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So i have a question
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Lots of companies also do not employ staff with the appropriate training to handle such sensitive situatations, so they outsource the task to companies like P&C.
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Yes, clearly - a copy of the death certificate should be provided. What I meant is that Argos should not ‘hide’ behind data protection using it as an excuse. First of all, they should have offered condolences and then ask for documents (death certificate) or direct the caller to specialised department if they have one, not just blankly refuse to deal with the issue. Many organisations accept scanned copies of death certificate by email if they don’t have secure messaging software. They have fallen short of basic customer service.
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As OP stated - they have passed this over to a specialised team - albeit one they outsource this to (Phillips and Cohen). And we have no idea whether the person on the phone offered condolences.
It sounds like what happened - OP called Argos and told them that his wife had died - they accepted this (without asking for a death certificate) and passed it over to the relevant team to deal with.
The OP's complaint is that they wouldn't tell him what the payments are for - e.g. what she might have bought.
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Phillips & Cohen is a third pary deceased estate debt recovery service which suggest the argos payment is some sort of finance agreement for goods rather than services.
As to whether P & C will waive the matter on behalf of their client remains to be seen. However on a more serious note the OP can only hope no other debts emerge from the woodwork for which he will be strictly liable as 'Administrator' of his wife's estate.
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This^
Sorry for you loss.
End of the day they can not chase someone no longer alive.
Life in the slow lane0 -
Argos do offer a credit service - but it would be quite unusual to have credit agreement which ended up with a monthly payment of exactly £11.99 per month - a value which is one of the published price points for the "Argos Care" insurance products.
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The direct debit will have been cancelled by the bank when they were informed of the death. So that will have already happened.
End of the day - creditors CAN indeed chase the personal representative managing the estate of someone who have died. However, they are unlikely to put a lot of effort in for small amounts.
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But they can chase the executor or person that takes on the role of Administrator of an intestate estate.
The fundamental issue here is exercising all due care to track down potential creditors prior to taking on the obligation of winding up an estate.
Interestingly, since the deceased was intestate, there was no particular rush to pass estate monies onto her boys in preference to ensuring there were no preferred creditors in the background. Indeed since the husband was first in line to benefit under the intestacy rules, the monies ( in law ) were beneficially his.
Executors/ administrators can find themselves in hot water in these situations and be found personally liable for deceased debts where the funds previously exsisted to pay them. Hopefully this will not prove a big issue in the current case, but a warning to others.
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Many thanks for all the replies.
Argos did not ask for a death certificate, all the guy was interested in was if there was a will and he will pass my information on, he really was that blunt and useless
I got a letter from philips and cohen yeterday telling me the amount owed stands at £379.46 god only knows what she bought
the letter goes on to give me methods to pay this amount and it also tells me and i quote
"It is important to understand only the estate of the late (my wife) is liable for the balance outstanding and you are not required to use personal assets to pay the estates liabilities"
there are no more direct debits hidden in the closet
so i emailed this company and explained everything with a brief timeline of events and now am waiting to see what they say
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Seems P & C are pursuing the matter.
They are correct that only your wife's estate is liable, but you distributed prematurely.
The comment that you are not personally liable is moot, you were the sole beneficiary ( in law) so in effect the debts would come out of your inheritance.
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