Courtesy of Dataqualitypro.com on twitter comes this story about how Virgin Media in the UK have sent a letter to a customer prospect addressing them as “Mr Illegal Immigrant”.

Virgin Media have investigated the issue and state that it was an isolated incident arising from data purchased from a 3rd party. This suggests that Virgin Media might have issues with the quality control processes they apply to vetting data purchased from 3rd parties.

From an IQ Trainwrecks perspective, this ticks a lot of boxes as it has resulted in embarrassment for Virgin Media and hassle and trouble for the actual householder, a Mr Needham who told the Daily Telegraph that:

… he was offended by the letter: ”I was a bit shocked. I was taken aback. I have tried to ring up and complain and they have not really done anything about it.

”They kept passing me from pillar to post. They tried to say it was not their fault, it was somebody else. It is not good.”

Other IQTrainwreck boxes are ticked when you take in to account:

1. Under the Data Protection Act 1998 (the relevant UK legislation) Virgin Media is the Data Controller and owes a duty of care to ensure the accuracy of personal data. They also have a duty to correct inaccuracies when they are reported to them. It doesn’t matter if it was their fault or not – they are accountable for their data. Other legal issues might also arise (e.g. defamation).
2. The unnamed 3rd party also has an issue as they too are a Data Controller in this context and they have failed to ensure the accuracy of their data as well, resulting in the propagation of their error into Virgin Media’s systems.
3. The simple fact that Mr Needham was passed from pillar to post with no-one apparently in a position to take responsibility or accountability suggests a weakness in the internal culture and control around the quality of a critical business asset in Virgin Media (unfortunately they are not alone in this).

One has to wonder if there are similar issues here to the now infamous case of The Irish Police and the Most Dangerous Driver in Ireland? In any event, it seems likely that Virgin Media:

• have lost at least one prospective customer
• have incurred a degree of mildly negative publicity
• have had issues with their customer service processes exposed in the national media.

Yes indeed… this is a classic IQTrainwreck.

The lesson to learn to avoid this kind of IQTrainwreck and not wind up in the papers for insulting and offending a prospective customer?

1. Profile data you are purchasing from 3rd parties. Remove records that are of questionable quality and don’t pay for them (just like you’d avoid buying bruised or damaged fruit in your supermarket).
2. Ensure your staff are trained in the relevant legislation, policies and procedures for handling complaints about inaccuracies in data. Ensure there is a clear feedback loop that can allow errors which get through your controls to be corrected as quickly as possible.
3. Don’t seek to pass the buck – once you make use of data in your processes it is your data so your organisation should take responsibility for its quality. Does Gordon Ramsay seek to blame the tomato growers if a meal he makes tastes awful? (hint… he doesn’t, but then he wouldn’t let a poor quality meal go out to the customer either).