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.

And The last thing I want in this house is any more bloody flowers.

I actually work in the bereavement team of my company.

@dogaibu

I work in finance.

There's recently been a spate of letters addressed to people who are not deceased, but telling them they are and asking for death certs etc.

It's a massive clerical error at the credit bureau. I don't work for FD and we have had trouble too. From what i know most financial institutions have.

You should accept the 150.00 thats very generous since I'd wager that this error is caused by the bureau not FD.

I'm sorry for your loss.

Interesting I hope a financial journalist picks up this story, if that’s the case, it’s even more outrageous

@Wotagain

And The last thing I want in this house is any more bloody flowers.

Which just goes to show that they couldn’t do right for doing wrong. Which is understandable for your awful situation. But honestly, are you sure if it hadn’t been £500 immediately, you wouldn’t have been posting how £500 is nothing to them and how dare they thing that being able to make the grand financial gesture because they’re a huge bank makes it in any way OK? Do you not think you might say then that they were just buying their way out of a mistake… and you’d rather have had the apology card and flowers I’ve just suggested and you’ve railed against?

[quote Wotagain]@LosingTheWill2022
And you know all of this to be true because????

I have not received an apology, compensation is being negotiated, and the issue has not been rectified, but crack on, fill in the gaps with your imagination[/quote]
@Wotagain
I can only go by what you posted which is that you have been offered £150 compensation which means they have accepted they were at fault and no longer have you listed as deceased?
If they offered compensation without an apology that is appalling.
What issues are still ongoing?

@cocomarine
I used to love flowers, used to have a fortnightly subscription even to a flower box delivery,

But in the past 5 weeks the house has been filled with flowers of condolence, and they have become a reminder of death.

Can't do right for doing wrong - exactly.

Worked in a compensation fund for years and there are always some people that will never be happy with any amount of money awarded to them. It's a thankless job.

This is an example of a badly timed admin error where the wrong letter / person's name has been sent. The person that sent it might have just started their job, or had a bad day themselves. It's easily done. I've made similar mistake, only once, and I will never forget it or the pain it may have caused. Trust me the person that sent this has been given a talking to and won't do it again.

The bank have dealt with this really quickly and made a generous offer. But as pp have said some people are never happy with anything offered. Perhaps your anger about the death of your husband that is misplaced - if you were to read this thread in ones year's time you might see that. I'm speaking from experience. Peace.

[quote Wotagain]@cocomarine
I used to love flowers, used to have a fortnightly subscription even to a flower box delivery,

But in the past 5 weeks the house has been filled with flowers of condolence, and they have become a reminder of death.[/quote]
The reason you’ve had so many flowers though, is because they’re a cultural norm to represent kindness and thought - be that death, marriage, birth, illness, birthday... they are culturally appropriate for both commiseration and celebration. Given your husband’s recent death, it wouldn’t be appropriate to send a hamper, for example. Too frivolous potentially. Flowers have a cultural gravitas.

It would not be “wrong” of them to have sent flowers - but it would have been wrong for you. £150 was wrong for you. I think £500 would have been wrong too, though.

Nothing in your life is right, at the moment, I’m sorry.

I think you need to step back from this thread op, it's not helping you. You're getting more and more upset and it's achieving nothing.
Everyone here is so very sorry for your loss, I hope you will be ok.

@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.

This.

How will £500 make you feel better?

I absolutely think you are right to ask for 500. That’s a minimum. Huge banking corporation and their business is money. I think 500 is a tiny amount and they shouldn’t think twice.
I can’t understand the posters here who think you should not be compensated. It’s more than a clerical error- it’s sloppy and uncaring and I’m sure they don’t make such sloppy errors when dealing with their vast sums of money.
I’m so sorry for your loss OP and for this added stress. I hope you get the small compensation you are asking for.

I honestly cannot believe how many posters here think the OP is asking for a lot! 500 is completely reasonable and it is not ok to say that it’s a simple clerical error. This should not be happening- time and again by the sounds of some of you here- it’s unacceptable and 500 is absolutely reasonable to ask for. Bloody hell you lot.
I’m with you OP. Sorry once again.

Sorry for your loss,

500 YABU, take the 150 with good grace.

I'm genuinely shocked that bereavement teams regularly make monumental errors like this & that people are so accepting of it as a simple 'admin error'.

They are called a bereavement teams for a reason. Their training, processes etc, should be robust in ensuring basic checks like who has died & who the executor is, are of paramount importance. It's sloppy & shows a complete lack of respect & attention to detail. Quite frankly, if they can't accurately identify the deceased, I'd be bloody doubtful anything else they did was accurate.

Clearly the bereavement team at First Direct, don't understand what bereavement is, how the bereavement process affects those left behind having to deal with these matters or the profound effect these 'simple errors' errors can have on someone.

@Wotagain I'm so sorry for your loss & that this has happened. The bank needs a rocket up it's backside, I'm glad you've felt able to launch it! 🫖🍰🍸

£150 is more than generous of them. It was a simple mistake. Why do you feel you should be compensated with £500 for a simple error? It's just greed.

I’m no expert here but have been dealing with my elderly parents finances for a couple of years with numerous financial institutions.
I’ve had a wide variety of errors happen.
After my Dad died I received a letter similar to yours stating effectively that my brother had died.
The magic words in any of these cases are ‘I wish to register a formal complaint’.
If the company does not deal with it to your satisfaction and you take it to the next level (ie to the ombudsman) it is my understanding that IT WILL COST THEM £750 (that’s how the Ombudsman service is funded). Far more than you have been offered.
I now always raise errors as complaints and will be asking for higher amounts than the £100 I received only yesterday for the latest cock up.

Is 500 quid really going to make you feel any better about it? Probably not. Mistakes happen and this happened to you at an unfortunate time but it wasn't done with any malice.

I deal with complaints for an insurer. £500 is definitely in the bracket of compensation for an error like this.

Dear @Wotagain, please step away from here for a while. I've read 8 pages of comments, most of which think you are in the wrong. Clearly these are upsetting you as your responses show; you are grieving, you are trying to deal with an appalling and unexpected experience, but asking the question you did in such a forum was perhaps a mistake at this time. People may have been more sympathetic if you had done this in a few months, a common point being that it's too soon to be considering compo.
We all grieve, we all focus on something to help us grieve, be it rational, irrational, or weird to those not grieving; one would hope others would understand that, but some responses here prove that is not the case, and this is fuelling your anger and grief.
Step away from AIBU...

YABU

£500 in FOS guidelines would be for a serious, ongoing issue causing significant distress. Obviously you are significantly distressed but that’s due to your grief more than the one error that they have presumably corrected as part of resolving your complaint. £150 is reasonable in this situation.

I am so sorry for your loss xxx

When my DM was killed suddenly in an accident I was executor of her estate, and there were 'admin' errors by large institutions along the way.
The horror and trauma of her death made me feel the opposite, and I found that in perspective, we are all fallable and in the scheme of things I became far more tolerant and felt that some things just don't really matter.

How would £150 or £500 alleviate the distress caused? Why do you feel a monetary award is necessary? A reassurance that the person making the error had been reprimanded and a procedure being implemented so it doesn’t happen again would make more sense.

@Wheniruletheworld

Dear *@Wotagain*, please step away from here for a while. I've read 8 pages of comments, most of which think you are in the wrong. Clearly these are upsetting you as your responses show; you are grieving, you are trying to deal with an appalling and unexpected experience, but asking the question you did in such a forum was perhaps a mistake at this time. People may have been more sympathetic if you had done this in a few months, a common point being that it's too soon to be considering compo. We all grieve, we all focus on something to help us grieve, be it rational, irrational, or weird to those not grieving; one would hope others would understand that, but some responses here prove that is not the case, and this is fuelling your anger and grief. Step away from AIBU...

Perfectly put

@AlmostAJillSandwich

I'm so sorry you're hurting, but someone has made a mistake, i don't think it warrants giving you any money at all. Their offer of £150 sounds very generous to me, why do people expect money for nothing these days?

^ Agree with this. YABU

I’m sorry for your loss