Makes you think about data protection

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tillergirl

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Post just arrived and with it a letter from a company called Traffords inviting me to try them for boat insurance.

So how do they know that my boat insurance is due to expire in 6 days? How do they know the name of my bateau? How do they know my address (this includes the house name which I seldom use - access to the Part 1 Registry?)?

As far as I can remember I have never tried them - I've been with the same people for 20 years, I have never told anybody about my boat insurance renewal date etc etc.

I know this is commonplace these days and I am not that deeply offended; indeed I have no trouble with company's trying to stay alive in this economic climate but it does make you think how much info about us is out there. Pretty common.

Sad moment over
 
I expect that your insurers sold their database to a marketing company. Unless you tick the NO box that seems to be implied on any form filling these days.

I must confess to having bought a database in the past - businesses of a certain size in designated postcodes. Who knows where they come from. Got some new clients from it though /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
DVLA sold my details to the Public.
How do I know?

Well, when I first registered my new motorbike in 1996, the misspelt my house name.

It is Fornells

On the reg document it is spelt

Fornell
s

After that, my mail is always shows on database as Fornell.
This even affects my credit rating.
If I apply for credit and spell the name correctly - it gives me no score as the address does not exist.

All of my junk mail arrives spelt wrongly.

There is bugger all I can do about it, because I have tried.

I have given up on any form of privacy, so I just run open book now. Seems to work, and I have only been subject to one scam, which was spotted by the credit card company anyway.

All of my potential insurers, even those I have never heard of, write to me just before thr car,boat,house insurance is due.

Swinton wrote to me telling me to pay my premium now as existing insurance cover runs out in 10 days. I have never insured with Swinton. Oops.


Just screwing another CCTV on the wall, and adding retinal eye scans to money laundering identification. Big Brother isnt only on the telly.
 
insurance companies have been centralising their databases for years,this is to cut down on fraud.

there are huge marketing companies out there that will sell you all the info that you need for a targeted mail shot.

I did an experiment a couple of years ago,i misspelled who my surname,anyone who rang and asked to speak to Mr***** i knew to be a telesales person,amongst the worst offenders are BT,s business pages

There is a company somewhere in the Liverool area this outfit skate close to the edge between what is legal and what is not.They will pester you to buy "advertising" in he various police and ambulance services or something along the lines of sponsoring a safety campain for schools,they told me that unless i bought one of their schemes they would sell my details to other telemarketing companies.even after telling them to "F******" their next tacktic would be to call you a few months later and say thankyou for signing up etc then they would threaten to send an invoice even if you have not agreed to their scheme,how did they get my details? they got them from a multitude of companies who collect this info and then sell it to businesses to be used for marketing.

As for the data protection act,it also protects criminals,when my motorcycle was nicked from central London,it was surrounded by security cameras,as the police could not be bothered to check the footage,i tried to and was told by 3 different security firms at 3 diferent buildings,that i was not allowed to see the footage under the date protection act.

keep checking those little boxes on any forms that you fill in,its easier for a private individual to stop the use of personall details,for a company it is impossible
 
Having just having discovered a fraud on my credit cards before Christmas, I am getting increasingly bad tempered about this. One of the first things is the banks saying that I am a victim of identity theft. NO I AM NOT. The bank is the victim of fraud - and their own fault for poor security practices. I didn't get duped or tricked. The card company was tricked into thinking they were getting a call from me because they just use date of birth and mother's maiden name. Even after new security arrangements when I called back they still used those details even though my account is marked as having those details compromised!

I didn't lose anything except the inconvenience of losing my credit cards just before I went abroad to a place I cannot mention on the forum lest I get abuse. There were clues for an investigation but as far as I can see nobody gives a toss and wants to do anything. And that makes me despair as I have a bit of a background in that sort of business.

As to the data protection act, bastonjock, the security firms should be told the problem isn't with the DPA, its with them not registering properly. Actually I bet they are registered to share data for crime investigation purposes and I bet they have restricted that to official bodies only. You should demand to see their registration - that would cause fun.

Since I am running a course again at the moment, I intend to be a bit of a nuisance about this. And anyway I can't complete the proposal form because it wants a make and model! Wots that?
 
[ QUOTE ]

There is a company somewhere in the Liverool area this outfit skate close to the edge between what is legal and what is not.They will pester you to buy "advertising" in he various police and ambulance services or something along the lines of sponsoring a safety campain for schools,they told me that unless i bought one of their schemes they would sell my details to other telemarketing companies.even after telling them to "F******" their next tacktic would be to call you a few months later and say thankyou for signing up etc then they would threaten to send an invoice even if you have not agreed to their scheme,how did they get my details? they got them from a multitude of companies who collect this info and then sell it to businesses to be used for marketing


[/ QUOTE ]

Yep, I had some dealings with them, when they got shirty I told them I was looking forward to hearing their explanations in court, because I thought it would probably be seen as attempted intimidation and fraud. Didn't hear from them again! /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
I have had the same letter, and my insurance is NOT due for renewal.

They have obviously got a database from somewhere boat related, as it had my yacht name correct, but there are other organisations that have that info. MCA ???

Radio Licensing??
 
Received the same letter this morning, however other than my name and address only the boat name used wouldn’t be on a normal list?.

I have only used 2 insurers in donkeys years (GJW & now Haven Knox Johnsom), don't suppose either of them offered my name as the would be direct competition.

I note the directors are all Hill family and although they say "engaged in pleasure craft insurance since 1965" a check at Companies house states (Date of Incorporation: 04/12/1981).

So with no bad points listed against them I had to assume they were mail shotting from a data list, but as you say where did they get such a list with the boat name on it?

Truth is I have probably done worse and it certainly is a tough time for most businesses, so from my point of view no damage done..

Peter
 
Yep:

Me too, especially as I am ex directory and ex everything I can be.
Maybe some bright spark will find the link and advise us how to shut the door????

Have fun.......... Peter
 
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