Bad experiences with closing accounts after a bereavement

[untangle22]

Has anyone had a bad experience with closing an account (bank, utility, telephone, broadband etc.) on behalf of a family member who has passed away?

No, I had a lot of positive experiences. Anything we can help you with?

Oh and I will say that most big companies like banks and utility companies have a specialist bereavement team - always worth going through them as they know the process better than main customer service!

Agreed we were always passed to a specialist team and everything was fairly straightforward. Only complicated but was retrieving some stuff from a safe deposit box.

Only gym membership and mobile phone.
You have to supply a death certificate before anyone can help you.

Only npower persisted in asking to speak to my nan even after they had been sent the death certificate I was cleaning out the flat when there comeback service called asked for nan I said no got pissy with me I said she is fucking dead you want me to dig her up? They said sorry dropped the phone it was at that point i realised the phone was still active....the water company insisted on being paid cash not cheque (from her daughters account) the housing company would not let us pay for another two weeks rent to give us a bit longer to clear the place out but they did give us permission to leave the carpet it was 12 months old so the next tenant got the benefit

Only one that wasn't nice for us was my Step fathers credit card. He had a balance of a few hundred pound on it. Kept calling my mother asking her to pay it off herself.
We hadn't even buried him yet he died on holiday in the EU and there was a delay sending him back.
In the end my Sister got mad and told them to send the bill to stepfather c/o heaven. That Mum had no money no body to bury yet and a bill from the funeral that will need paying first.
They never called again, she sent them money from his estate once it was all settled.

I dunno, Aegon sent a letter to my mum saying "we are sorry to hear of the death of The Late Mr VanGogh" - so, he died twice then?

Coop just changed the joint account into mum's name with a death cert and no probate grant, which is fine (joint accounts are easy).

Dad's pension have been utterly appalling and considering who they are it's totally outrageous. The trustees are soon getting a very stern letter.

the housing company would not let us pay for another two weeks rent to give us a bit longer to clear the place out

My god, that is shocking.....

Yes. Some excellent (Spotify offering to transfer curated playlists), some diabolical (Scottish Power being almost impossible to get through to then being told different things by different people who all acted like robots).

Prudential ( or whatever they are called now ) bloody awful as were premium bonds.

Santander were very surprisingly very good.

Scottish Power are diabolical in every situation.

So far, everyone has been very helpful and kind. NS&I are taking the longest to give me probate values, but its not been too long. NFU have been amazing, and so easy to talk to, and Nationwide have been super helpful.

Very mixed. Some required multiple visits to the branch. ISAs and similar seemed particularly complicated, something about when they matured made things complicated.

I suspect everything was not as organised as it should have been.

Word of advice to everyone- Close down all those odd bits and bobs you've got lying around. It's much easier while you are alive.