Very disappointed with Plusnet!

[#1]

My father who died recently had a Plusnet account for his home phone.  We notified Plusnet by phone of his death and the gentleman to whom we spoke told us that they will cancel the phone with immediate effect and also cancel the account and wipe off the debt outstanding which was a month's rental as my father had been in hospital for sometime.  we accepted this kind gesture and thought that was the end of it.  The phone line was cancelled that afternoon.
Two days ago we got an email asking him to reinstate his DD as the DD had been cancelled.  I logged into his account and advised that he had passed away and attached the death certificate as proof.  Today we get another email asking for him to pay the balance of £9.00 although he is decased and Plusnet have proof of this.  Once again I logged into his account, but now I cannot see the reply to my support post two days ago because the account is now in arrears and i cannot even raise a support note to explain the change of circumstances.
We find this very stressful and annoying as we made contact and supplied proof of his demise.  What more can we do to ensure that the account is clsoed down and we do not receive any mroe demands?  Do we have to approach the Ombudsman as we cannot even start a complaint procedure on behalf of my father as the account is now restricted!
The account username is ttY210947.  please sort this out and stop sending demand emails etc.

[#2]

Hi there,
I'm sorry for the problems closing this account, especially at such at difficult time. I've updated a ticket on the account in question and told our billing team to remove any outstanding invoices and close the account down asap.

[#3]

Thanks Chris however I think it needs to be investigated why it happened so it will not happen to others in a similar situation.

[#4]

I'll be passing feedback on internally as unfortunately this was a case of human error. The advisor who was initially going to sort the account closure created a 'contact' rather than a 'ticket' to the team who would sort this out. The difference between a contact and a ticket is that a ticket is open ended, meaning that other advisors (and customers) can see and respond to it, whereas a contact isn't able to be responded to.

[#5]

About 10 minutes ago we have received another email asking for money.  This is getting ridiculous now and very upsetting.
We couldn't take a payment for your Plusnet account
---------------------------------------------------
Unfortunately, we've not received the regular payment for your service. This was due on 10-01-2015.
- Bank account name:
- Direct Debit reference:
- Amount owed: £9.00
To avoid restrictions to your service please make a payment in the next 14 days.

[#6]

Please ignore these emails, I should have mentioned that previously. The people who will be able to remove the outstanding balance don't work weekends, so it won't be until Monday that this is resolved.

[#7]

Warning  -  I had a similar problem where I was being asked for payment when no amount was due.  Plusnet ignored all my pleas to stop sending me demanding emails and texts and I finally received a warning that the next step was the a Debt Collection Agency !
(see my post)!

[#8]

Hopefully it will all be sorted out today and I wil receive and acknowledge me that the account has been totlaly closed.  Debt collectors would hvae a hard time finding my father's ashes to ask for money!

[#9]

I hope so.  But that wouldn't stop Plusnet harassing you for the cash !

[#10]

Quote from: Surfer

Hopefully it will all be sorted out today and I wil receive and acknowledge me that the account has been totlaly closed.  Debt collectors would hvae a hard time finding my father's ashes to ask for money!

Everything has now been written off, and the account has now been closed. I'm sorry for the inconvenience caused with this one.

[#11]

Thanks very much.  Just a pity I had to raise it on this forum for it to happen. 

[#12]

Matty,
Does this case point to a need to review "bereavement" account closures?  As seen elsewhere, the billing system can rattle on with things which might have been set in motion at the time the cancelation us processed.  Is there a need for such matters to be double-checked when processing the closure?  It is bad enough that sometimes closed accounts still rattle, but this is something a bereaved family really should not need to have to deal with.
Kevin

[#13]

Hi Kevin,
The reason we had problems here is that things weren't really picked up quickly enough. Being a little bit brutal, but I attribute it to resourcing rather than processes.

[#14]

Matty,
Brutal and honest - it don't get much better than that. 
Your comment suggests (at least) a two part process here.  Is there merit in suggesting bereavement closures should show a priority for processing status, possibly managed by nominated individuals?

[#15]

Potentially, yeah. I'll give it a mention