GDPR/DCA

[Pedro83]

I was instructed by a local transport planning consultancy to undertake a series of traffic surveys late last year, part of a planning application. Unfortunately, the data gathered and issued was flawed and the application was rejected. You may wish to note the data had been signed off by the engineers/consultancy but the responsibility is ultimately mine, a fault I can only blame myself for. As a means of reciprocation and moral duty, the surveys were repeated FOC and subsequently accepted by the LHA, the application was then accepted and paid by their client. For obvious reasons I did not charge for the repeat work as it was my own fault. My client has been paid by their client, the developer, but they don't seem satisfied by this.

Several months on, having offered to reimburse their abortive time. I received an invoice from aforementioned company billing me for what can only be described as an OTT amount. No intrinsic value n all, I appreciate that but they are trying to pull one.

The invoice is roughly 10-15x that of what they would typically charge having checked and based on my own experience of what their clients pay. I have tried to negotiate a cheaper, more reasonable fee to no avail and they now wish to pass the amount to a DCA. AFAIK, there is no contract in place or legal obligation beyond what I have already done thus far.

Having pursued their GDPR, I note I am within my right to request information, such as family members addresses, to be amended from their records as I do not want such letters going there. The office is fine but I get the impression they won't stop there.

As above, I have tired to resolve this with them but they insist they are still at a loss which is absolute horse sh&t.

I'm hoping to know whether they are allowed to create a 'pie in the sky' invoice totalling a ridiculous amount, and whether I am able to exercise my rights in-line with their GDPR policy which states I am within my right, able to amend any information/data and prevent it from being shared**

"We do not sell or share email lists or any other data to other companies for marketing or other purposes."

Under GDPR you have the right to view, access, and amend any of your personal data that we hold

I'm left wondering what my options are given they will not entertain lowering the invoice to a more reasonable amount. The abortive time was c.5 hours, thus a 5k + VAT bill seems rather excessive. This is considerably more than their client has already paid them so they're trying it on.

My intention isn't to evade, as it was offered by myself from the off. I probably should have agreed a fixed fee at the time ... but hindsight remains 20:20.

If anyone can offer any advice, I would be very grateful.

**GDPR and DCA seems murky.... hence I will seek legal advice.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

Your right to amend your data under GDPR only applies to data which is incorrect. So, if it's a correct and valid address, that's not going to work.

And the 'right to be forgotten' is qualified, if the organisation has a legitimate need to continue to process your data, then it probably doesn't have to comply with any deletion request.

Finally, you don't say whether this is you as a sole trader, or as a limited company. If the latter, it's not a given that the GDPR will apply to much of the data anyway, ie if it's a business address, it's not necessarily being processed as personal data.

I'd say using GDPR to challenge this is using the wrong tool. If you can show that the invoice is inflated, compared to similar work done elsewhere, then I'd fight it through the courts. At the very least, I'd be challenging them to justify the costs.

 

[stevec67]

I take it that you have PI/PL insurance? Mine is £245, best money I ever spent. Someone tried to sue me unsuccessfully last year, essentially as a means of avoiding paying a debt, but I passed it to my insurers who handled it. I would have been into a few thousand defending it otherwise.

 

[venton]

Sounds like you need legal advice, via your professional indemnity insurance.If you haven't got this insurance, pay up or pay for legal representation.

 

[Pedro83]

Thanks all. Very very helpful thank you. I'm a sole trader and have all the necessary insurances. Another planning company have offered to demonstrate the price is OTT.

I'll contact my insurers today.

 

[simon g]

This sounds like someone is trying to make a consequential loss claim perhaps? Presumably you have your own T&Cs which exclude consequential loss? Most businesses do. A consequential loss claim is very difficult to sustain. Handing to your insurers seems like a good plan.