Not upheld: account access and authorisation; data protection complaint against Qmetric Group Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr J complained that Qmetric refused to allow him to change payment details over the phone for his mother Mrs J's home buildings insurance policy, citing data protection rules. Mr J argued he should have been able to make changes as he set up the policy, paid the premiums with his card, and his email was on the account, and that his mother's elderly age, lack of tech-savvy skills, and inability to speak English made it necessary for him to act on her behalf. Qmetric maintained it could not take instructions from an unauthorised person and later added Mr J as an authorised party after receiving email consent from Mrs J in her native language. The ombudsman did not uphold the complaint, finding that Qmetric acted reasonably in protecting the policyholder's account and that Mrs J was able to provide authorisation via email, contrary to Mr J's assertions during the call.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Qmetric acted reasonably in protecting the policyholder's account from unauthorised access by refusing Mr J's request without proper authorisation. Although Mr J's payment card and email were associated with the policy, this did not establish his right to make changes to an account in his mother's name. The ombudsman noted that Mrs J was ultimately able to provide authorisation via email, contradicting Mr J's assertion during the call that this was impossible. Qmetric went outside its established processes to accommodate Mrs J's circumstances by using a translation tool. The ombudsman considered the Financial Conduct Authority's Consumer Duty and the Equality Act 2010 but concluded it would not have been correct for Qmetric to make changes without proper authorisation.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website