The Telegraph reports that Maria Raybould of Cardiff, Wales, kept receiving collection notices and even threats from T-Mobile collectors after her husband, David died of cancer.
To prove that her husband is actually dead, she reportedly went to a T-Mobile shop with her husband’s ashes, a death certificate and funeral bills. Apparently that wasn’t enough to convince the company, which refused to cancel the contract. Raybould says she suffered a panic attack after talking with T-Mobile staff.
She was then told by an employee that she had spoken with a manager and that the contract would be stopped. Yet she still got messages from collectors.
The family certainly didn’t waste time contacting the phone company: the day after David died, Raybould said her son informed T-Mobile, but he was told the contract for the Samsung Galaxy mini SII wouldn’t be cancelled unless someone could see a death certificate.
Three trips to the store were fruitless, and the notices for £129 ($201) in unpaid bills or a cancellation fee kept coming. At that point, Raybould told the Telegraph that it was much easier to bury her husband than to get his phone contract cancelled.
T-Mobile eventually apologized, saying that the collection notices were sent because of a delay in its system that cancels balances.
“We apologise to Mrs Raybould for any distress caused at this difficult time,” a spokesman told the Telegraph. “We can confirm that the account has been closed and the balance cleared.”
This isn’t the first time T-Mobile has reportedly been less than understanding with a dead person’s cellphone contract. In October 2012, Consumerist reported on a woman whose sister died in a motorcycle accident. T-Mobile reportedly refused to close the account despite a death certificate shown to them.
