Company in Administration

[LSainsbury]

Hi,

I've had some email from a company that claims they got my email address from a company that went into administration - company A.

I'm fairly sure that when I signed up and bought some tickets from company A, I unchecked / checked the boxes that opted me out of any future mailings.

Company A has gone into administration and company B (who I got the mails from) claim thay got the email addresses from company A.

When I questioned company B they said:

Company A data was then permission passed by Company B. This process has been approved by the ICO for use where the original data owner has gone into administration and Company B has permission from the administrator to make non-selling contact via email with the customer inviting them to join Company B or to opt-out.

So just out of interest, how legal is that? Does'nt the DPA cover this kind of thing??

[Damien]

I think it's ok. DPA only prevents giving the data to third parties. If someone buys the company then they can use the data, as they effectively own the company. In this case they have taken over said company and can use the data. They do seem to be limiting the contact as well which seems fair enough to me.

[Kymmy]

As you were a customer of company A they have a perfectly reasonable right to contact you to ask if you still want to be a customer under the new ownership. You then have a right to request again not to be contacted.. Something interesting will also be if the new parent company is UK based or not

[Mr Angry]

See below.

Should be of some help to you.

[LSainsbury]

Hi all,

OK - thanks for the info.


Just found it a bit strange that if I'd ticked the boxes that I'd prefer Company A not to contact me; they then go into Administrator and are taken other by Company B - Company B then writes two to confirm if you still want to be contacted by them but the default is set to yes.

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Something interesting will also be if the new parent company is UK based or not

Yep - they are both UK.

[Kymmy]

As per Mr Angry's PDF's

Do I have to tell the individuals about the change of ownership?
The buyer should make sure that all the affected individuals are told who now has their
information. This should be done as soon as practicable, giving contact details for the new
owners and confirming that the personal information obtained will only be used for the
same purposes as before. If the buyer wants to use the information in a new way then this
will also provide an opportunity to ask individuals for their consent.

[LSainsbury]

Fair enough then!

Another case closed by CF members! LOL!

Thanks for the info all!