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Hello,
I have had multiple issues with Experian over the course of around 2 years.
In January 2014, I moved in to a new property and updated my information to be placed on the electoral roll. The council received my form of update and updated the information with Experian.
As of March, I still wasn't listed, so I contacted Experian. After being passed from agent to agent for over 3 months, all of whom said they would correct the issue, I finally had the complaint escalated to the complaints team.
Initially, and for a period of 2 months, I was told there were no inaccuracies and they blamed the council for not updating their records. I asked them to look again at the issue and they did. A month later, I received an email stating they had been at fault and the data was incorrectly handled by Experian resulting in the information not being listed on my credit file.
I was offered £50 as compensation for the inconvenience, which I swiftly rejected.
In January 2015, my case was escalated to a named person who asked me to prove that I had been adversely affected by Experian's error.
Due to not being listed, I could even get a basic bank account, so I sent them proof of this in the form of a letter from a high street bank which declined my bank application as they could not find me listed at my address. I then sent them a recording from another high street bank in which the agent stated I would not be offered a bank account unless I was listed on the electoral roll at my property.
The responses I received were a month apart, and caused huge frustration as I was eager to get the matter resolved.
In June 2015, I received no reply after rejecting their 'increased' offer of £75.
I called and requested to speak to the person I had been dealing with, only to be told they had been moved position internally and was no longer responsible for my case.
Had I not called, I would never have heard back from Experian.
I was provided with another complaints agent who was much more on the ball. He approached his management and made my case, but the offer was kept at £75. It was at this time that the agent conceded that not keeping accurate data was, as I had been pushing, a data protection breach.
I asked them once last time in July 2015 to revise their offer and provide information as to what had gone wrong, otherwise I would take the issue to the Financial Ombudsman. They stuck to their guns, so to the FOS I went.
The FOS were extremely quick, and after requesting data in order to investigate the problems - Experian contacted me and offered me £250 as a full and final settlement without the involvement of the FOS.
I declined the offer, as I wanted an investigation to be carried out and for the FOS to give their verdict on what was fair and reasonable in terms of compensation.
At the start of this month, they offered £350 to the FOS and have given reasons of 'repeated human error' as to why I had so many issues.
The offer is now on the table, but they have requested that I make full and final settlement for fear it could otherwise go to the courts.
FOS have said they can provide no further details other than the explanations of 'repeated human error' and they do not have the power to force the business to provide further information. I have forwarded the complaint to the ICO, as they have admitted it was a data protection breach, and in all honesty, I want them to learn from their repeated errors and also make them pay for what they put me through; in terms of hardship, stress, the repeated fobbing offs and the fact I now have only a very basic bank account, which I had take time off work to visit a branch and prove residency etc. The account doesn't even have credit interest.
My question:
Should I be done with it and accept their offer or take it to court? The ICO will hopefully provide more narrative on what went wrong, but their sudden change of heart and increased offers when the FOS got involved make me suspicious that they are in fact trying to avoid a larger pay out in terms of compensation.
Many thanks.
I have had multiple issues with Experian over the course of around 2 years.
In January 2014, I moved in to a new property and updated my information to be placed on the electoral roll. The council received my form of update and updated the information with Experian.
As of March, I still wasn't listed, so I contacted Experian. After being passed from agent to agent for over 3 months, all of whom said they would correct the issue, I finally had the complaint escalated to the complaints team.
Initially, and for a period of 2 months, I was told there were no inaccuracies and they blamed the council for not updating their records. I asked them to look again at the issue and they did. A month later, I received an email stating they had been at fault and the data was incorrectly handled by Experian resulting in the information not being listed on my credit file.
I was offered £50 as compensation for the inconvenience, which I swiftly rejected.
In January 2015, my case was escalated to a named person who asked me to prove that I had been adversely affected by Experian's error.
Due to not being listed, I could even get a basic bank account, so I sent them proof of this in the form of a letter from a high street bank which declined my bank application as they could not find me listed at my address. I then sent them a recording from another high street bank in which the agent stated I would not be offered a bank account unless I was listed on the electoral roll at my property.
The responses I received were a month apart, and caused huge frustration as I was eager to get the matter resolved.
In June 2015, I received no reply after rejecting their 'increased' offer of £75.
I called and requested to speak to the person I had been dealing with, only to be told they had been moved position internally and was no longer responsible for my case.
Had I not called, I would never have heard back from Experian.
I was provided with another complaints agent who was much more on the ball. He approached his management and made my case, but the offer was kept at £75. It was at this time that the agent conceded that not keeping accurate data was, as I had been pushing, a data protection breach.
I asked them once last time in July 2015 to revise their offer and provide information as to what had gone wrong, otherwise I would take the issue to the Financial Ombudsman. They stuck to their guns, so to the FOS I went.
The FOS were extremely quick, and after requesting data in order to investigate the problems - Experian contacted me and offered me £250 as a full and final settlement without the involvement of the FOS.
I declined the offer, as I wanted an investigation to be carried out and for the FOS to give their verdict on what was fair and reasonable in terms of compensation.
At the start of this month, they offered £350 to the FOS and have given reasons of 'repeated human error' as to why I had so many issues.
The offer is now on the table, but they have requested that I make full and final settlement for fear it could otherwise go to the courts.
FOS have said they can provide no further details other than the explanations of 'repeated human error' and they do not have the power to force the business to provide further information. I have forwarded the complaint to the ICO, as they have admitted it was a data protection breach, and in all honesty, I want them to learn from their repeated errors and also make them pay for what they put me through; in terms of hardship, stress, the repeated fobbing offs and the fact I now have only a very basic bank account, which I had take time off work to visit a branch and prove residency etc. The account doesn't even have credit interest.
My question:
Should I be done with it and accept their offer or take it to court? The ICO will hopefully provide more narrative on what went wrong, but their sudden change of heart and increased offers when the FOS got involved make me suspicious that they are in fact trying to avoid a larger pay out in terms of compensation.
Many thanks.
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