Widow Brings Husband’s Ashes to T-Mobile Store When They Won’t Cancel His Contract
(WalesOnline)
Her 57-year-old husband passed away this summer, a victim of cancer. But Maria Raybould says T-Mobile UK wouldn’t stop sending his cellphone bills and late payment alerts to her home.
So she visited a local store with his ashes in hand.
The Wales widow told a local news outlet that her late husband, David, had been paying £26 ($40) a month to T-Mobile UK (a differently owned and operated company from T-Mobile in the United States) for a contract plan. Since the charges were being directly debited from his bank account, Raybould’s son went in person to close his father’s line a day after he died, thinking it would be “one less thing for us to worry about.”
“They told [my son] he would have to bring in David’s death certificate,” Raybould explained to WalesOnline. “He went back with the death certificate, and they told him they would send a copy of it to head office.”
But the account wasn’t closed, and the bills and texts from T-Mobile continued to come.
Raybould went to the retail location herself several times to try to clear things up, again bringing the death certificate and plenty more proof of her husband’s passing.
“I’ve been up to the shop with the death certificate, with a letter from the crematorium, the funeral bills — even his ashes. I took in everything I could,” she said.
After she brought in her husband’s ashes, the staff assured Raybould that the contract would be stopped. But the notices kept coming.
T-Mobile last sent a letter, addressed to David Raybould, on Nov. 8. It was a bill for £129.48 ($203) with an attached threat of tacked-on cancellation charges and further debt collection measures.
A T-Mobile UK spokesperson told WalesOnline that, after a delay, the matter with Raybould’s family has now been settled. The account has been canceled, the balance cleared, and the company is writing Raybould to apologize.
But this type of customer service, which led the widow to claim, “It was easier for us to bury him” than it was to sort out his cellphone contract, is unfortunately not a shock to anyone who’s been following the recent Comcast saga here in the States.
As a part of our Comcast customer service fail roundup, we spoke to a horrified ex-patron who claimed she was told her late husband would have to disconnect their service himself.
“I called to cancel my Comcast service. It turned out to be in my deceased husband’s name. I told them he was recently deceased. I was told I could not cancel the service; only my husband could!”
The first two representatives the woman spoke with reiterated the same, much to her disgust. But the matter was eventually resolved when she brought a death certificate to her local Comcast office.
“I never used Comcast again,” she told Yahoo Tech.
We get it. A brawl like that, during such a fragile time, would keep just about anyone from wanting to use Comcast ever again. And though Raybould, the widow fighting with T-Mobile in the UK, didn’t say as much, we’d have to think that she’ll strongly consider taking all of her telecommunications business elsewhere, too. If she hasn’t already done so, that is.
Have questions, comments, or just want to tell me something funny? Email me at danbean@yahoo-inc.com.
