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Toronto Hydro Loses It.Name, Address, Account Number and the amount of the last bill of *some* Toronto Hydro customers came into the possession of a third party who is not associated with Toronto Hydro, meaning s/he/they had absolutely no right to this information.
Toronto Hydro customers in late July received a pro-forma note from Toronto Hydro's President and CEO David O'Brien confirming the unauthorized access but claiming not to know how it happened. Not the way to make customers feel secure. Toronto Hydro has a fiduciary responsibility, like anyone else that collects money for a mandatory or other service, to protect the information. O'Brien continues in his letter to inform, correctly, that no one from Toronto Hydro would contact any payee and request financial information. If contacted don't provide any information especially not financial information or your Social Insurance Number. If you are contacted O'Brien's tiny solution is to call Toronto Hydro customer care during regular business hours. Too bad O'Brien and Toronto Hydro couldn't be bothered to set up a 7/24 line to work on possible fall-out from something that is completely their fault. Toronto Hydro has learned that the access came through it's E-billing system. Toronto Hydro temporarily extended it's customer care line hours from 8:30 am to 8:00 pm (normal hours according to O'Brien's note are 8:30 am to 4:30 pm Monday to Friday). Wonder if O'Brien is one of those staying past 4:30 to man the phones for the Toronto Hydro fiasco. O'Brien had the nerve to state in his letter to Toronto Hydro customers, that "we take the protection of our customers' personal information very seriously." Not seriously enough or a third party wouldn't have been able to access the information in the first place! Shame on Toronto Hydro: their service is a necessity it's not like the customers can go elsewhere, for the most part, and teach Toronto Hydro a lesson in economics that they don't need to learn, when customers are badly treated they go elsewhere, not when there is a monopoly and clearly a lackadaisical approach to customer care at least when it comes to protecting their information. |
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