Account frozen after bereavement

[#1]

Hi all,

Usually I would like to be making fun in General Chat, but sadly in the last few weeks this has not been the case - hence this post.

My mother has recently passed away, and we are going through the process to inform people. PlusNet text me to say they couldn't take the payment (you must still have my mobile number when I set up the account - that's fine). It makes sense since even though the account is in my name (I lived there at the time, now I do not), the DD was coming from my mum's account. We have informed the bank and I assume what has happened is the DD's are failing because her account is now frozen.

When I try to log in at the member centre I get a "Sorry there has been a problem" message, as obviously the payments are not up to date.

Phoned CS about 20 minutes ago and spoke to a very helpful person. Didn't catch his name, but I am not allowed to post it on here anyway I know 😃. So I suggested I pay the oustanding amount on a card - I used my one. Gone through. What I want to do is update the details without an interruption to service as if I change the DD details to my sisters account it will take a few days to set up I believe?

My sister still lives at the account holders address, but it is not far from me. So it is kind of a house move. The difference is we still want an active service at the address the account is in currently.

Then I will log in to the member centre and update the details. When I tried I got one error saying the payments were up to date but the account is still frozen. So I can't access it yet to change anything.

My question is do I just wait for a bit as the account has now been settled for now as far as I am concerned, it might take a bit of time for your systems to update themselves, or do I need to do anything else?

[#2]

Well bit of an update - got a text just now from PlusNet saying thanks for your payment.

I can get a bit further and log in now, but I still get this message meaning I can change the square root of nothing. I will give it a few hours and call that number if I still get grief with the account I guess:

An error has occurred

There's currently an issue with your account, meaning you can't make any changes to your services. Give us a call on 0800 432 0200 and we'll see if we can help.

[#3]

Hello @Alex,

I am sincerely sorry to hear of your loss and for the experience you are currently having during this already difficult time.

Can I give you a call before 15:30 so that we can look into a way to resolve this for you.

[#4]

Thanks @SammyM for your kind words.

I may be out, but you can call me on my mobile which is on the account. Actually I will PM you the username and my mobile number to save you hunting around for them.

[#5]

I can arrange for a call this evening if that would be more suitable?

[#6]

Thanks @SammyM 

I have sent you a PM - I will be round their house later (I don't live there but I am not that far).

Can you PM me back with an approximate time I shall be there and you can speak to my sister too - probably best for security etc. and we can get the account details changed to hers including the direct debit for payment of course.

I think that is the best thing to do?

[#7]

No problem @Alex, I have filled my colleague Joe in and I will pick up your PM now.

[#8]

Thank you,

I've tried to log in but I am still getting messages that my account details can't be changed and the button to update the DD details is greyed out. Hopefully in the next few days that will sort itself out and when it does I will change it.

[#9]

Hi @Alex,

Thank you for getting back in touch, I'm sorry that you're still unable to change the account details and for any inconvenience that this is causing you. @SammyM is in the process of resolving this issue and will be back in touch with an update within the next few days.

[#10]

Thanks @EmilyD 

I'll keep trying over the next few days, at the moment I still get this:

An error has occurred

There's currently an issue with your account, meaning you can't make any changes to your services. Give us a call on 0800 432 0200 and we'll see if we can help.

I assume there is a restriction on the PlusNet account which prevents me changing the DD details? If that can be removed I will change it to an account which should be valid, ASAP so PlusNet can take payment when the next bill is due on the 4th Jan.

What appears to have happened here is since informing the bank my mums account has been locked down so we can't access it, (so all DD's fail even though I know money is in there) and if we want them to pay anything out on her behalf we need to get an invoice from the company wanting payment proving the amount is it is related to my mother. It's a bit like submitting expenses for your company.

Didn't know it was that complex, but you learn something new every day and all that. 

[#11]

Thanks for getting back in touch with us @Alex,

I'm sorry this issue is still ongoing and I apologise for the frustration caused.

I can see @SammyM is still working on this for you and will update in the next couple of days once a suitable resolution has been found.

Thanks.

[#12]

No problem @Mads and thanks @SammyM for your call yesterday.

With all with what has been going on recently, I wish this was the worst of my problems. IT and account stuff is a walk in the park for me, compared to the other things.

I didn't go over there yesterday, but my sister said she received a letter from yourselves with a number to call. I assume it was the same CS number that flashes up when I try to log in. I will go over there later today and have a look.

I think it may be worth calling them with my sister present, basically from what I know:

• The account is in my name, as I originally set it up (oh so many years ago!). I was living there then.
• Not 100% but I am sure the DD was my account then was coming from my account.
• I moved out, and changed the DD details to my parents account.
• Since the holders of that account are no longer with us and informing the bank of my mother they have proper locked down the account, so we even can't access anything there now - although money is in there we can't touch it.
• The bank will pay out things, but we need to provide invoices now from the people we owe money to and prove it was for my parents. Of course they won't do it otherwise as they may think we're pulling a fast one. That's fair enough as they're just doing their job and protecting ourselves and themselves from fraud.
• Hence the DD's are failing (as the bank says No now), to PlusNet and I got to keep an eye on the other companies we need to inform as they'll have the same problem too with payment being refused.

Trust me to be a problem customer 😀, as I said to @SammyM the next payment is due on the 4th Jan so I don't mind ringing in nearer the time to make a one off card payment to cover January (as I did for this month) so the account is up to date as we don't want a failed billing problem to cause interruption to service.

Thanks all for your help.

[#13]

Thanks for your time on the phone @Alex, I will monitor the account over the next 24 hours to see if the action we have taken has resolved the issue and drop you a message.

[#14]

Thanks @SammyM for your call yesterday.

There has been some progress, I can log in and I don't get that message regarding not being able to change the details anymore.

When I go to the DD button, it is still greyed out and gives me a message of something like "You cannot change the details within 5 days of setting up a new DD". Which I haven't done, though I would like to.

I'll go and meet my sister later today, give CS a call and let you know how it goes.

Thanks to yourself and your team for your help. We're getting there.

[#15]

Hey @Alex,

It is still not allowinf got those details to update. Leave this with me and I will chase it up.