Office of the Privacy Commissioner | Case Note 0062 [1994]: Debt collection agency contacted complainant at work by telephone and then by fax
A complaint was made that a debt collection agency contacted the complainant at work by telephone and then by facsimile (fax) thereby disclosing personal information. The fax stated:
"Unpaid Accounts. Please contact us urgently."
The fax was in fact sent to the head office of the complainant's employer, rather than the branch location at which she worked.
Outcome
Following discussions with OPC, the agency agreed to revise its practices in the use of fax messages and it agreed to implement a new policy in the following terms:
"No facsimiles will be forwarded to debtors at their place of employment unless specifically requested to by that debtor".
The complainant was happy to accept this as settlement of the complaint and we therefore discontinued our investigation.