Opening post Illegally???

Elbows22

I dont know if i am in the right section but il try anyway. I moved out of a house there a while back. Now due to recession etc i could not afford to pay a bank loan which was passed onto a debt collectors agency. I got a text from the ex housemate who ive been on bad terms with saying do this or do that or i will be getting in contact with the agency to pass on details of where you live and work etc and rota times ( he works in the same building - different department) - Now the funny thing is I rang the company who advised they sent a letter ,not an agent.
Now what i need to know is:
1. Is it illegal to open post addressed to someone else and if so what are the consequences?
2. As regards giving out my rota (even though unknown to him Ive been in touch with the company) - how does that affect data protection in the workplace etc?
What options do i have?

sanbrafyffe

call the bomb squad there could be a bomb inside or else 100,0000 in 100euro notes:D.good luck

Paulw

It's an offence under the Postal And Telecommunications Act. You would need to report it to the Gardai.

Any breach of data protection should be first reported to the data protection officer of your company (usually your HR dept).

Doop

What has you not being able to pay back a loan to a bank got to do with your housemate??? tell him to f* off and do as above!

Victor

You could make a complaint to the human relations department at work that your colleague is harassing you.

You can't really make a data protection complaint until something has happened.

sanbrafyffe wrote: »

call the bomb squad there could be a bomb inside or else 100,0000 in 100euro notes:D.good luck

Constructive posts only please.

D3PO

you would have to prove they opened your post which you cant really do.

Not sure what your problem is anyway you have a debt you should pay it. You have a job not paying your debts is disgusting and immoral and just like your former housemate I would shop you to a debt collection agency.

They are not breaching any laws by verbally informing a debt collection agency where you work and where you live.

.

Elbows22

D3PO wrote: »

you would have to prove they opened your post which you cant really do.

Not sure what your problem is anyway you have a debt you should pay it. You have a job not paying your debts is disgusting and immoral and just like your former housemate I would shop you to a debt collection agency.

They are not breaching any laws by verbally informing a debt collection agency where you work and where you live.

.

Of course i am paying it - they sent a letter on the current update which is a monthly thing and he txt me and said there was someone at the door looking for me and threatened to do this or that or else he would give out the info. I rang the company who said they had sent the said letter( i didnt have a chance to redirect everything) and that no one has been at the house which means that because i didnt divulge personal finances to him it means he obviously opened the letter that was sent and seen what it was about.
As far as im aware he is not breaching any laws by giving out info where i work and live etc but to give out my particular roster is a different matter.

astrofool

So, you're implying what he did by what a debt collection agency (bastions of virtue) receptionist told you?

Also, why should he run the risk of someone from that agency calling to his door, why not inform them of your new address, and save your old address the grief?

Elbows22

astrofool wrote: »

So, you're implying what he did by what a debt collection agency (bastions of virtue) receptionist told you?

Also, why should he run the risk of someone from that agency calling to his door, why not inform them of your new address, and save your old address the grief?

Think about it - if they did send someone out they are not going to lie about it because obviously they want it sorted asap......
There is a thing about informing of new address etc which i dont mind because i was after doing that myself anyway as im not going to leave bills anywhere but post was already sent but to purposely give out my work rota to someone just to cause trouble is another thing.

Tea_Bag

I dont think you're giving us the whole story here OP.

1) what exactly is the ex tennant demanding from you? threatening to "do this or that" is ambigious. do you owe the tennant rent money by any chance?
2) Why did the debt collectors come to the door if you're paying the debt as required?
3) why, when you phoned the company(to check if they sent the letter), did you not update your address there and then? it does only take a whole extra 2 minutes of your time.

Elbows22

Tea_Bag wrote: »

I dont think you're giving us the whole story here OP.

1) what exactly is the ex tennant demanding from you? threatening to "do this or that" is ambigious. do you owe the tennant rent money by any chance?
2) Why did the debt collectors come to the door if you're paying the debt as required?
3) why, when you phoned the company(to check if they sent the letter), did you not update your address there and then? it does only take a whole extra 2 minutes of your time.

My Apologies i should have made it a little more clearer:
1) The other tenant is threatening to make my personal finances known to friends or family that do not know exactly how much i am in debt - to which to be honest even though i am paying it up im ashamed to be in so much in the first place so obviously the term "personal finances" is obviously finances i would prefer to keep to myself!! Why he wants to do it is obviously because of the fact he is having a bit of trouble trying to find new tenants and to be honest with that attitude im not surprised.

2) The debt collectors did not come to the door - a letter was sent out ( He opened to letter and seen how much i owed and that it was from a debt collection company so decided to try get "payback" against me because he is stuck looking for new tenants)

3) As i previously stated i did update the address already as i did not want to leave bills etc behind but i did not get the chance obviously before the letter was dispatched from their office (and before you reply with next day post etc - these letters for some reason take 5 working days to get to my address - It is a weird situation where the townland im in is on the border of 2 counties so depending what county you put on it there is a time difference of postal delivery)

To be honest i think it is going a bit off topic here! The two questions i asked was on opinions of whether anyone knew if it was illegal or so to open other peoples mail and if so what the consequences were and basically about data protection in the workplace not A Questions and Answers session with Tea_Bag!