Names changed etc
Quote:
“Dear Sir,
I’m writing to you in response to the horrific service I received from your company following the death of my best friend John Simon Smith, who was one of your customers. John died on the ##nd June 2006 in Lyon, France following a parachute accident. As is common when a friend dies, it is usually traditional to inform his friends and relatives not only of the funeral arrangements, but of the simple fact that he’s dead. John was a popular guy, with circles of close friends in the Army, his Kayaking and Water-sports club, his Parachute group, his university friends, his friends at home and a lot more. I haven’t had the opportunity to be acquainted with some of his other friends and nor had his mother. It was deemed that the best way to contact his friends was to look at his mobile phone and get the numbers off of there. Unfortunately John had a pin protect mechanism on his handset.
Monday 26th June 2006
I telephoned your company on the customer service number and explained the situation. I eventually got through to one of your operators in Mumbai who was helpful, and after I offered to clear any outstanding balance on his account there and then, believed what I was saying. She advised that I needed a PUK code to gain access to the handset and SIM and duly gave the information I requested, however there must have been a misunderstanding due to the language barrier (No fault of her own), and the code was wrong. She asked me to hold, but in the process I was blind transferred to another operator. I explained the situation again to a male operator, and he said he wouldn’t help me. I found him rude, abrupt and very caustic in his manner. I explained that I didn’t want access to the account, but just to access the information on the SIM. I asked if he could use his initiative and block the handset from making calls if he was in any doubt that I was genuine, he said no. He then asked if he could speak to the account holder. My only reply to that was to explain – once again – that he is dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. I repeated it three times and still he would not listen. After spending more than an hour on the phone being passed between various departments, I was told that you wouldn’t help me. After seeking advice from the internet forum digital spy, I went into the Superdrug store in Worthing to speak to your representatives.
Tuesday 27th June 2006
I arrived at the ######### store in Brighton and introduced myself to Lee the manager of 3 Mobile. I explained the situation, and found Lee to be polite, helpful and sympathetic. He explained that for obvious reasons, the company don’t give out information that easily. He said that ideally, what I would need was the death certificate. I explained that as he died abroad, the death certificate was not yet available, as it was in France. I did say that it would be available for your inspection after the funeral, but I needed the names and numbers off the SIM before then so as to invite people and prevent the upset of people finding out afterwards. I then offered my Work Identification Card, Passport, the handset and SIM in question, and all the information I’d managed to get hold of through your company. What fraudster would offer all of that? He said that without shadow of a doubt, he believed I was genuine and called Neil Hepburn on Channel Support. I again asked if it was possible (under the supervision of your members of staff) to unblock the SIM until the numbers were off of the ‘phone and then block the Handset as Lost/Stolen. Again this was not good enough. I was asked for my details and was told that they would be noted. I gave my full name, address, home telephone and date of birth. Lee and Neil worked together for at least 3 hours after closing time to help me. After Neil had spoken to his managers, he told me that if I were to show him a copy of the death certificate, he would release the information I required. I said that it wouldn’t be in English, and he said that would be no problem. After all – there must be at least one person in your company that can understand French. That evening, I had the document couriered at a cost of over €60. I made this transaction in good faith and on the understanding that this was to be done at any cost to myself as it was now becoming a matter of urgency.
Wednesday 28th June 2006
En route to work, I returned to the Superdrug store in Worthing with the Death Certificate and met Colin Jones. Colin had been briefed to help me at all costs by his manager Lee and I found Colin also to be polite, helpful and sympathetic. We agreed that it would be best to wait until Neil at channel support clocked on at 11:30. Colin ‘phoned Neil and arranged for the document to be faxed to him, as it was not sufficient for the company to take it on the word of your staff member. Neil received the Acte de Décès satisfactorily and went to show it to his managers. I refused to leave the store until this matter had been dealt with to my satisfaction. At about two o’clock, Neil called to advise that the Acte de Décès was not sufficient as it was in French. This “moving of the Goal-Posts” caused me considerable distress as I realised that it was by your standards, impossible to cancel the account as you would never believe that he’s dead. I asked what foreign language he learnt at school, he told me he learnt French. I asked him if he understood it, he said yes. I then translated the document into English verbally and still this was not good enough. Then I was asked “Why is his Mother not doing this instead of you?” I replied, “Nothing has stopped you looking her up in the phonebook and calling her. Why don’t you ring her up and ask her if her son is really dead?” He said I don’t know what more I can do. In my distress, I told him what he could do and hung up. The reason I have been taking care of this was because I originally thought it would be a ten minute job and wanted to relieve Mrs Smith of the grief of once again explaining her sons’ death.
What I was forced to do as a result of your actions will sicken me to the day I die.
I called the customer service number, told them that my name was John Simon Smith of, ####, born on ######. I explained that “I” had locked “myself” out of “my” ‘phone and that I needed the PUK code. I was told that someone had called on the 26th trying to gain access to the same information. This was ignored. I was then given the necessary information to carry out the task I had been seeking for the last 3 days. You will note that all of this information was already held by me and on the death certificate. As a result, I now have the information I needed, obtained by fraudulent means after being FORCED TO PRETEND TO BE MY DEAD BEST FRIEND. Had I not resorted to this drastic measure, the problem would still be unsolved and the funeral would not be attended by those who John felt close to. It also highlights your complete disregard for security - not only that I have a fully functional handset with no one to pick up the bill. It will of course NOT be used to make calls by either me or his family as I believe doing so would further dirty John’s memory.
I have found that in my opinion your company’s lack of understanding of the grief a person goes through when they lose a loved one, and the subsequent treatment of the deceased customers’ family, also your complete disregard for their feelings and not to mention lack of clear procedures, to be callous, disgraceful, abhorrent and above all sickening.
This situation led to one of your staff saying to me that he felt ashamed and deeply embarrassed for the company and it is a great credit to your organisation that you have such honourable sales staff such as Lee, Colin and also Neil. I’ll not forget the way Lee took ownership of the situation. What lets them down so much is that you don’t trust a single word they say. I would like your personal assurance that NO action would be taken against the individuals I have named and who have helped me.
Now I have achieved what I originally set out to, I can now relax and take my time in dealing with you. The funeral is organised and will take place at ######## Crematorium on ######## #th July at three o’clock. Confirm this if you must. I also enclose a copy of the Acte de Décès for your information only, as you don’t seem to accept it as proof that he’s not with us anymore. I would request that you address all correspondence to me, at the address above and to remove all marketing permissions from his account. These are of course polite requests, mainly to prevent the situation of Janice Wilson, (The Sun, Thursday 29th June 2006) also the mother of one of your customers, happening to Mrs Smith. I am also informing you that I am taking responsibility of this account on behalf of his next of kin as this is personal now. This has been agreed between me and his family. I would like you to contact me as soon as possible and arrange a solution to this situation you have caused. Please do this before taking any action relating to terminating the account and barring the handset. I know that his family would like to keep the handset on his pay as you go account.
Thank you for taking the time to listen to my concerns and I look forward to hearing from you personally.
Yours Sincerely, ”