Twice, today, I’ve had the UK Data Protection Act quoted at me, to my disadvantage. I generally like the idea of data protection, but frequently find myself at a disadvantage because of it. Why should this be the case?
The first time today was on the phone with British Airlines. As it turns out, they’re having a “strike action,” so have canceled some flights and booked passengers onto other flights. Without making it clear to the passengers that this had been done. I found this out by checking the flight status of our guests, only to find out that their flight out of London, Heathrow had been canceled. So, I telephoned B.A. to ask whether they’d been booked onto another flight, or what would happen. B.A. informed me that they could not discuss this with me, as I was not the person on the flight, and that our guests would have been informed if their flight had been canceled, implying that our guests simply neglected to inform us of their flight plans. That would be rather silly, as we’re to meet them at the airport.
If the person at B.A. had been willing to speak with me, I could have booked them a flight out of London, Gatwick. Instead, our guests are trapped at Heathrow until 8 p.m. – a layover of nearly 7 hours. They found out when they arrived at Heathrow, at which point they telephone me and told me that the oh so helpful B.A. people couldn’t get them on an earlier flight from Gatwick. Oh, the service.
The second unfortunate use of the Data Protection Act was in speaking with the Royal (pain in the backside) Mail.
A few weeks go, I ordered a pair of wired keyboards, US key layout, to replace our wireless keyboards, one of which has given up the ghost, the other of which misses the occasional keypress (truly annoying, when you type in excess of 100 words per minute, as we both do). So where are these keyboards? Well, Royal (can’t find our house) Mail claims to have delivered them on the 2nd. Right. Sure. The fact that T. is home writing most every day, as am I?
The first person to speak with me insisted that there was nothing she could do for me – that I’d have to contact the person who shipped the package, and they could initiate a search for the item. To tell me anything about the package before it had been delivered would be a violation of the Data Protection Act. HUH? Apparently, the intended recipient of a package can’t ask the shipping company about why the package has not shown up! That would have to be done by the person who shipped the package. Otherwise … their … data … wouldn’t be … protected?! Right. Even though the Royal (can’t find our street) Mail claims to have delivered it. To us.
The second person (yes – I called back, having realized I was speaking with someone of less than stellar mental capacity) told me that, no, what the “delivered 02-June” status actually meant was that they’d taken the package out that day. They should have delivered it. But, for whatever reason, they didn’t … and that, “this was a disciplinary matter, and I need you to take down this case number.” Huh?
Ignoring the second person (but I sure hope that they get our package to us – and teach the postmen the difference between Court, Street, Lane, Terrace, and Crescent, all of which are within one block of each other in this mad city), the first person believed in the magic of citing the Data Protection Act. It works wonders, apparently. She got quite sniffy when I was not rocked back in awe by her invocation of Law.
Any port in a storm, I suppose: if you need an excuse for customer disservice, you can claim that you’re doing it for somebody’s data protection. Somehow I don’t think that either of these uses were what was intended.
-D
How annoying and frustrating. It is unfortunate but I feel good knowing that this also happens in the “first world”