Dead customer Virgin Media bill goes viral on Facebook

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by Sirius

Indeed that is your opinion and has been said above plus i have not said it will NOT happen again i said i would hope it never happens again. I personaly have no control over it and can only say what is my opinion.

I never said you did say it will NOT happen again, just that hoping it won't isn't good enough, if the procedures in place are looked at in light of this then the company will deserve the kicking it gets when it happens again and I never said you did have any control over it either for the record

[eljay]

I have had this sort of situation with both my parents. One was a phone company the second was a utility company. Both had been contacted by telephone and in writing with a copy of the death certificate. The telephone compay had even set up a new account for my mother. In the end only a letter from the probate solicitor solved the issue. The phone company sent a letter of apology , hand written from the CEO. The utility company did not even apologize. Hope Vm repeat the former in this case. Suffice to say neither my mother or me used that utility company again once competition provided the opportunity.

[Milambar]

I had this when mother died in 2005.

Barclaycard just wrote off her outstanding debt of over 2k, upon reciept of her death certificate.

NTL as they were known back then, still sent her final bill of (if memory serves) £60ish to collections, despite me sending them a copy of her death cert. twice. It took a letter from my lawyers to get them to back down.

I don't blame any particular persons, but it just shows that they have never changed their systems, since errors like this have been happening for so long.

This seems to be a problem bought about by the highly automated system that most companies use these days .It seems to me that customer service reps have very little control over what can be done and what can't ,only high level management have any degree of control ,and these systems are in place because ,we the customer demand low prices which means automation is required hence automated letters like these are sent out by mistake .If we want a personal service we will have to pay for it

It should be pointed out that VM have cancelled the bill and any charges and also donated a sum of money to the hospital that cared for the customer in his dying days

[Skie]

I once got a big red FINAL REMINDER for -£14, so it's not like anyone is checking what their systems are doing.

Also VM's explanation that a DD refusal reason shouldn't appear on a bill seems to be beyond the point. I'd actually prefer to see the reason my DD didn't go through, because god knows getting India to tell me would be like pulling teeth. It just smacks of a face saving exercise rather than an apology.

[RichardCoulter]

Some years ago, whilst my late uncles affairs were being sorted out, all utilities were promptly dealt with...

Apart from NTL who wanted to see the death certificate before agreeing to close the account. None of the other places required this.

To get round automated systems and to prevent letters going to a deceased person, causing possible distress, I always make sure that an alternative address is input...of my own office. That way, if any erroneous letters do go out, it is my office that receives them!

Things do go wrong in all organisations, but to not deal with errors involving issues such as a bereavement immediately is totally unacceptable.

Also, I agree with the comments about social media. The internet has given dissatisfied customers unprecedented oportunity to air their grievences in public. Companies ignore this at their peril.

[andrewbrown]

In the field where I work, we have a procedure where someone dies, you suppress the letters when you make alterations to the account, so that nothing goes out. However, it is a manual process, and occasionally one gets out. Does that mean that the procedure is wrong, or that the company should be publicly lambasted? No.

When my uncle died 18 months ago, I phoned VM to cancel his account. The stupid rep asked me what his password was. When I said I didn't know because he was dead, he said "Well he might have told you before he died!"

However, other than that, everything else went OK. I cannot say the same for any of the banks, or one of the insurance companies that I had dealings with, who all displayed ineptness beyond capability...

[Kymmy]

Well it's not only VM that make mistakes or have policies that cause grief

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/sc...rtless-1050655

I think that most companies have made a mistake or two along the way

[Qtx]

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Well it's not only VM that make mistakes or have policies that cause grief

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/sc...rtless-1050655

I think that most companies have made a mistake or two along the way

Had to dig deep to find that 3 year old article

Originally Posted by Qtx

Had to dig deep to find that 3 year old article

As you said earlier, she's just providing facts. Or are facts only ok when they fit your agenda?

[Qtx]

Originally Posted by Chris

As you said earlier, she's just providing facts. Or are facts only ok when they fit your agenda?

I thought the conversation had gone towards people posting that VM has been doing this for years yet it is still happening, so I don't see how a single article from another supplier proves anything or detracts from VM's failures.

What was the BBC's agenda for running this story?

Most big companies have done this at one time or another, sometimes repeatedly. Stories like this kept Esther Ranzen busy on Sunday nights for more than a decade. It's bad process management, but it happens, and it happens at companies you like as well as ones you don't. Get over it.

[Kymmy]

Originally Posted by Qtx

What was the BBC's agenda for running this story?

Was though the BBC's original story about the bill or about the story going viral?, just read the headline (same as the subject heading on this thread)

Yes my story was 3 years old (found by a simple 10 second search) and I'm sure that if it happened today there would be a high possibility of it going viral as well..

So what is the actual story? In my eyes it's about social media dictating what is newsworthy whether it be newsworthy or not..

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Was though the BBC's original story about the bill or about the story going viral?, just read the headline (same as the subject heading on this thread)

Yes my story was 3 years old (found by a simple 10 second search) and I'm sure that if it happened today there would be a high possibility of it going viral as well..

So what is the actual story? In my eyes it's about social media dictating what is newsworthy whether it be newsworthy or not..

You will find that this will be raised relentlessly on this forum by those who have an axe to grind with VM and take pleasure in using the story of a deceased person and there bill in a way that furthers that axe grinding

[Kymmy]

Originally Posted by Sirius

You will find that this will be raised relentlessly on this forum by those who have an axe to grind with VM and take pleasure in using the story of a deceased person and there bill in a way that furthers that axe grinding

I don't really care about this sky/vm argument, VM gives me a good service which I'm sure that Sky would give me if they could give me the same speed in this area (no FTTC/P) so they're onto a lost cause trying to use me with that argument.

This story does though show the way that the news is starting to react more and more to social media..