My 92-year-old father-in-law was £93 in credit on his Vodafone pay-as-you-go mobile, partly because he didn’t understand how it worked. When my wife and I discovered this he was already terminally ill and had stopped using the phone. He asked if I could recover his money.
We called customer services at least four times, but it would only deal with the customer, who by then was too ill. At one point I was told the money was “in the ether” and therefore considered spent. I wrote to head office but received no reply.
My father-in-law has now died, but we are determined Vodafone should not get to keep this money. MJ, Devon
Vodafone appears to have more sympathy when customers are dead than merely terminally ill, for it now says it has a team of specialist advisers to support bereaved families, and this has been mobilised to help. Clearly it needs to consider how to offer the same support to families whose relatives can no longer communicate with customer services. “We’re sorry the family has had this distressing experience at such a difficult time,” says a spokesperson. “As we have a copy of the death certificate we will organise a bank account refund.”
If you need help email Anna Tims at your.problems@observer.co.uk or write to Your Problems, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Include an address and phone number.
