UK data watchdog whacks £300k fine on biz that made 9 million nuisance calls A Liverpudlian business was today slapped with a £300,000 fine for making 8.7 million nuisance calls. The Information Commissioner’s Office said Holmes Financial Solutions had paid “no heed” to telephone marketing laws or to the distress such calls can cause. The biz, which offers services like debt management, was found to …
You mean like Elementary Finance Ltd incorporated 14/07/07 with the directors being Mr Robert Mark Carson and Mr Mark Anthony Foley who are also the directors of Holmes Financial Solutions Ltd with both companies sharing the same registered address, Elementary Finance also do not currently have a web presence whereas Holmes do. They could always use Homes Insolvency Ltd incorporated 3/11/17 that would save on stationary. There's also CFJ Holdings Ltd (Carson/Foden/Jones - Jones is a director of Holmes).
The rabbit hole is deep.
This is the rot from within. The Govt sets up the ICO but fails to empower them with the ability to genuinely punish the offenders but still gives itself a huge fucking pat on the back for a job well done. Meanwhile, that dataset with all those contact details merely gets sold to another startup who repeats the cycle all over again.
The ICO isn't worth shit.
"verbal assurances from its data dealers"
Not worth the paper it's... Oh wait.
Seriously, these data dealers and the company know exactly what they are doing and why they don't give written assurances. We need legislation that if you sell data for marketing you must specify, where it's from, what consent you have, and how you obtained it then to not do so leaves the managing director of both companies criminally liable.
When is the ICO going to do the same for the "Green Deal Funding" double glazing people? Their recorded message comes through several times a week as "International".
I have even followed up the call-back to get more information about the UK company behind it. Ended up with a mobile number ostensibly from their call centre. That number is also one other people have raised with the ICO for direct marketing "Green Deal" calls.
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"When is the ICO going to do the same for the "Green Deal Funding" double glazing people? Their recorded message comes through several times a week as "International"."
I get similar ones offering "green deal" or "scrappage" (I forget which) for oil fire boilers, only people on benefits being eligible. Never having had an oil fired boiler or claimed benefits, I'd realy like to know where they get their data from. Sadly, despite pressing "5" for more information at least three times now, no one has bothered to call me back.
Company entering liquidation in 5....4....3...2....
Its a farce, just like much of the alleged protections in place.
Make the directors criminally liable with high penalties and forfeiture of both business and personal assets. Its the only way to deal with this scum.
And how about the illustrious El Reg submitting an FOI request to the ICO asking (a) the total number of companies fined, (b) the number that actually paid up, (c) the total of all the fines imposed, and (d) the amount of money that has actually been handed over? (Assuming of course that it hasn't already done that.)
Might be useful ammunition in persuading HMG that allowing the guilty to go into liquidation and start again the following week with a different name is not, and never has been, acceptable. It would be legislative change that would be welcomed by (nearly!) all.
Ah, but it does matter.
The call handlers were acting as the firm's agents. Even though the law dates back to the late 19th centure (with various revisions), it's still very relevant today.
For a while I was being spammed by emails inviting me to "improve my credit history" by taking out a high-interest credit card from several of the banks that focus on the sub-prime market. The mail was being generated by a third party mailing house "not directly from the advertiser"
The complaint bounced between the ICO and Financial Ombudsman. Until the ICO confirmed that the banks, when they engaged their agent, should have undertaken due diligence that I had given clear consent to receiving these details. I accepted £1000 from each of them for my distress at being targeted for a sub-prime credit card, and a further £1000 when one bank's agent started emailing me again 13 months later.
Company directors names are recorded and available for Companies Act purposes, as required by law, at
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/08506845/officers
Carson, Robert Mark (total 6 directorships)
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/kyZAVW9xcTdV7zV99Ouzj47iCjg/appointments
Foley, Mark Anthony (total 6 directorships)
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/DKVuVuv8JHHH2KEnQoF76XUxDZI/appointments
Jones, Mark (total 3 directorships)
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/2wsi50Y9sVXE4pKOOg77bDNSYhU/appointments
Share and enjoy, especially if you're passing near their address for correspondence (again as required by UK Companies Act), at 35 Meridian Business Village, Hansby Drive, Speke, L24 9LG.
But remember to do your due diligence before visiting, otherwise you risk getting fined 3p for every time you interrupt them without authorisation. That's the way it works, right?
Just 2 days ago I received a phone call for a "vacation getaway" that also mentioned a website so that you could select your friends to enjoy the same amazing deals.
A quick WHOIS search and public records revealed the owner of the business.
The owner didn't find it very amusing when I called to ask him if he'd like to participate in a short survey.
"Its a shame you had to breach [whatever] EULA for that though"
The lawfulness of shrinkwrap and clickthrough EULAs is very rarely tested, let alone proven, in the courts. That applies to the UK and elsewhere, the theory being that once the first one is definitively proven unenforceable, the whole clickthrough/shrinkwrap can of worms becomes unenforceable.
Do you have a simple pointer to the whois EULA to which you refer?
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