THERE are mix ups and there are mix ups. And then there are the kind of mix ups that leave even yours truly, with several decades of dealing with customer service in Spain, open mouthed.

What follows is a cautionary tale about data protection- or complete lack of it. 

I have a blog called Planet Marbella – mainly because Marbella doesn’t follow any of the normal rules of life on Earth.

There also happens to be an excellent restaurant called Planet Beat in Nueva Andalucia – that incidentally serves a killer margarita but that was a long time ago in my, ahem, ‘dark and hazy days’.

Last month I received an invoice from delivery company Just Eat for Planet Beat in my inbox. Being a responsible online citizen, I called Just Eat’s customer service and informed them of the mistake.

The following day I received another invoice from Just Eat to Planet Marbella.

So I called the customer service number again, to let them know that I was Planet Marbella, and not Mexican Restaurant Planet Beat. I also informed them that they had sent me confidential information about how many deliveries had gone out, as well as the name of the owner of the restaurant. So could they please amend their information as this was probably breaking a data protection law or seven.

The Just Eat customer service person on the other end, seemed a little confused, seeming to think that Planet Beat was part of my huge Planet Marbella network. If only, although you would probably want to steer clear of my tacos.

Then he did something that caused my jaw to drop open. He gave me the mobile number of Planet Beat’s owner and suggested that I call her to let her know that I was receiving her invoices!

Which I duly did. She was somewhat shocked, but when she realised that I wasn’t trying to sell her advertising, said that she would notify Just Eat immediately.

As an aside, there is a Scooter Shop in central Marbella called Planet. I’ll keep you informed if I get any of their invoices!

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