Hi all,
In early September, I called the bereavements team to transfer my late grandmothers account into my name (live at same address).
According to the VM website, you can either complete an online form or call up the team if you want to make a change to the package, which I did as it turns out she was out of contract and paying over £100 for a relatively basic package!
To my surprise, the call taker in the bereavements team essentially told me he was filling out the form for me and that he couldn’t change the package until the transfer had been processed - not mentioned on the website!
I waited until I received an email confirming the transfer a few weeks later and immediately called fully expecting to be able to reduce the expensive package to then be advised it wasn’t possible and I’d have to wait another few weeks as they couldn’t change it until I had received a bill!
The saga continues… I call up the retentions team who magically can change my package but had no clue I was a bereavement transfer as I simply appeared as a new customer. I was then told I wasn’t valued enough to receive good discounts and had to wait another few weeks to “unlock” better discounts as their system had me down as a new customer! To note, the account I have taken over has been active in excess of 20 years!
I have just received my bill which is over £200! It seems I have been double billed which I wasn’t told would happen either.
In addition to these rubbish, non transparent and quite frankly insensitive bereavement processes, I was asked by the bereavements team when I first contacted them to transfer the account if they were speaking to the account holder, at this point it was my deceased grandmother!
I also continued to receive marketing comms with my grandmothers details several weeks after informing them of her death.
In summary, I am no further forward, the package is still the same, I am not entitled to the same loyalty discounts from retentions as I would be if my gran was still alive, and I am lumbered with a £200 bill.
My main frustration being, I took over the account expecting it to be more seamless and less stress at an already stressful time than cancelling and rejoining, to essentially pay way more money and not receive any reasonable discount when trying to change the package as I am showing as a “new customer” and any prior loyalty (20 years plus) isn’t showing on the account.
Has anybody else had a horrific experience with the bereavement transfer process?
