Bereavement

[Nicky5]

When I filled in the online form to close an account when my mother died I accidentally ( in my grief stricken state) put in my brother’s telephone number and although when a member of the bereavement team-rang, I failed the security questions as I didn’t have the information required, he said he would ring back when I got home but by that time he had already disconnected my brother’s line. My brother and his wife rely  on the internet for working from home .

When I told him what had happened he just said it would be reconnected but not for six days! 
He wasn’t at all compassionate and I feel this length of time to reconnect it not acceptable, but who do I complain to?

[-Richie-]

Sorry for your loss, mistakes happen as your mind was elsewhere, don't feel guilty about an honest mistake and I hope your brother understands 🙂

I've asked a passing mod to see if they can assist you.

[PaddyB]

Hi @Nicky5,

Thank you for posting. I'm sorry for the loss of your Mom, I understand that this must be a difficult time for you and your family.

If you send me the details, I'll be able to take a look at this for you to see if there is any way to get the service reconnected any quicker.

I have sent you a private message with instructions on how to contact the team.  You can access your messages via the envelope icon at the top right of the screen, or click on this link, Private messages

Thanks,

Paddy

[Nicky5]

Thanks #-Richie-

for your kind words

No my brother didn’t blame me, he’s been finding it hard to concentrate too😢

Also, he knows that the member of the bereavement team shouldn’t have disconnected a line without verifying it was the correct line, that’s what security checks are for… I couldn’t answer the questions and he arranged to phone me later but in the meantime he just closed it and it was the wrong account, it takes a second to close but six days to reconnect? 
Thanks for trying to help me  sort it…

Nicky5

[-Richie-]

In regards to the verifying, maybe the advisor should of asked for more info, but I guess making it harder for bereavement cases would be more stressful to people who have lost loved ones, It's a fine balance.

The moderators are BT employees and will look after you and your brothers accounts, if your mothers account is still open due to the confusion, the moderators can help with that, they'll also send feedback to the bereavment advisors team leader to make sure the same mistake doesn't happen again.

Once again my condolences to you and your brother 🙂

[Nicky5]

Thanks for your reply Richie,  when the operator rang me back when I got home, ( to answer the security questions) after I explained to him what he had done, he was very quick to shut down my mum’s actual  account..well it was easy: I was able to answer the security questions .

He didn’t give an explanation for why he had told me I had to answer the the security questions before he could talk to me about closing the account but then just closing it? He definitely knew  he was not closing an account under my mother’s name …..

He didn’t apologise at any point. He said it wasn’t a problem because he’d reconnect my brother’s line. I accepted that but the fact that it takes 6 days is problematic these days for a self employed person  working from home .