Upheld: Service failures generally complaint against BAMBOO MARKETING NW LIMITED trading as Darwin Knight

Decision detail

Summary

Mr T complained that BML obtained and shared his personal details without his consent. BML had received Mr T's details from an unregulated lead generator X and passed them to claims management company C for a mis-sold motor finance claim, despite Mr T never providing consent. BML acknowledged they could not evidence Mr T's consent or confirm the legitimacy of the lead. The ombudsman upheld the complaint, finding BML breached CMCCOB 2.2 by failing to verify that the unregulated lead generator had complied with relevant laws. BML was directed to pay £100 compensation and remove Mr T's details from their system.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

BML is a regulated claims management company that obtained Mr T's details from an unregulated lead generator X. Under CMCCOB 2.2, BML was required to satisfy themselves that the unregulated lead generator had complied with all relevant laws. BML provided no evidence of fulfilling this obligation and acknowledged they could not confirm the legitimacy of the lead, signature, or Mr T's consent. Therefore, BML acted unfairly in obtaining and sharing Mr T's personal details without his consent. BML's failure to cooperate with the FOS and provide requested information led to adverse inferences being made against them.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website