Bank will not hand over late mother's money

dontknowwhatimdoing

My husband and I were joint executors for my late mother's estate. I was sole inheritor.
All has been sorted and transferred to me except her Barclays ISA and Bank account.
To help, I even opened an account at Barclays in my own name. (My main bank is Natwest).
I informed Barclays about her death months ago. All paperwork was taken in, we both had interviews to prove who we were and I was told all would be sorted by their Head Office and a cheque sent to me direct. I had to take in a signed letter telling them to close her accounts and transfer funds to my own account.
Barclays are now sitting on this and doing nothing. I have been in to the local branch another 3 times, each time waiting over 1 hour to be seen by an advisor. I have made and received numerous telephone calls to and from this advisor, who has been so helpful but has admitted she cannot get through to her Head Office - they do not answer the phone.
Finally, over 3 weeks ago, she got through and insisted they transfer the funds. They said they would do it immediately.
I have now received a letter from Barclays telling me my deceased mother's money has been put into another account, in her name, which I cannot access, only the named holder can access. Yet they have admitted she is deceased....
I managed to speak to the advisor at the local branch this afternoon, who is now livid. She said her HO had lied to her and she would get her Manager onto it. She checked and told me my mother's funds are still all in her name, all they have done is change the account.
She phoned back this evening to say her manager cannot get through, no one will answer the phone.
Any ideas? We are talking about £10,000 here, nothing too major.

esmf73

Wow - £10,000 is major to me and worth making a fuss over. Would suggest you contact the banking ombadsman to see if they can help.

dontknowwhatimdoing

Ha! The £10,000 is a lot to me too! What I meant was, it would not exactly drain Barclays to hand it over!
We seem to have been going round in circles for weeks now and I am getting fed up with them.
The most annoying thing is that local staff cannot get through to their Head Office.:mad:

Primrose

I'd be very tempted to walk into Barclays with a sleeping bag under my arm and and ask in a very loud voice to speak to the Manager so that everybody in the bank can hear you. Don't take NO for an answer. Tell them that you'll wait until he's free, that you've bought your sleeping bag with you and intend to stay at the bank for as long as necessary, sleeping there all night if necessary, but you're not going to leave until the matter has been resolved.
The last thing that banks want is poor publicity in front of a host of other customers. My guess is that if you've got the guts to do this, you'll show that you're not going to be pushed around. And if you've got a friend with a nice big camera, take him along, pretend that he's from the local newspaper and is doing a piece about poor customer service on banks. !

dontknowwhatimdoing

Wow! I certainly am not afraid of kicking up a fuss in the bank, the trouble is, the local branch have been really good - but if even the manager cannot get through to his own Head Office, what hope do I have?
The advisor told me that sometimes they cannot get through for days! What on earth are Barclays H/O playing at?
But yes - I am going to create this week - I have had enough.

McKneff

When you get it all sorted out, vote with your feet and transfer everything to another bank, and write to them and tell them so.

dontknowwhatimdoing

Yes - I intend to do that! Only I will be drawing all the money out in cash! I have lost all trust in Barclays transferring anything!:rotfl:

Errata

dontknowwhatimdoing wrote: »

Wow! I certainly am not afraid of kicking up a fuss in the bank, the trouble is, the local branch have been really good - but if even the manager cannot get through to his own Head Office, what hope do I have?
The advisor told me that sometimes they cannot get through for days! What on earth are Barclays H/O playing at?
But yes - I am going to create this week - I have had enough.

Don't believe them, they'd get through to HO in an instant if the bank caught fire or someone got shot.

SUESMITH_2

we had exactly the same problem with abbey after my dad died - in the end my sisters who were executers had to go and kick up a real fuss, we eventually got the money but it was months after everything else

dontknowwhatimdoing

I am in full agreement except for one thing...I have sat at the advisor's desk whilst she rang through...she was put on hold and 40 mins later, when I left her, she got me to listen..she was still on hold.
My husband was a Natwest manager - he said they had internal calls that were answered immediately.
I told Barclays this and she said they have no internal calling.
Fantastic! It would be funny if it was not so annoying.

vaio

maybe the branch could email or write a letter to HO