Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
BT driving me crazy over 'data protection'
My BT settop box was on the blink 3 days ago and I phoned BT. Helpful person talked my through all the checks and concluded I needed a new box and said it would go out directly. I received no confirmation text or email so phone today to check it had dispatched. Unlike my first call, the person on the phone took me through a seemingly endless series of personal questions. When I demurred they kept quoting The Data Protection Act and said this was the training and they had to do it. I was asked my address and post code twice, security password etc and then my date of birth. At this point I had had enough and threatened to close my account if the item was not delivered by a particular date. The person said they had no option but to ask all these questions. I do not believe the DPA actually required this at all. Anyone clued up on this?
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Straw Cat on
-
Certainly necessary under the DPA to establish you are the customer - which is the purpose of the password. Once you have reasonably done that, asking further questions is unnecessary and redundant
-
Permalink Reply by Roger on
-
... the GDPR is the EU response to the recent Facebook scandal over the mining of data for profit or other nefarious purposes... like the Cambridge Analytical fiasco over Brexit and the election of Donald Trump... it requires companies to have a policy and accreditation and to get customers "consent" to have their data on the company database... it's the reason you may have been in receipt of countless emails telling you that if you still want to receive communications from the company you have to give your consent... some companies take the legal responsibility so seriously that, in the case of some US news websites they have completely suspended European operations! Less scrupulous operators have used the situation to market their products in a frankly cynical attempt to drum up more business and some eminently sensible companies have taken the stance that if you continue to use their site or email then you are assumed to have given your implicit consent... it's driving everyone NUTS...
-
Permalink Reply by adamvietnam on
-
FYI:
GDPR has been being developed since 2012 long before the Facebook scandal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation#Ti...
-
Permalink Reply by Philip on
-
when i contact my mobile phone provider the security check takes about 10 seconds. I suggest that unless you are a BT customer who has been thru this process your assumptions are invalid.
-
Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
-
I think the staff in some organisations have had the wits frightened out of them by dire warnings about the consequences of breaching the new act. I remember the extreme panic at work when access to information regulations first came into force. I would imagine that as they understand what is actually required they’ll cool down a bit (not that it’s any help on this instance Phillip)
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
