Leaders in trouble with watchdog after complaint over touting letter
Leaders Sales, which is a division of the LRG group, has been admonished by the Advertising Standards Authority for sending an unsolicited letter to a member of the public.
Leaders has been given a slap on the wrist by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after one of its branches sent out an unsolicited letter to a member of the public.
The advertising watchdog tells The Neg that the matter had been resolved informally after a homeowner complained about a letter sent to them even though their property was not on the market.
The ASA says: “A complainant contacted us about unsolicited letters being addressed to him from Leaders Sales Ltd. On that basis we closed the case.
“We approached the advertiser, and the Assistant Lettings Manager confirmed the removal of the complainant’s details from the company’s marketing database. On that basis we closed the case.”
It’s not known which branch thew complaint relates to but it’s likely that they got off relatively lightly with just a telling off from the ASA as breaches of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) can often be severe.
GDPR came into effect on May 25th 2018 and provides a legal framework for keeping everyone’s personal data safe by requiring companies to have robust processes in place for handling and storing personal information.
Experts have previously warned the industry that it has become too relaxed about the pitfalls of data management errors, leaving it exposed to claims or censure by the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Leaders Sales is based in Wokingham and is one of the main trading companies of the LRG group.C
Comment
Kiersty Sims, Group Marketing Director for Leaders, says: “As a company we place great importance on a responsible use of data and have a dedicated and qualified team who work on this.
“We are sorry to learn there has been any mismanagement of data or communications, our Data Protection Officer has not been contacted regarding the issue, but we will look into it as soon as the ASA ruling is released.”