It’s a never ending river of poo! 
Don’t let the bastards get you down. We are widow(er)s, hear us roar! 
We have faced death. We can face inefficient, unsympathetic, inept organisations with one hand tied behind our backs.
Go get ‘em!
Xx
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Oh Rose why am I not surprised! They are certainly testing our resilience 
Well done for yesterday though. xx
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Just got a letter from the local council asking me if I live here!
Ffs. I give in, really I do. My council tax pays the wages of these idiots. Ok, I do realise that it could be a second home, in theory. But they are writing to me in response to a letter I sent to them which gave details of my only address, etc.
I just want to slap someone now.
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I’m sure there’s a special college or University somewhere where these people go
To learn how NOT to deal with people. Especially the bereaved
They learn how to ask the obvious, and how to ignore the fact that people are probably struggling with their emotions
x x
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If it’s only you I presume you are getting the discounted council tax.
My council were really efficient for a change.
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Yes mine too Pudding. After using the Tell us Once process they were the first to respond within 2 days! I got a revised account and a separate letter of condolence.
There is my disabled daughter, and me as her carer. So, yes, I am hoping that the council tax will be reduced. It is 5 weeks since I did the Tell Us Once thing.
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The latest one was renewing my car insurance yesterday. John was a named driver on my policy, so I asked the insurance broker to take it off; and the insurance shot up by £50! Apparently you get a discount for having a named driver. Felt like I was being penalised for him dying.
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Four letters this morning, all from the council tax office, all typed and posted the same day. All showing vastly different amounts of council taxed owed by me, by them, some for zero, some for total amounts, some for direct debits.
And I thought that it was me that had brain fog.
I give in.
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I had the same. Numerous letters all saying different things. Eventually they caught up with themselves but I’m sure they could make the system so much easier.
Hang in there - it will hopefully all sort itself out in the end. Xxx
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No I have not got a clue! my husband owed a retirement flat that his mother lived in before she died, I have to sell it , I am not old enough to live in it! and as for the banks! I like to see someone face to face! actually inside the bank! apparently they hardly ever do that now ?
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I don’t think they have real people working for them. Just computers that say ‘NO’ and churn out meaningless crap letters. It really pisses me off. Mostly because I know that if I had made such stupid mistakes when I had a job I would have been fired.
I phoned one organisation and I could hear a child crying in the background. She apologised and told me that she had been working from home since the pandemic and her little girl was ill. I told her to stop talking to me and go and look after her sick child.
What kind of world are we living in?
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when I told the bank I wanted to see someone “face to face” they said the next appointment was like 6 weeks away, so I took it, then the night before the bank rang and said the "face to face " was online ! I said no thanks! I am 56 I can do online but thats not what I asked for so then I had to go 24 miles for the face to face!
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Sorry to tell you this, I saw 2 real people at the bank and they still got it wrong 
. XX
Same for me - my husband had old joint kids savings accounts which I had to close and transfer to them. They had a reasonable bit of money from an old aunt which was left to them to use as a deposit for a house when they are older.
Went into the bank and someone sorted it all - very efficient I thought.
Then the money never appeared in their own accounts - just disappeared!
Did get it back but had to make a few calls to sort it and they weren’t bothering.
I often wonder how these organisations can be so inefficient- it can’t be that hard when your doing it every day !!!
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When my first husband died I visited the bank with the death certificate, and had our joint account put into my sole name. No problem.
Then the letters started to arrive, threats to turn off the gas, final demands for bills. The bank had cancelled all the direct debits! It took ages to sort out. The council opened a new Council Tax Account for me, even though I was living at the same address that I had been at for 28 years, never having fallen behind with the payments. That had an impact on my credit score. Eventually my old account was reinstated with a note on it explaining the gap in payments.
What a load of tossers these people are.
Xx
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The bank did exactly the same thing to me.
.
Xx
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How about we all don our widows weeds, you know, think Kate Bush, Queen Victoria. All in black, with veils, of course. Smudged mascara, snotty tears, etc. Then we demonstrate outside bank headquarters. Any widowers that want to join us are welcome. Top hats, maybe? …… I don’t know, whatever is appropriate.
We insist that banks and institutions have real people that know how to do their jobs, how to respect their customers at the most difficult time of their lives. Give us real paper receipts, bank statements, proof and acknowledgment of our current query/request/problem, and their NAMES, so that when they get it wrong (again) we can be put straight through to our named contact.
Now, when I ring anywhere and they ask for my name, I ask for their’s, and their job title and department. They always seem a bit taken aback about this.
“I want you to change my joint account to my name only. This is because my husband/wife has recently died. I do not want you to cancel any direct debits without my detailed instructions. I do want you to do precisely what I have requested. No, it is not possible for you to speak to my spouse. They have died, that is why I am here.
Do you understand?”
Might work?
Xx
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I must have been really lucky. Transfers of both bank accounts seamless, council tax also. All ISAs and pensions transfer straightforward. Only problem was probate where solicitor spelt his middle name wrong so had to be submitted for change and affidavit signed. I did have professionals involved. Solicitor arranged transfer of banks and probate. Financial advisor covered ISA and pensions and got me really good deals. My funeral director arranged signing of death certificate and even took me and my mobility scooter there. Only problem I had was a bond transferred to my name when time came could only cash online and didn’t have password or access codes for that one but nationwide quickly sorted it out for me even sending me a tutorial how to access and cash in. Every company I contacted were efficient and swiftly transferred things to my name only.
I must admit what I didn’t know was when one of my husbands pensions was transferred into an annuity for me the income would be tax free forever. Again advantage of financial advisor who we worked with for over 20 years. His company also sorted out Norman’s tax. I used to work on accounting systems but they managed to halve the amount if tax I thought I had to pay. I was lucky and could afford to pay the professionals and do glad I could.
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