What do you make of this - car leasing/servicing dilemma
Discussion
Hi,
Before I start - mods, wasn't sure where to put this, but it's about cars in a round about sort of way, feel free to move it if you want to.
Not sure what to do about this, but it's annoyed me a bit, particularly as the leasing company in question has (and continues to) provide pretty poor customer service...
My wife got a phone call today from a company who said they'd been appointed by the leasing company to service her car. Contractually, up until this point, it's had to go to a main dealer, which this new company are not.
My first problem here is that this 3rd party company had all of my wife's details - they had her name, her phone number, her address details and they knew which type of car she had. I thought that unless you gave express permission this was not allowed due to data protection laws.
Anyway, the servicing company said that part of the service was collection and delivery, and if my wife would like to book in a date they would come and collect the car, service it and return it. Seems ok, except for the fact that someone from a company we've never heard of before will turn up and take the car away, which neither of us are particularly comfortable with, especially as we've had no communication from the leasing company.
However, my wife initially went along with it and booked it in for next Monday. On hanging up we had a quick conversation about the fact that the leasing company hadn't informed us this is what they were doing, and that it could possibly be a scam, or just a crafty sales technique to get work which may or may not invalidate her contract.
I then suggested she phoned the leasing company to check all was above board, which she did, to find the dopey employee on the other end of the phone knew nothing about it and advised she go to a main dealer. My wife then asked if she could speak to a manager who may know more and could advise absolutely. Unfortunately the manager was busy, but my wife's number was taken with the promise of a call back straight away. Unsurprisingly, due to experience of past dealings, we've not had a call yet.
What would you do with this? I think at the very least I'd want written conformation from the leasing company that this was now policy.
Also, have they breached any data protection laws and, if they have, what can we do about it? Can't stand this company, I can't name them, but they handle all the NHS leasing for south staffs pct, company name is three initials - long story but they've previously billed for mileage incorrectly (out by 7000 miles!), which has been disputed by us, which instead of putting right so we can pay the correct amount, have passed the invoice to my wife's employer, which is now causing issues (contacting them over the 2 years this has been going on is like banging your head against a brick wall) - so any way I can trip them up will give me lots and lots of pleasure.
Before I start - mods, wasn't sure where to put this, but it's about cars in a round about sort of way, feel free to move it if you want to.
Not sure what to do about this, but it's annoyed me a bit, particularly as the leasing company in question has (and continues to) provide pretty poor customer service...
My wife got a phone call today from a company who said they'd been appointed by the leasing company to service her car. Contractually, up until this point, it's had to go to a main dealer, which this new company are not.
My first problem here is that this 3rd party company had all of my wife's details - they had her name, her phone number, her address details and they knew which type of car she had. I thought that unless you gave express permission this was not allowed due to data protection laws.
Anyway, the servicing company said that part of the service was collection and delivery, and if my wife would like to book in a date they would come and collect the car, service it and return it. Seems ok, except for the fact that someone from a company we've never heard of before will turn up and take the car away, which neither of us are particularly comfortable with, especially as we've had no communication from the leasing company.
However, my wife initially went along with it and booked it in for next Monday. On hanging up we had a quick conversation about the fact that the leasing company hadn't informed us this is what they were doing, and that it could possibly be a scam, or just a crafty sales technique to get work which may or may not invalidate her contract.
I then suggested she phoned the leasing company to check all was above board, which she did, to find the dopey employee on the other end of the phone knew nothing about it and advised she go to a main dealer. My wife then asked if she could speak to a manager who may know more and could advise absolutely. Unfortunately the manager was busy, but my wife's number was taken with the promise of a call back straight away. Unsurprisingly, due to experience of past dealings, we've not had a call yet.
What would you do with this? I think at the very least I'd want written conformation from the leasing company that this was now policy.
Also, have they breached any data protection laws and, if they have, what can we do about it? Can't stand this company, I can't name them, but they handle all the NHS leasing for south staffs pct, company name is three initials - long story but they've previously billed for mileage incorrectly (out by 7000 miles!), which has been disputed by us, which instead of putting right so we can pay the correct amount, have passed the invoice to my wife's employer, which is now causing issues (contacting them over the 2 years this has been going on is like banging your head against a brick wall) - so any way I can trip them up will give me lots and lots of pleasure.
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