O2 being awkward over death of parent

callas

My mother died and on her bank statements we discovered a direct debit was coming out each month for O2.


She did not have a mobile phone and we do not know what this payment was for.


O2 were contacted and they didn't know and could not help us in any way - told us to contact her bank. Bank didn't have any idea either.


We cancelled the direct debit which triggered O2 into sending letters saying they are going to pass it onto their Debt Collections Agency. The only positive is that an account number is included on the letters.


Just spent 40mins with customer service who were as unhelpful as can be.


What I don't want is this to escalate as no one at O2 wants to deal with it and things get out of hand and a debt collection agency starts harassing my 91 year old father.


Any advice would be much appreciated.

mac.d

Did you tell them your mother had passed away? You should just be able to phone them and let them know the account holder has passed away so can they please close the account (even though you don't know what it is for). They may ask you to send a copy of the death certificate.

Because you just stopped the direct debit and O2 have passed it onto debt collectors, you may have to do the same with them too.

[Deleted User]

@Callas

Sorry for your loss.

The O2 web site provides details of their specialist bereavement team

What do I do if the account holder is terminally ill or has passed away?

Customer Relations deal with accounts where a customer is terminally ill or has passed away. We can cease the account or arrange to transfer the accounts to Pay and Go or, following a successful credit check, transfer the whole account into someone else’s name.



We are open Monday to Friday 8am–4.30pm and can be contacted by phone on 0800 090 18 20, by email at Bereavementteam@o2.com

taken from http://service.o2.co.uk/IQ/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE?New,Kb=Companion,question=ref(User):str(Mobile),CASE=42316

callas

Thank you all for your help and advice


I have managed to get in contact with the o2 bereavement line 0800 0901820 and spoke to Matthew.


What a difference - Matthew was so helpful. This was a very old and complex account and he managed to deal with it all whilst reminding really cheerful and polite.


Finally, I can close the matter. What a shame the rest of o2 were not like this.


Thank you to all those who replied.

Uxb1

As ever the message is the same
When dealing with this sort of thing you must always contact the company's bereavement teams.
Look on the web/google search for them either as an address or a phone - I prefer with these things an address as there is then a formal written record of what has been said.
Do not under any circumstances ring the general call centre of anyone - ever.

When I last did this as executor in 2017 I too for the mobile had no paperwork for this distant relative and no idea of anything other than a DD entry in bank statements giving me the mobile company's name.
I found the bereavement address and then wrote a formal brief and to the point letter enclosing an original death certificate saying I could not find any papers or had any further knowledge of numbers or phones and wanted any accounts totally cancelled: end of story.
Simple thank you etc letter back from mobile company confirming accounts of the deceased closed and all sums on them cleared to zero - job done and actually one of the simpler ones to deal with.

The DD by then had been stopped by the bank and the reason the DD is stopped (ie the person has died) is flagged up by the bank to the mobile company as part of the process.