I called in sick today. The chap who answered the phone said that another chap had just taken a message for me and passed the phone to the other chap.
The message was from a well-known government department with a habit of removing a percentage of our income.
The message didn't just say "Please call me on this number". It said a helluva lot more.
As you can imagine, I am absolutely furious. As it happens the two chaps referred to above are both decent, discrete, professional people. But that is not the point.
I am going to complain. I am not au fait with every dot and comma of the Data Protection Act but I am very familiar with its broad thrust. Having signed up many years ago to Section something-or-other of some-or-other Finance Act, specifically binding me to Taxpayers' Confidentiality, I know that what she did was wrong. I am off sick today so not really up to complaining to a department of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
But I believe it to be a disciplinary offence - gross misconduct. And I don't care if this woman, who didn't even give her surname, is a member of my Union or not. It is inexcusable to divulge anything about my tax affairs to anybody who answers any of my phones, other than me.
In contrast a few weeks ago I had a silly mess up, where British Gas invoiced me for a CO2 detector. The only way of paying was by cheque, and as I did not have a clue where my cheque book was, I never got round to paying it. So, embarrassingly, they passed it to Moorcroft Debt Recovery.
I received a phonecall asking for me formally. I suspected it was genuine because they used Ms, my official title, not the Miss or Mrs that bimbo cold callers decide to randomly assign me.
I asked who was calling. They said "MDR". I said I had never heard of MDR. They asked if I were Ms C.... I said, "Who are MDR?". The man said "Moorcroft Debt Recovery calling on behalf of British Gas." At which point I went, "Oh, right, yes, oops, do you take Switch?" Their answer being "Yes". After I had finished the call I reflected on the extreme professionalism of Moorcroft Debt Recovery who were not even prepared to disclose the nature of their business until they were reasonably satisfied they had identified the right person. Debt Recovery is often - usually -a sensitive subject, but so is Tax Collection.
If you want a laugh, though, click on this thread initiated by the lawyer husband of an almost slightly famous opera singer, on an opera newsgroup, about a fairly well known opera singer and an artistic manager.
I emailed BG about the fact that they have no means to make an electronic payment. The correspondence is in the extended entry.
My original email was on their 'contact' form. I was at pains to point out that I knew I was amiss in not settling the bill and I had no complaint that they had passed it to Debt Recovery. I went onto explain that I felt it unfortnate that nowadays they have no means of electronic payment, that I had mislaid my cheque book which I had not used for over a year, and I had had to call them on another matter and had specifically asked whether I could pay the bill over the phone. I noted that I had settled the payment by Switch with MDR on their first phone call.
Their reply
Dear Mrs (sic) C....Thank you for your email regarding the debt recovery letter that you have received. Please accept my apologies regarding the problems you have been experiencing.
I confirm that as this debt has been outstanding for quite some time now that is the reason that it has been passed on to a debt recovery agency as we were unable to retrieve the money owed. With regard to the payment method you would need to speak to Moorcroft Debt Recovery agency who will be able to advise you further as to the type of payment method they accept. This is because the responsibility of collecting this debt has been passed on to this debt recovery agency.
I hope this resolves the enquiry to your satisfaction. If you have any further queries, please contact me by email at [email protected].
Kind regards
M.... S....
>> Save time and money by managing your British Gas and Scottish Gas bills >> online at www.house.co.uk>>
We are open 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
My response
This email does not address the issue I raised, which was, specifically, that British Gas did not provide the wherewithal to pay other than cheque, which I was merely suggesting was somewhat old-fashioned.I do not have a problem with MDR who handled the matter in a courteous and professional manner and were able to take a Switch payment over the phone with the minimum of fuss.
