A blind woman has accused an energy company of failing to provide a service for the visually impaired on a par with ordinary customers.
Medina Hall has not received a utility bill from EDF Energy for more than a year.
In that time two Braille bills belonging to other customers have been sent to her address and a member of the company gave her false advice.
Miss Hall, who lives in Seal, near Sevenoaks, used to receive large print bills but these stopped arriving 18 months ago. She then started receiving Braille bills – for other people’s accounts.
The 45-year-old, who works as a classroom assistant at Dorton House School for the Blind near Sevenoaks, was concerned other customers had received her bills and had access to information such as her full name, address and utility bill account number. She said she had recently been a victim of identity theft.
She contacted EDF to raise her fears about her personal details being sent elsewhere. A customer services worker told her that Braille was not covered by the Data Protection Act.
EDF spokesman Dan Pritchard said: “We would like to apologise to Miss Hall for any incorrect information that has been sent. Any customer information regardless of format is covered by data protection rules, and we are sorry if she has been incorrectly advised on that point.
“We have strict procedures around data protection and identity theft in place to minimise the risk of fraud and take the matter very seriously.”
The company said it provides almost 10,000 alternative format bills annually to customers around the country, including Braille, large print and tapes for visually impaired users.
Miss Hall has now agreed with EDF to go back to receiving large print bills.
She said: “They need to look into how they are providing the service. Blind people should get the same accurate service.”
POSTED: 17/09/2007 09:19:09
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