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[Jaowon]

Last week I received a call that basically said

"Hi is this Mark Barnes?"
"Yes"
"It's Fredd Blogs at Plusnet, we're ringing you to tell you that the credit card details on your account have expired and the payment is due at the weekend"
"Ok which account"
"The one with the credit card with the number ending 1234"
"That tells me nothing, what is the account name"
"I can't tell you that, it's the one with the credit card number ending 1234"
"I have about 50 accounts with you, if you give me the name, I will make sure the details are updated"
"No sorry, it's the one with the current credit card number ending 1234"

I can't see any reason why bod couldn't tell me the account name, i.e. if you ring the number associated with the account and called me by my name then there are no privacy implications.

It turned out that I eventually found several accounts that had said last 4 digits on, but it was a big task.  If you're trying to be helpful, at least BE helpful.

[MauriceB]

Frustrating I know.  The banks have this down to fine art - they call and expect me to give them some identity check info so that I can prove who I am before they can continue the conversation.  Before complying, I request some ID check from them, so that they can prove who they are and are not scammers trying to get my details.  Deadly embrace   They generally have no way to prove who they are - but more importantly have no concept of any requirement to so do!

Perhaps this is an important area that PlusNet need to address. 

Maurice

[nadger]

I took great delight in asking HSBC for proof of identity, a few years back, when they phoned about my business account. It was purely an unwanted sales call.

I got letter three days later confirming that call had been genuine 

[mjtaylor]

Hi Jaowon,

Sorry about this. As far as I understand it, if we call you on a contact number that's on the account we don't need to worry about DPA checks (though they certainly could have run through those with you). I'll have a word with the team concerned tomorrow for you.

[godsell4]

Not sure this is just an issue about DPA, rather you are getting an unrequested call from somebody who may or may not be genuinely from PN ... surely it is the customer needing a way to validate that call is from a genuine person from PN. This is not going to happen.

SW.