Insensitive and inefficient bereavement support

[#1]

I would like to reiterate comments made in previous posts regarding the very poor bereavement services provided by Plusnet. 

My father passed away in June.  With the notable exception of Plusnet, all companies that my family contacted had dedicated support lines and trained staff who dealt sensitively and efficiently with the emotionally difficult job of settling his affairs.   

This was the process with Plusnet:

1. Having phoned to give notice of my Dad’s death, we received a crassly worded email headed “Hello <Dad's name>. It informed my Dad that a question had been opened on his account. It made no reference to his death but expressed sadness that he had "decided to cancel his services".    

2. Having heard nothing further, in early August we phoned Plusnet and were told that the process triggered by the initial call had been flawed since it had not been (despite what we were told at the time) linked to bereavement.  We were told that my Dad's account was in credit and a refund would be posted as a cheque. We requested that a formal complaint be opened into the insensitive and inefficient way in which my Dad's case has been handled. We were assured that this would be done and in the meantime offered £25 as a “good will gesture”. This would be posted under separate cover and would not prejudice consideration of the complaint.

3. The cheque for the refund arrived addressed to the Executor as requested.  A few weeks later, my Dad’s former care home forwarded a letter addressed to Dad, with a cheque for £25 with my Dad as the payee.  In other words, yet another totally insensitive communication with a cheque made out to a dead person.

On September 2nd, we emailed Customer Services (copied to the Plusnet CEO) giving full details of this sorry saga.  At the time of writing, we have not had so much as an acknowledgment of this, nor had any response to the complaint raised in August. 

How is it that Plusnet can have such a breathtakingly poor process for dealing with the death of a customer and a truly appalling insensitivity to bereavement when communicating with relatives of the deceased?

[#2]

Thank you for reaching out to us @Houghton. First of all, I would like to offer my sincere apologies for the level of service you've received regarding this matter. I know that managing the affairs of a lost loved one is never easy and I am truly sorry if we have made this time any harder for you and your family.

This is certainly not the level of service that we aim to provide and I would like to make sure that we can assist in making things right as soon as possible. Please could you send me a Private Message with the username for your Dad's account and a number that we can reach you on to discuss this matter further?

[#3]

@TheMightyAJ  you forgot to remind the OP they will need to post a few more times before they can PM you.

[#4 · Accepted solution]

I've fixed that for them @Mustrum  I manually changed their community rank  

[#5]

Private message sent @TheMightyAJ 

Thank you for sorting this out @JonoH.

[#6]

Is there an easier way to contact PlusNet when a parent has passed away. I am on hold again this evening, and there is 30min + to wait and I just need to say that my father has died. And cancel the account. If anyone has a form URL or an Email that would be gratefully appreciated. Many thanks

[#7]

Hi @Danwheatley 

I'm so sorry for your loss. I understand how difficult this must be for you.

I'm going to send you a private message to try and get you some help with this. Could you take a look at your community inbox and get back to me please?

Thank you.

Chris

[#8]

Is there still no way to report a bereavement by email/web form/post? Every time I try to ring there is still a 30+ minute wait and I don't really have the time with all the other assosciated bereavement tasks. Other companies seem to have dedicated lines/emails and have been very quick, efficient and caring at this difficult time. I just want to get the deceased's account closed and this task completed. Thanks.

[#9]

@James_B 

This has been an on-going concern for far too long.  Might the provision of a more direct and sensitive approach (to support bereaved family members to deal with what needs to be done, without needing to wait in the general support queue) be re-examined?

Plusnet could opt to mimic the best of the best in this arena ... on the other hand ... !!

[#10]

Good morning @tufty99. 

I am sorry to hear of your loss. 

When you have a moment please check your community inbox. 

I would love to help with getting you connected with the right team. 

Katie

[#11]

Thank you for your help @Katie_J this has now been sorted. It would be good if the information you gave me was widely available to all without having to ask on here. But good to know people can get excellent help on here too. Thanks.

[#12]

I'm so pleased to hear this is now sorted for you @tufty99. 

If you need anything in the future be sure to let us know. 

Katie

[#13]

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@tufty99 wrote:
It would be good if the information you gave me was widely available to all without having to ask on here.

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@tufty99 

Sorry to trouble you further, may I ask what advice did you receive in addition (different) to what is published here - Letting us know about a bereavement | Help | Plusnet

Unfortunately that telephone number is the generic support number, where as you observed, you can at times have long waits.  Were you given a specific route through the IVR?

[#14]

I was advised that they could pass my information such as the account name/number onto the Executive Care team who would give me a call or I could send an email or write to address I was given to send the death certificate.

[#15]

Ah, OK, thank you.

So two routes...

• Having got their attention staff here get your details and bounce the query into the business
• You can use the old snail nail option ... which is no longer published on the help page

@James_B - can a fresh look be taken at this please, if nothing else, can the "Write to us" option be reinstated on the bereavement guidance page please?