to me was a fair one and one that I was prepared to accept. But we can't be the only people having the wool pulled over our eyes by tricky words and back-tracking on deals, so I won't leave it at that - I once won a case for my mother over a £500 gas bill because they'd stopped sending her bills even though she'd alerted them to the fact!
Anyone that knows me will know that I won't be unfairly treated, lied to or 'misadvised' - that's a surefire way to get The Misfit's feathers ruffled. And you don't want that!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)