So i have a question

NotRichAtAll

My wife died 8th may i was in charge of getting her final wishes sorted out, ie cremation disposal of clothes closing of banks. There was no will as it all happened so quick.

she had a bit of money put aside to be divided evenly to her 3 son's which i took care of (4k each) the cremation and all the other bits related to that was 97% covered by an over 50 plan.

When i closed her bank accounts barclays and natwest i got her final statements and spotted she had a direct debit setup for argos (£11.99 a month) so when i was ready too i contacted argos to tell them she had passed away, the person i spoke to would not give me any info and started going on about data protection, am thinking to myself its my F*****g wife and she is gone does data protection really come into it? anyway he told me he will pass the info on to another company namely philips and cohen associates who will be writing to me shortly.

Are they going to pursue me for whatever money my wife owed to argos? pretty sure its not alot as i cannot for the love of god see what she possibly purchased from argos. Am i lible for this debt considering i have signed nothing, there is no money left ( paid undertakers and dished out to son's)

If i am lible can i offer 50p per week just to be a tw@?

thank you

user1977

Find it what it is first. I suspect it may be something like an extended warranty plan - in which case you can just cancel it.

Colliedog1

As user1977 says it could be for an extended warranty plan and if so it isn’t a debt so it is easily cancelled.

Jemma01

Did Argos not request a copy of the death cert and anything proving you are the executor of the estate? They'll need that before they discuss the account.

Either way, the Philips company would ask for the same before they can disclose anything.

You won't need to pay, but her estate shouldn't have been distributed before all debt was realised and finalised.

twopenny

Make a note of the date you called to inform them.

The number you called and the name of the person you spoke to would be useful but I'm guessing you were too discombobulated to note that.

I've found that the more useless detail you can give to show you have it in hand gets swift response as opposed to vague when they can just fob you off.

Hopefully it's something simple that can be dealt with immediately

Mrs_Z

I would definitely challenge Argos about their response. As far as I know, data protection only applies to living people.

bobster2

With a value like this (£11.99 per month) this is almost certainly some sort of extended warranty or product care plan. They can be cancelled during the term (https://help.argos.co.uk/help/argos-care) so it may be the case there is a small refund due rather than money owed. In either case Phillips & Cohen (https://phillips-cohen.com/) are the company that Argos use to deal with situation like these.

In theory, if you have taken on the role of administering her estate (collecting the assets and distributing them) you should have settled any debts first before distributing anything. However, in this case there is very unlikely to be a significant debt.

Keep_pedalling

If your wife had any debts, unless the estate was insolvent, they should be paid before any beneficiaries are paid, so as the administrator of her estate you are technically responsible for the debt. The sole beneficiary under intestacy rules was yourself so the money her sons recieved were a gift from you.

Philips and Cohen are used by a lot of companies to handle the accounts of deceased clients and they have a pretty good reputation for handing things compassionately and not being heavy handed. Once you hear from them come back to this thread and let us know the situation.

J63320

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82042354#Comment_82042354

But they would have required proof first, otherwise anyone could ring up and get information about someone else’s account by claiming that they had died.

sammyjammy

Just cancel the DD/close the account and see what happens

p00hsticks

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82042354#Comment_82042354

True, but once a person has died then the organisation should be asking firstly for evidence of the death and secondly that the person they are dealing with has the authority to be dealing with their estate (e.g proof that they are the named executor on a will). As another person has pointed out, if they don't do this then anyone could phone up claiming someone had died and start discussing their financial affairs - they have duty of care.