BT and Customer Bereavement

Malthusian

Presumably you took some action in the last four months other than posting on a random forum that nobody at BT will read. E.g. following the helpful suggestion here to post on BT's own forum.

As others said back in August it is not clear what the issue is, as you told us that someone was still using the line after your mother's death, and that needs to be paid for. If they failed to pay for it then legal action and adverse credit history is what normally happens when you don't pay for something.

h1360

Thanks for the sympathy. Maybe a forum that no-one reads, but a few points...



I contacted BT two weeks after my mother's death and explained the situation. Their records show that I didn't authorise the account to be changed, and couldn't even if I wanted to (probate took a year).
BT didn't notify me to say acc. had changed, which is their obligation.

BT sent e-mail billing to mother's computer, which they said was impossible. Sending bills to someone who died six months ago is a bit silly.

BT cut the line twice without warning, despite the Ombudsman case (which confirmed that BT was at fault).
BT sent threats of legal action against me when I have never had an account.
When my m died (after about 40 years of lending to BT as payments in advance) she was owed money by BT


Sadly, there's lots more where that came from, but the fundamental point is that BT's records proved my recollection of what was originally said (this info was provided to the Ombudsman but I had to request it). You can't demand money from someone who has no contract.




Also, the Ombudsman did find in my favour, but the settlement offer certainly didn't put me back in the position I would have been. I askd them to donate to charity on my behalf, but they were more concerned with taking legal action against, someone who didn't have a debt.

Malthusian

So as I understand it:

BT has been instructed by the Ombudsman to provide redress to you. Has it been paid or not? If you want it to go to charity then just claim it and give it to one. Ombudsman awards are legally binding so if BT are refusing to honour a legally binding award (which is unlikely but nothing surprises me) you need to speak to a solicitor about enforcing it. It would be a slam-dunk and they would be liable for all costs.

However the legally binding award was to pay you, not some charity, so if the reason for the delay is you telling them to give it to charity, you need to claim the award then forward it to the charity.

If you are unhappy with the award then you either need to appeal to the Ombudsman or, if that avenue has been exhausted, speak to a solicitor about going to court or accept the award.

You have also said they are taking legal action against you. However you also say that you've heard nothing from them and they are ignoring you. Which is terrific news as if someone has been threatening baseless legal action against you, then them going away is exactly what you want. It means you've won.

So what do you need help with?

Larac

My own experience of BT was somewhat different. Explained my late Mother had died - very sympathetic - converted the line to only emergency services only and sent out a credit note within 10 days. Personally thought they were the best in terms of dealing with bereavement services.

-taff

Not us...tried to tell my sister she was responsible for the account and she needed to give them notice to close it. Nope, the agreement was with my father and that lapsed when he died.

Flugelhorn

I had no problem with BT - told them I wanted to close the account and stop the phone straightaway, used a mobile when I was at Mother's house and TBH it stopped people ringing me while I was trying to sort things out - not what I needed at the time

pearl123

The were hopeless. Repeated phone calls and they still haven't managed to get it right.

MrsWenger

Very positive experience for us when my father-in-law passed away last year. We didn’t need the landline so called and explained to the bereavement team and it was disconnected straightaway and the credit on the bill was paid quickly.

I wish the folk who are struggling good luck with getting things sorted.