Adjudications and Informally Resolved Complaints
There were 102 complaints against DMA members and non-members for the three month period of January – April 2013. There were 26 consumer complaints against DMA members. Two complaints are under a formal investigation. There were 59 consumer complaints against non-DMA members many of which referred to other trade bodies, such as the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), Information Commissioners’ Office (ICO) and Trading Standards offices. There were 17 business to business complaints, of which 10 were made against non-DMA member companies and 7 against members. Issues raised by consumers and businesses included the following areas of concern: unwanted emails, mailings and telephone calls, privacy & data protection concerns, contractual disputes and claims of unclean data.
Those complaints which are resolved informally without the need for any formal action may or may not concern minor breaches of the DM Code of Practice – they would concern issues that are not regularly reported against one specific company or do not affect large numbers of consumers and where the companies involved demonstrate their willingness to take expedient remedial action. However, on occasions we formally remind a company of its obligations to adhere to the Code. This may occur where there are minor breaches, but the Secretariat deems it necessary to ensure the company is fully aware of its future obligations. The Secretariat must be satisfied that appropriate remedial action has been taken, and that the matter is not judged to be sufficiently serious to constitute a further or more formal investigation.
This complaint from a business related to a data order for approximately 25,000 records of email addresses and telephone numbers for residential landlords. The Marketing Data Consultancy had bought the data from a supplier and provided it in good faith to the complainant. It was clear that there had been a breakdown in communication between [...]
Complaints not upheld. The Claims Advisory Group is a claims company which aims to provide a complete solution to clients who wish to instigate claims against financial companies for the mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance policies. The two direct complainants to the DMC related to the failure of call centre staff to put a ’Do [...]
These complaints related to concerns from two individuals. In one case, a TPS registered individual had received an unwanted call from a legal company in relation to a personal injury claim. In a second case, an individual had received an incorrectly addressed and unwanted email regarding PPI loans to an address which he claimed had [...]
This case related to complaints from two customers who were members of one of Rocket Marketing Group’s savings club schemes. Once they were established members, Rocket had sent them a letter offering an additional product. The letter had stated that if the customers did not cancel within a specified time frame then monies would automatically [...]
