Is this amount of compensation for distress reasonable?

[Wotagain]

My Darling husband died suddenly just over 5 weeks ago.
As the executor I had to contact our bank, First Direct about our joint accounts, and then of course send them the interim death certificate proving he had died. ( it’s an interim one as there will be an inquest).
This was all done within a few days and immediately after myself receiving the interim death certificate from the coroners office.
Two weeks later I received a letter from First Direct, addressed to the executor of Wotagain’s estate, sending their condolences on my death and asking for my death certificate.
To say I was upset is a complete understatement, I was devastated, tearful, shaking, and then really, really angry.
My view is the bereavement team at First Direct had one job, to get the name and details of the deceased person right first time, and not send such a letter to a widow numb with grief.

AIBU to ask for £500 as compensation for this distress?

First Direct have offered me £150 which amounts to just over 1p per day for the years that my husband and I banked with them.

You are absolutely trying it on - you are totally unreasonable

@ReadyToMoveIt

But my arse has been handed to me, and according to MN, IABU for expecting people, I mean a massive international profitable financial institution, to do their one job properly when dealing with customers at the worst time in their life

Except that’s not what people are saying. They’re saying that £500 won’t change it any more than £150 will. And £500 won’t hurt them any more than £150 will. I’d want a genuine apology. The money is irrelevant.

Well, where I work that sort of penalty goes against the team, as a marker/ warning/ reminder call it what you will

I'm so sorry for your loss.

I work in Financial Services. As you have seen on the Ombudsman website, £150 is at the upper end of the scale of compensation for one-off errors.

I would hate for you to have to go through a process of re-visiting the pain and anger the error has caused you and potentially just end up feeling even more letdown.

Errors like this are awful. Easily avoided and the cause of untold pain. I'm sorry this happened to you.

You were upset but I can't understand why money will make up for this. YABU

@Wotagain

Again, for those hard of reading and comprehension skills: My husband died I sent the requisite information confirming his death The bank contacted me, sending condolences that I had died, and asking for my death certificate I couldn’t see anything laughable in this scenario My ‘grabby’ sense of humour failed to come into play, you know, what with being recently bereaved and all that It is not about the money, it’s the rather awful failure to check basic information and do one job properly

But my arse has been handed to me, and according to MN, IABU for expecting people, I mean a massive international profitable financial institution, to do their one job properly when dealing with customers at the worst time in their life

I get your angst but mistakes happen in every organisation.

It's not a financial loss, it's really just an admin issue

@Notanotherwindow

Tbh I think YABU and grabby. It was a genuine error and you have not suffered any financial or material hardship due to it. I think an apology is enough and £150 is more than generous.

I would agree. I had a routine gynaecological procedure before undergoing treatment for infertility which the hospital were aware of. I received a letter afterward congratulating me on the birth of my daughter. I wrote back saying they should be more considerate of peoples circumstances and the hurt the letter could cause. It didn’t even cross my mind to try get some money off them.

About that amount of time after my mum's death I was furious with my dad that his mum was still alive. My dad who'd lost the woman he'd loved for 40 odd years. And his mum being my nan who I adored. The anger during that stage of grief for me was overwhelming and utterly irrational.
What the bank did is an awful mistake, no disputing that, but it sounds like your anger is leading you here and I'd worry that pursuing this too much might just feed that.

Well, where I work that sort of penalty goes against the team, as a marker/ warning/ reminder call it what you will

I work for a large international bank. Yes it would be on file, but it wouldn’t be more of a ‘warning’ if the amount given was £500 than if it was £150. And as a PP points out, the Ombudsman has guidance around the amount that should be awarded based on the nature of the error.

I agree with you, OP. That was a stupid, sloppy, totally avoidable mistake that absolutely shouldn't have happened. The least a Bereavement Team should be doing is checking their facts and getting things correct. I don't think you're being grabby in the slightest going after £500 compensation. Best of luck with it, and I'm very sorry for your loss

I honestly think I would just find it so random/ funny if the letter expressed sympathy for me dying! But I get that it me, and if you were upset then you are absolutely entitled to feel so.

It’s strange to me that an apology and £150 doesn’t help but you think an extra £350 will.

I think you are focusing on the wrong thing here, just leave it, this is not the root cause of your anguish and although it might keep you busy for a few days to chase this complaint I guarantee you won’t even feel better with £500.

Financial ombudsman investigator here - I would put this at anywhere between £100-200, £500 is not warranted & to award that there would need to be pretty massive impact from the mistake.

I'm sorry for you loss

It's a really horrible error, OP.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

@luxxlisbon

I honestly think I would just find it so random/ funny if the letter expressed sympathy for me dying! But I get that it me, and if you were upset then you are absolutely entitled to feel so.

It’s strange to me that an apology and £150 doesn’t help but you think an extra £350 will.

I think you are focusing on the wrong thing here, just leave it, this is not the root cause of your anguish and although it might keep you busy for a few days to chase this complaint I guarantee you won’t even feel better with £500.

So your husband is dead is he?

Yes, I have laughed so much these past few weeks remembering happy times, but this error has not induced mirth.

I don't think your arse has been handed to you at all. The vast majority of posts have been genuinely sympathetic and concerned for your mental health and wellbeing and the impact on you of pursuing further compensation that might not go your way. It's difficult to compose an answer to such a sad and upsetting post when you disagree as obviously it's going to upset an already distressed person.
You need to do what you feel you need to do. If that's chasing further compensation then do it. The fact that people have a different opinion doesn't have to stop you. Not one person is saying it's OK you have been upset by this and you were not owed an apology. I think it may be best for you to get this deleted as it's upsetting you more and I'm sure this is the last thing you need. Take care of yourself.

@DesignerRecliner

Financial ombudsman investigator here - I would put this at anywhere between £100-200, £500 is not warranted & to award that there would need to be pretty massive impact from the mistake.

I'm sorry for you loss

Interesting, and massive impact is measured how?

An award of over £300 and up to around £750 might be fair where the impact of a mistake has caused considerable distress, upset and worry

I’m sorry for your loss OP and your upset.
However if they offer you £150 and you refuse it, If you go to the ombudsman, you’ll certainly not get any more than that. They’ll deem the bank’s stance is fair. They always advice banks on the minimum they can pay for emotional distress and once that’s met, they deem the bank’s stance as fair.
However, from the post, I can see that you’ll keep at it but imo, £500 seems grabby.

@Wotagain

Again, for those hard of reading and comprehension skills: My husband died I sent the requisite information confirming his death The bank contacted me, sending condolences that I had died, and asking for my death certificate I couldn’t see anything laughable in this scenario My ‘grabby’ sense of humour failed to come into play, you know, what with being recently bereaved and all that It is not about the money, it’s the rather awful failure to check basic information and do one job properly

But my arse has been handed to me, and according to MN, IABU for expecting people, I mean a massive international profitable financial institution, to do their one job properly when dealing with customers at the worst time in their life

I'm so sorry for your loss but you come across more and more unreasonable and clueless with each post.

I would imagine, irrespective of the size of the organisation, that this role is fulfilled by regular admin people who will make mistakes. In a milk delivery company they may send someone two pints one day instead of three. In a garage they may book two cars in for an MOT on the same day. In this instance, whilst the ramifications are bigger on an emotional scale it's a genuine human error.

I also work for a bank. And £150 would be the sort of offer we would also make. As it was a one of admin error

It seems clear you’re grief at your loss has caused misplaced anger at an admin error from a banking institution and now you want to ‘make them pay’ I don’t think this thread is going to be useful to you as you are not thinking clearly and just getting angry at posters who are pointing this out which can’t be good for you.

@Wotagain

My beloved DP passed on 25th January. I'm posting to say i hear you, completely and utterly. Your world is shattered and what remains of it can't even function efficiently to allow you to the things demanded of you in terms of red tape when you are gritting your teeth, trying to be polite, trying to be as efficient as you can, trying to be mindful of other people and their grief......it goes on and on and there is no way to escape. It's not grabbiness, it's trying to get across to an institution that their customers, at their most vulnerable, require effective administration processes that do not cause additional distress, and sometimes it takes a swift kick to the wallet for them to really take notice. You have been distressed and inconvenienced, due to shoddy processes.

During my "grief journey / process" I have encountered and been told of many such instances - given that many people die every day and processes are pretty standard, attention to detail should be top of the list.

I too have an interim death certificate. When it came through, it had an out of date address by 20 odd years on it. I had corrected it at the first hospital he was at, and the second. And speaking to the coroners office. Multiple times. Getting new certificates with the correct address on delayed release of my DP for burial. Not only that, but the address was incorrect online for the Tell Us Once thing. So I rang the coroners who were going to email me a new reference number. Embroiled with funeral arrangements I chased it up this week. I am still waiting.

I have been transferring direct debits from my DPs account before it gets sorted out. Utilities, that sort of thing. Mostly fine. Except our water supply company won't do it without seeing a death certificate. Which I have emailed to them. Standard response time according to the automatic reply - 10 days, but they are very busy so it might take longer. If I get any grief over lack of payment when his account goes out of action, they'll get the rough end of my tongue.

So, OP rage away. It is part if the grieving process for sure, especially when a loss is out of the blue and sends you reeling. No-one gets to tell anyone else how they "do grief", no-one gets to judge or set time limits or question whether your being rational or proportionate because love and grief have their own kind of madness that has to work itself out in it's own time. Rushing it, suppressing it, hiding it - these things store up problems of their own and can prolong the agony even more.

I send you love OP, and absolute solidarity

I agree you need to step back now, you asked if YWBU and most people say you are. You've had an apology and an offer of compensation, more money isn't going to make a difference.

@Wotagain you've had no 'material loss', you've not had a financial detriment. The trouble and upset occurred on receiving communication in the wrong name - which would absolutely be upsetting. But for purely distress and upset, I would award £100-150, and I've been with FOS for 6 years, so have seen plenty of similar cases

I'm so sorry for your loss but I do feel that this was a genuine mistake.
I do t believe that it warrants compensation.