Disgusted at Barclays after bereavement

[barclaysuck]

My father in (common) law died suddenly on Monday night, leaving a widow and four grown-up children.

 

The old fella banked at Barclays, in a single, not joint account. His widow banked elsewhere. An appointment was made for his widow to visit his branch yesterday, to sort out his affairs.

 

She arrived at the the appointment with three of her children, only to be told that the person she should have met was unavailable. A personal banker took the meeting instead.

 

First off, he closed the account, and told her that she could not access any of the money in it. I arrived part way through the meeting. He'd already asked her how she was thinking of paying for the funeral. He tried to get her to open an account with Barclays. He then looked around the room and said that we would need to give them some money immediately. This was to cover any forthcoming direct debits that would have been going out of the deceased's account if they hadn't closed it.

 

It is hard to explain the employee's manner. He was so cold, rude and unfriendly.

 

We have instructed a solicitor to handle any further communication from Barclays, as we don't want the widow to be upset again.

 

Barclays were completely insensitive at such a hard time. I would never use their services again, even though this will mean moving our mortgage to another provider.

 

Finally I have lodged a formal complaint with Barclays, who have promised to respond in 7 days, so I will keep you posted.

[slick132]

Hi Barclaysuck and welcome to Barclays forum,

 

I'm sorry to hear of the loss of your father in law.

 

This is the 2nd story we've had this week telling of how badly customers or their relatives have been treated at times of illness or bereavement.

 

The other case is here - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/barclays-bank/121487-barclays-enduring-power-attorney.html

 

You would think the bank would have the decency to use a senior staff member capable of understanding and dealing with bereavment.

 

Slick

[dx100uk]

 

First off, he closed the account, and told her that she could not access any of the money in it. I arrived part way through the meeting. He'd already asked her how she was thinking of paying for the funeral. He tried to get her to open an account with Barclays. He then looked around the room and said that we would need to give them some money immediately. This was to cover any forthcoming direct debits that would have been going out of the deceased's account if they hadn't closed it.

 

the first part is sadly quite correct & until a solicitor is involved & deed of probate etc is issued, then the funds are infact frozen.

 

however, just be aware of another twist which might cause upset. the solicitor will, when all is said and done, take his fees direct from the monies in the a/c before he forwards on the remainder [std legal practice].

 

the second part is untrue & you need to deal with it, you need to either get the executor of the will to request that barclays change the A/c type to a savings A/c or do it through your solicitor.

as for the funeral fees etc, they can come direct from the a/c, just tell the directors the details of the a/c etc.

also any 'bills' apertaining directly to the estate of the deceased can be met from the a/c still, but this will need instruction from exec or solictor.

 

you need to get an exectutor of the will to write to the bank, instructing them of these wishes, they then must comply.

 

if there is no will, then this is a diff story.

 

i have done this twice now in two years, but my heart goes out to you as it makes it no easier.

 

pm if you wish

 

dx100uk

[barclaysuck]

I promised an update to this thread. It's been a couple of months now and at last we have got some satisfaction from Barclays.

 

After several phone calls I received a letter in early January 2008 that really did not answer any of our concerns at all. There was a generalised apology about the treatment we received at the branch, but no feedback on the particular areas of concern.

 

I called Barclays' Customer Relations to complain again that the family's concerns had not been answered in the letter. I asked for an apology from the branch, but was told that they cannot issue apologies - these are done on their behalf by the Customer relations department. However, I continued to complain and insisted on a written apology in answer to the specifics of the complaint.

 

Last week, the latest letter arrived. Barclays gave an explanation as to why the meeting could not be held with the advisor who it was booked with. They also admitted that we were misinformed (read "lied to") in the meeting. We were told that the widow would need to pay for the funeral expenses, whereas in fact these can be paid from the deceased's estate, despite the account being frozen.

 

It has taken a long time and a lot of wasted anger to get to this point, but at last I think Barclays have admitted they were at fault.

 

At this point we are not seeking any financial compensation, the point of the exercise was to extract an apology and this has arrived at last.

 

If you are unfortunate enough to find yourself in a similar situation, my advice as a layman is to pursue the offending institution until you get the answer you deserve.

 

Cheers,

 

Tim

[dx100uk]

am glad you got it resolved and thanks for letting us and later readers know.

 

dx100uk

[slick132]

Hi BS and thanks for the update.

 

Hopefully you can now move on to deal with other matters without this unpleasant shadow hanging over your father in law.

[saintly_1]

Please that you have managed to get this matter resolved. Its just a pity that you had to deal with it at all

[JOSH_IOU]

Even no i hate these peoples guts and I wouldn't even use toilet paper with there logo on. (who knows what cheap stuff they would make it from)

 

Have you tried Natwest they seem to know the drill.