Talktalk Bit Of A Pain

[foxyferret]

My mum has just died and I phoned TalkTalk to let them know the bank has frozen her account and no direct debits will be paid. They only have two options. 1. They disconnect the phone immediately. 2. They put the account in someone else’s name and that person must set up a direct debit to pay the monthly bill. I told them there is no one in a position to do that, could they put the account on hold until the money from the estate becomes available? Answer no. They said I could have 30 days before they cut the line. I expect they charge for late payment and disconnection too. Every other company like electric, water, insurance etc have all shown empathy and have all agreed to hold the accounts and wait to send a final bill to get paid. After 1 hour 20 mins on the phone with talk talk, they have emailed me with a change of name form and a direct debit mandate for me to fill in! I sometimes think I am speaking a foreign language which no one at TalkTalk understands. Has anyone else found the same?

[barry1010]

Sorry you are having unnecessary problems at this time. I found this, it might help

Call the TalkTalk Bereavement Team to notify them of a death. If you have a TalkTalk phone you can call free on 0870 444 1820, otherwise use 0203 441 5550.

Have the name of the person who has died and their account details available when you call. The Bereavement Team will help with closing the account or transferring the ownership of the account.

[calmck]

Had terrible time with TalkTalk after my sister, account holder, died. Took 9 months to close the account. I just cancelled the DD after final bill was cleared. Then sent all correspondence back in unstamped envelopes. Never heard from them again

[barry1010]

Just to clarify, do you want the service to be disconnected or does other people live at the property and want to keep the service?

[bednobs]

i dont see why this is a bit of a pain (well i do of course; you are recently bereaved and having to sort thing
what you are asking for is a way them to keep providing a service, but with no means to pay for that service. Why do you want to keep it on? if someone else will be using it ong with them paying it?they need to pay for it. if it was solely for your mum, it's not needed any more.

[bednobs]

i dunno what on earth happened to my answer there, soz!

[barry1010]

bednobs, her mum's bank accounts have been frozen and she has no access to her money to pay the final bill.
I assume she wants the service disconnected now, with the arrangement to pay the final bill from her account when the executors are able to do so. That is normal practice

[bednobs]

Then why not take option 1?

[barry1010]

Because it seems TalkTalk want the final bill paid straight away

[chelle7272]

Just close the account, any outstanding money will then have to be paid from the estate.

[barry1010]

It seems TalkTalk are asking for the final bill to be paid immediately which can't be done until the exexutors are in a position to do so

[chelle7272]

//TalkTalk want the final bill paid straight away//

Where does the OP say that?

[barry1010]

That is how I read the OP.

[Tuvok]

If you want the service to continue and be transferred to a different person, the you could pay the bill and submit it to the executors to be reimbursed in due course.