Changing Broadband and Phone contracts after DH death- enraging

[Angelabdc]

My husband died suddenly last month- its been a horrible time but I am a very practical, task oriented person and I took refuge in organising all the things that need organising around death as a way to keep productive. All of this was going relatively straightforwardly until I had to try and change our family broadband and mobile phone contracts from his name to mines- and that's been horrendous.

Firstly I tried to do this online but the guidance there was just baffling- so I took myself and my YA son to the high street store where I thought I might benefit from talking to a human being.

As soon as I explained the situation we were swarmed around by about six over eager assistants. I was told that instead of just transferring I would need to start a new contract for the phone, which meant a new sim for my son's phone. I had to sign a bit of paper cancelling my husband's contract meaning I've lost all the data on his phone.

Then the broadband - again told I could not just transfer but that I needed to get a new wi-fi box installed, and that I'd have to do this myself (but that it was really easy). Various bits of paper shoved in front of me and I was told to sign a new contract or I would lose my signal by the time I got home. Various things were said that I would get some emails and advice through the post, but that I could ignore some of it though I would need to read and sign some others. I was also instructed to leave positive online reviews for all the staff who dealt with us.

When we did get home, totally bamboozled, as it turned out our signal has become extremely shaky, cutting out for a few minutes at a time. So I phoned customer services and once I'd explained that no I didn't Ķnow the 6,7 and 8th letters of my husband's password, I finally spoke to someone who advised that this would continue to be the case until the new wifi server was installed (it hadn't arrived yet).

They at least offered the services of an engineer to come out and install the new server properly. Hopefully once that's done things will settle down.

However I've got no clear idea how much I'll be paying or when. I'm not an idiot- maybe I'm not functioning at my full capacity at the moment but this has defeated me. The entire process seems designed to obfuscate and be as confusing as possible.

The company should have a bereavement number please ring them. It’s appalling how you have been treated. Condolences for your loss

Thank you, but I did go through bereavement advice on the website and later via customer service. The person I spoke to on the phone was sympathetic and did their best to help but this is a structural problem, in the organisation and I suspect in the industry.

Social media, post on the companies pages. Name and shame it might help.

So sorry for your loss OP.

This is upsetting to read. I’d ring them again and complain. This is presumably a big company, they really should be doing better here, it’s not good enough.

Sorry for your loss OP. This company has behaved appallingly. When did you sign up and does it have a cooling off period?, if so I would 100% cancel and start fresh with a new company. I'm interested to know which shister company this is!

I’m so sorry for your loss. I completely understand your frustration. My DH died just over a year ago, very unexpectedly.

Dealing with utilities, phone company and the DVLA was horrendous. It makes me so cross that these companies are so useless at dealing with bereavement, when you consider that people die all the time!

I also used bereavement lines etc., but the service was appalling.

I’m sorry you’re being treated so badly, it’s disgusting.

You have my sympathies.

I found both the mobile provider and HBOS to be
awful (that lot made my mum and me go through a teams call in branch that kept cutting out and all this for his visa account which had £40 on it ) and both between them made a already sad situation a lot bloody worse.

This should gave been handled far more sensitively by the company bereavement team. I also found such staff to be mainly salespeople and without much knowledge in these situations.

I would further contact the bereavement team and if you get no further then contact Ofcom and or Martin Lewis in that order.

I learnt the hard way that the only way to unlock my late father’s phone was to have his password, something that I did not know. I was informed that his Apple phone and contract died with him. Unless there was something in place like a legacy contact (basically naming someone else to have access to the phone) there is nothing that can be done to unlock a phone.

I am so sorry for your loss.

My situation is in NO way comparable to yours - a sudden bereavement is horrific - but I am posting because I had the exact same situation when I divorced and tried to extricate myself from various contracts. Mobile phone / internet was the worst because I lost my number, my phone was wiped, all my photos/notes - new number needed for DC1 - they were awful.

I am really sorry. This is the last thing you need.

Name and shame on social media if you have the energy.

So sorry again for your loss 💐

I have notified all the companies - financial, utilities, store cards, pensions etc etc - but can’t bring myself to call his mobile and broadband provider as I have a terrible feeling of foreboding that they will be horrendous.

I’m sorry, the admin that comes from a death is the last thing anyone wants to be doing when grieving, and companies really need to address how they respond on these situations 💐. Complain if you feel up for it, or let it go if you’d rather, whatever works best for you xx

Barclays when my MIL died. We had to go into a branch to close the account. They insisted. We tried to get an appointment but it was very v difficult. We were told there were walk in appointments if you were there early. We went and queued outside the bank branch before opening time and there were others doing the same. I'm not sure all of them got an appointment. It was early January (not this year) and freezing cold.

When we went in they called my MIL "Mum" as in "Mum passed away". So crass. She had a name.

They tried to get us to see a financial advisor. A selling opportunity for them.
A coffee would have been more appropriate.

We closed the account and walked out.

That branch is closed down now.

Pathetic behaviour.

So sorry for your loss and this horrible experience.

So sorry for your loss 🌺

The problem with Utilities in general is that as they are governed by the FCA, there are a ridiculous number of ‘rules’ they have to abide by. I think it’s shameful and needs an overhaul. What’s the bloody point of having the ‘tell them once’ service to then have to go through such rigmarole with literally every organisation you take a service from?

As a postscript to my original post I had to get an engineer out today as my self- installed broadband did not work. I was promised an appointment between 8am-1pm. After 4 phone calls to the customer helpline an engineer can out at 4.45. He was a lovely guy, explained that his company allocate far too short a time period to appointments and that he is not allowed to contact customers directly until they are the next job scheduled. He said he'll be working till 9pm tonight. He also told me that he has to leave me a survey to complete, and that anything other than all "5s" would lead to him getting pulled up by his area manager for questioning. So at last, nearly two weeks after going into the store, I have broadband and a working phone. This system is broken and I feel for everyone subjected to it. I don't want to mention names where there is the possibility of someone being identified but I would say if you see an infinity symbol advertising a tech company I'd walk as quickly as possible in the opposite direction.

Things haven't improved then over the years. When my mum died quite a few years ago I phoned her bank (Co-op if you need to know)to close her account and they refused to speak to me, they needed to speak to my mum! No matter how many times I told them she had died they were insistant. It had been quite a traumatic death and this was the final straw, really upsetting

Im
so sorry. This happened to us too when my dad passed away suddenly. We tried to cancel his mobile phone contract after explaining the circumstances and I was greeted with “certainly madam. Can you just put the account holder on the phone to give authorisation please”
my response was “I would dearly love to do that. You’ve no idea how much, but sadly we buried him yesterday”

the whole ordeal was so upsetting, we hung up. It took us another six months before we felt strong enough to tackle the issue again. We just kept paying the contract out of my parents joint account as that was easier

I’m in the same boat.

I’ve been ringing the bereavement numbers, but the people there mostly seem inept and powerless to sort out the practicalities. The mobile phone provider’s bereavement team did things supposedly to help me which actually created more problems when I went into the shop to collect new SIMs.

The utility company’s bereavement team wished me “a wonderful evening” even though I’d begun the conversation by saying my partner had died four days previously.

I've lost count of the times I have heard of this happening. How are they unable to understand that they can't speak to the deceased account holder? What happened in the end? Did you eventually manage to speak to someone capable of understanding, or what?
If my husband dies before I do, I fully expect to encounter this idiocy when I try to close his accounts. I don't know what you can do when they insist they must speak to the account holder, who you have just told them has died.

Words fail me. How can they be so stupid?

My lovely mum had similar set of issues with her broadband, with the same company, an absolute shit show.

BIL died suddenly and he’d been in charge of all the family admin. DSis had no idea of any banking or services passwords etc.
You just don’t expect these things to happen and the helpliners’ “computer says no” attitude could send anybody over the edge.
💐