DSG Retail has become the latest corporation to have its knuckles rapped over losing customer data after a number of customer credit agreements were found in a skip.
Eight agreements, which the retailer asks customers to fill in if they want to get finance for a purchase, were found in a skip near one of DSG Retail's PC World stores and earned a reprimand from the Information Commissioner's Office.
The DSG Retail data cock-up comes just one day after the FSA handed out Zurich Insurance a £2.3m fine, the largest to an individual organisation for losing data yesterday.
"The documents related to transactions made two years prior and had been kept beyond the period recommended by DSG's policies for holding personal data. The company's normal procedure for destroying sensitive documents should have meant that they were transported in sealed containers to a central facility for secure shredding, but this did not occur in this instance," stated the ICO.
John Browett, chief executive of DSG Retail, has signed a formal undertaking agreeing to take a number of steps to prevent a similar breach happening again.
Mick Gorrill, head of enforcement at the ICO, said that any company holding personal data needed to ensure it was disposed of safely and data had to be disposed of rather than held onto, "to prevent information falling into the wrong hands".
I'm not surprised. My experience with PC World Business proved them to be thoruoghly inept.
They could not produce a business invoice at the time of purchase for a 60 pounds scanner. No problem, they'll print it later and post it to me. I paid at the counter and received my invoice a few days later.
Then I get a statement saying I owe them the funds. Eventually after several phone calls, I get told I havent paid, my receipt is invalid because I could have come in and bought another one on the same day, they will not query it with the saleswoman, and its up to me to proove I had paid the invoice. On the contrary, it's up to them to proove I didnt.
They eventually threatened court procedings before deciding that for 60 quid it wasnt worth the costs of doing so.
So...my only surprise is that there were only 8 agreements in the skip, instead of hundreds.