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Help!!! Argos Store Card Hell!

Hi, my sister recently passed away and I’m trying to help my brother in law sort out some of the outstanding accounts. My sister had an Argos Store Card, my brother in law didn’t know a great deal about it as it was paid from my sisters own bank account so he phoned Argos when the monthly statement turned up shortly after her death. They requested he send in a copy of the death certificate and asked for the details of the executor of the estate. He explained that there wasn’t an executor and there wasn’t a need for probate and they then explained that there was an outstanding balance they need to recover and even went on to ask if he was selling the family home?!?!. I took the paperwork off him and then noticed that my sister had the Coversafe payment protection policy in place. To explain further, my sister had been in hospital for six months with a terminal illness prior to her death and after going through her diary we found two entries she had made six months ago detailing two calls she had made, one of them being a call to Argos to advise them of her situation. I contacted Argos and first off asked them why they had not advised my brother in law that the account had a payment protection policy which he could claim from, and secondly why they had not acted when my sister had called them last year explaining that she was in hospital. The notes in my sisters diary are quite clear but Argos continued to debit her account for the duration she was in hospital however as she wasn’t accessing the account my brother in law was not aware. Acting as the next of kin, I have being setting the wheels in motion to make a claim on the policy to clear the outstanding balance but am quite annoyed that Argos didn’t act when they were made aware of my sisters illness last year. Argos claim they have no record of my sister calling them last year and have tried stone walling me. My sister was paying for the Gold level Coversafe policy which should have paid the monthly payments in the event of illness but whilst I appreciate there’s probably a procedure in place for making a claim, surly argos should have set the wheels in motion or at least given her the correct procedure following her call. I have spent the last two days been taken round the houses whilst trying to raise a claim on this account (argos themselves couldn’t even give me a correct contact number for coversafe!!!) so I find it quite disgusting that whilst my sister was extremely ill in hospital despite being made aware of this argos simply chose to do nothing and just kept taking their monthly payments.

Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Comments

  • eskbanker
    eskbanker Posts: 35,380 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Firstly, sorry for your loss.

    In terms of the issues above, it may be helpful to understand that the card company and the insurance policy provider are two completely separate organisations, even though they're both badged as 'Argos'. It's understandable that you have an expectation that they're joined up but as I see it, the card company wouldn't stop applying charges because the account holder was hospitalised, but the insurance company should have paid these charges once a claim was successfully made.

    Obviously it's difficult to tell exactly what was said at the time but the card company may not even have been aware that your sister had a payment protection policy in place, and even if they were, wouldn't have been able to stop taking payments. However, you'd hope that the agent would have asked her if she had a policy and given her the relevant contact details.

    Anyway, in my humble opinion, the best thing now is to focus on sorting everything out from here rather than being angry about what went before, easier said than done I know....
  • John1282
    John1282 Posts: 46 Forumite
    Thanks for the reply.
    Argos offer this insurance when you take out a card, it’s not until you really delve into the small print that you see who underwrites the policy. If you run a google search on ‘Coversafe’ all the results come up as Argos, end of the day, Argos sell the policy, supply the policy, charge for it and even detail the policy on the monthly statements.
    My concern is that my sister contacted them last year when she was admitted to hospital and was very ill, she didn’t have all the documentation to hand (who does nowadays) but spoke to the Argos Card Services department explaining what was happening. I don’t know the full details of the call and unfortunately now my sister is no longer with us, and as Argos have claimed the call never took place, we’ll never know. This led to Argos continuing to take their monthly payments, 33% of which was paying for the Coversafe policy, when they were aware my sister was ill.
    This neglect continued when my brother in law contacted them to advise that his wife had passed away. After he explained that he had little knowledge of the account surly someone should have advised him that the policy was in place.
  • Is there actually anything in your late sister's estate? Because if not, then there's nothing for them to claim against - just a simple letter telling them that the estate is insolvent (i.e. it has no money) is needed.
  • bris
    bris Posts: 10,548 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Did anyone actually make a claim? Just phoning them and explaining the situation wouldn't get anything done especially if you are talking to the wrong people.


    You need to follow the claims procedure and speak to the right department, they wouldn't stop payments by verbally telling them of an illness, they would want a claim form and proof.
    Read the T&C's and claims procedure and take it from there.
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