UK insurance company Prudential has been handed a £50,000 fine for merging the accounts of two customers with the same names & dates of birth – & for not bothering to fix the situation when both the customers complained.
The firm merged two accounts with the same christian, surnames & dates of birth in early 2007, a mistake which ended-up seeing the entirety of one customer’s retirement savings transferred to the other’s investment firm. The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office imposed the fine, the first served that doesn’t relate to data loss.
Both customers, it is reported, repeatedly told Prudential that there were problems with their accounts such as the wrong address or wrong documents being sent. In fact, both customers tried to change their recorded address several times, but every time they managed it, the changed address was copied over to the other person’s policies.
“This case would be considered farcical were it not for the serious sums of money involved,” said Stephen Eckersley of the ICO. “Two customer files were consistently confused & the company failed to remedy the situation despite being alerted to the problem on more than one occasion before it was finally resolved.”
As well as the fine, Prudential has a problem trying to get the money it transferred over to an investment company, which included the wrong customer’s cash, returned. The insurance firm also said that it would be “improving staff training & updating our processes.”
So nobody in the company is going to be reprimanded, fired or even identified as the completely useless asshole they undoubtedly are.
ThursdayAgain 
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