NatWest told my energy company I had died!

walnut77

My bank has returned my direct debit to EDF with the reason being 'account holder deceased'! I received 3 letters from EDF to my executors.
I have complained to NatWest and they are taking forever to respond - 3 weeks at least so far. EDF had the good grace to give me £20 good will credit on my account even though it wasn't their fault.
I was wondering what other people would expect in the way of an apology if it happened to them . I'm only 46:mad:

richardmk

Ask NatWest for £200 compensation, tell them of the emotional upset caused by the letters you have received and if they cannot agree to make immediate payment ask them to refer the case to the Chief Executives office Stephen Hestler.

stclair

Did you ask for the dd to be cancelled at any point?

It looks like someone hit the number 2 key in error when processing the cancellation.

http://www.smartdebit.co.uk/auddis-reason-codes/

Plus the bank has eight weeks to deal with your concerns then you can contact the FOS should you feel the need to.

thatsean

I'd expect an apology, a gesture towards my time, and the costs of phone calls.

Does everything have to be a money making exercise these days?

Hazzanet

stclair wrote: »

It looks like someone hit the number 2 key in error when processing the cancellation.

http://www.smartdebit.co.uk/auddis-reason-codes/

Would actually appear on an ADDACS report rather than an AUDDIS report for a cancellation:

http://www.eazycollect.co.uk/blog/what-is-an-addacs-report.html

Or if it was a returned unpaid, the ARUDD report:

http://www.eazycollect.co.uk/blog/what-is-an-arudd-report.html

bengal-stripe

Actually, you are in quite illustrious company:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_premature_obituaries

Just quote Mark Twain (1835-1910): "The report of my death was an exaggeration"

stclair

Hazzanet wrote: »

Would actually appear on an ADDACS report rather than an AUDDIS report for a cancellation:

http://www.eazycollect.co.uk/blog/what-is-an-addacs-report.html

Or if it was a returned unpaid, the ARUDD report:

http://www.eazycollect.co.uk/blog/what-is-an-arudd-report.html

Either way soneone has hit the button to say the account holder is brown bread.

Agricolae

Another one of these? I swear this is the third time I've heard of this happening in a month.

Sounds like someone is very careless.

By the way, it is pretty easy to key a 2 instead of a 1 or a 3 if you're not taking adequate care. Although of course whoever cancelled the direct debit should have been taking that care.

I made a long post about this in a recent thread where someone had the same problem.

To the OP: I am 100% certain that Natwest would have resolved your complaint on the first call unless you had been unable to agree an amount of compensation the bank thought was fair in the circumstances.

In a case like this I'd expect £50 to be generous unless there had been serious consequences to the error. If £200 had been asked for, like someone else quoted, that complaint would have been shipped straight off to a specialist site.

dalesrider

Agricolae wrote: »

Another one of these? I swear this is the third time I've heard of this happening in a month.

Sounds like someone is very careless.
.

Well I can remember one of the others was Halifax......

Maybe they moved the employee on :rotfl:

opinions4u

thatsean wrote: »

I'd expect an apology, a gesture towards my time, and the costs of phone calls.

Totally agree. And this should be forthcoming from the first point of contact with the bank. Sorry. Fix it. Refund what it's cost. Takes a few minutes. Not three weeks or eight FOS weeks or whatever.

Does everything have to be a money making exercise these days?

Once they have failed to action your first suggestion reasonably and quickly, I'd say yes. Screw them for what you can get.

ILW

OP has not said whether they are dead or alive/