I contacted the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) about an issue with an organization and a problem with my personal data. The ICO initially replied with an automatic response, stating that a response might take 90 days. Several days later, I received a response from a case officer. However, the case officer did not seem to take my concerns seriously, did not appear to understand my complaint, and tried to refer me back to the organization where I had experienced the problem with. Throughout this whole experience, I felt like I was dealing with AI processes that didn't have the slightest clue about what I had complained about.I raised a complaint with the ICO about the way the matter was handled. Around three weeks later, I received a response to my complaint, stating that the ICO would not take any action. They also pointed out that I could take legal action against the organization myself. On this occasion, they did acknowledge my complaint and appeared to understand what I had said. However, they still did not want to get involved and fulfill their responsibilities.I believe that the UK ICO has completely failed in its duty and obligation to deal with a serious data protection issue affecting me as an individual. It is not fit for purpose.In the time between the initial data protection complaint to the ICO and raising a complaint with the ICO about how they dealt with it, I also requested some information from the ICO under the Freedom of Information Act about the number of cases they dealt with in a six-month period, the number of cases they responded to with "we can't help" type responses, and the number of cases they actually ended up dealing with. They responded that "In the first six months of 2022, the ICO received 5,768 data protection complaints and 434 FOIA complaints." They also stated that answering my request "would equate to over 826 hours' worth of searching." It is clear from their response that the ICO cannot even manage to store their data efficiently, as it would take them over 826 hours to answer my request.Someone within the UK government with the power to make recommendations needs to take a long, hard look at this dysfunctional public body.I will avoid the ICO completely in the future and wish I had read some of the Trustpilot reviews before wasting my time contacting them. Many of the other reviews on this site mirror my experience with the ICO.
