A Utility Company Demanded To Speak With Dead House Owner Directly, So His Daughter Brought Him To The Appointment
Losing a loved one is definitely a traumatic experience. Sadly, there are so many things that can make grieving even worse, for instance, taking care of the dead person’s bills. A Redditor PrincessG66, whose real name is Gloria, shared an incident she had with a utility company which refused to cancel her dead father’s bills even after she showed them the death certificate. “I’m pretty sure that it started out as someone just made a clerical error in filing the death certificate. When you combine a mistake with lack of caring as a whole, you get a bunch of people who are just there for a paycheck,” she told Bored Panda. Gloria tried her best to solve this issue but had no luck. “In trying to get the matter handled, I was passed around to so many different people that I lost count. Not one person every really took the time to listen to what I was trying to say to them. Not one person said ‘oh. Wait. He’s dead? I understand. Let me get this to the correct department.’ They just kept on insisting on speaking with the account holder,” she added. (Facebook cover image: John Jacobi)
Image credits: h&f council film office
Desperate to get the employees to listen to her, Gloria decided to go the appointment with the supervisor who said that she would only speak to her father. However, she didn’t go there empty-handed, Gloria brought her father’s ashes with her. “I knew that it would be shocking to her to see his ashes. I knew that she would finally shut the hell up and listen. I hoped that after someone stood up to her and put her in her place, she would change her ways and hopefully treat the next person better.”
Gloria admits that her behavior might have been a little ‘extreme’, but it was the only way to solve the situation. “My dad was right there with me in spirit and would have approved of using his ashes to fight back,” she added. Read the full story below.
Image credits: ThatGirlTayler (not the actual photo)
Here’s how people reacted
187Kviews
Share on FacebookI have been having similar problems with medical bills. Dad died 5/22/18 and had several medical bills. I sent certified death certificates, letters, and claim forms for probate so they could get paid. They continue to send me threatening letters that they are going to file a complaint with the credit companies and he would get a poor credit report. I told one of them that they could proceed as they wished, but that dead people don't give a c**p about their credit, and told another that they could feef free to dig him up if they thought that he had any money on him. I haven't heard from either again.
My father (who died about 5 days after yours, coincidently) decided to put everything he had in his children's (mostly mine, since I was living with and caring for him) names once he started getting sick in order to prevent all the c**p he knew we'd all have to deal with once he was gone. Bless him. For many things, but for thinking of that too. Thanks to that we didn't need to do anything other than dealing with the remains when time came, and splitting some possessions between us siblings as we wished, off record.
Load More Replies...Ugh, when my dad passed my sister was the one who ended up taking his cremains (cremated remains) home by plane. She did all her research to make sure she knew what she needed in order to be compliant in bringing human remains on a commercial flight. She had the ashes in a sealed bag inside a sealed container, a copy of the death certificate, and a certified letter by the state health board that the box contained nothing harmful, etc. etc.. She got through check-in and security just fine and thought she was clear, but when she sat down on the full plane the flight attendant approached her and said in the LOUDEST CHEERIEST VOICE EVER "OOO! WHAT'S IN THE BOX?!?" Everyone around her turned to stare and my sister just matched the same volume and said "MY DEAD FATHER, THANKS". The flight attendant was mortified, but said she *had* to ask for security. All my sister said was "you could have asked quietly and not drawn the entire plane's attention".
Similar thing happened to me. Dad was left handed and suffered a stroke that affected his left side so he couldn't write. Every person we saw said he had to fill out a form/sign something for one thing or another, it was almost impossible to get them to understand he couldn't write, never mind sign something.
This happened to me with my grandfather. I told them "by all means, keep billing him, then take him to court when he doesn't pay, then maybe you can dig his body up and put him in jail when he still can't pay up. Try and claim your court costs from him too!" It soon stopped.
I'm so sorry that you had to deal with this in your time of grieving.
Load More Replies...I purchased a used car from the estate of a deceased lady. When I took it to the local DMV it had been properly signed by the executor. The clerk refused to accept the pink slip unless it was signed by the legal owner (now dead). I explained the non-life situation and she insisted it be signed by the owner. I stood right there and signed on the line and it was processed. SMH...
These incidents are so common because staff are not able to think only follow protocol no matter how illogical it may be. Perhaps the robotic staff of the future will be more compassionate.
Well robotic staff only follow protocol too, so maybe those companies need to add a protocol for deceased clients for their service lines. Robots or humans :)
Load More Replies...ridiculous that people are that idiotic! i think she handled it perfectly--i'd have done the same thing. like they say, common sense isn't really common...
This sadly happens in really many countries, also here in Finland. Some companies just refuse to understand that their customer is dead. For example I know one woman who still gets one magazine that her husband used to subscibe and her husband died over 15 years ago. She does not pay the magazines but she still receives those magazines. And she has contacted the magazine several times that her husband is dead.
18 years ago, my dad passed away (I was 17). Two ears after, I had a call from the Tax Center, asking to speak with him. I told them he was dead and that my mother warned them and sent all the papers. The lady answered me she wanted to be sure the situation didn't change (????) and then informed me that he needed to pay forthe use of his TV the previous year. I remind her, he was already dead and didn't have the use of his TV. After 20 minutes of surrealistic talk, I realised that she already had all the informations, she knew he was dead, she knew his mother took his TV but had no clue where the TV went after her death few weeks later. As none of her heirs told her what happen to the TV, the agent thought it was a good idea to ask me (even if she knew I had a renunciation of inheritance done) the money to fill her files. She just wanted to have her rate of "I got the money" ... I'm pretty sure she must have call his all family tree to find somewhere to get the money;
My heart goes out to people who have to deal with this level of incompetence.
There's one thing I don't understand. If the person was living in the deceased person's house, why would they need to bother stopping it? Do all utility companies require only the person on the account pay the bill? Do they deny payment if they receive a check from someone else? If they had shut off the electricity for non payment, is it harder for the other person to just say the other person moved away and just start it back up in that person's name?
It’s complicated. This happened to me when we inherited a house after a relative died and I moved in and tried to turn the water bill over to my name. But everything was in probate for a couple years and the deed to the house wasn’t in my name yet and the county wouldn’t give me water service without proving that I owned the house. We had to just leave it in the relative’s name.
Load More Replies...As I plopped the bag of ashes down on her desk I would have also added "Here's my father..you'll have to speak up since he doesn't hear to good these days. And you may not get much out of him since he hasn't been very talkative lately."
I would have most certainly done the same. If im trying to get something done, and idiots cant get it right on thier end, I pull out all the stops with no shame.
I had to deal with BOA for 3 months trying to close out my late husband's accounts. They were in his name only, so there were many hoops. When the matter was finally solved the bank employee had the 'nads to ask if I wanted to set up an account with my late husband's funds! I laughed in his face and said, "you're joking, right?" Closing and transferring all of the rest of the accounts elsewhere were a walk in the park by comparison.
Load More Replies...As a person who works in a call center for car payments, yes it is a nightmare to get an account flagged as deceased. I don't think it should be that difficult especially since deaths are public record
My uncle had the same problem trying to get my dead grandmother's mail routed to his house, since her house was an hour away. They needed the death certificate, but it was held up. I told them I just filled out the change of address form & mailed it in, so he did that - problem solved. A lot of this stuff can just be cancelled online.
I work for a utility companies bereavement department, speaking from experience a lot of advisors do not know what to do in times of a bereavement, and breaking data protection can mean losing their jobs. Couple that with things getting lost in the system and being sent to the wrong department. I can understand how frustrating it is to not get things sorted the first time, however it seems needlessly aggressive to take in her father's ashes to an unaffiliated member of staff to get her point across.
When my husband died I went to HR of the department store where I worked to get bereavement leave. The clerk said "We usually get 3 weeks notice for this".
This happened to us on 2 different occasions. First In South AFrica legal gun owners are basically forced to hand in their weapons. So my mom did this, only to find out that the one 9mm was still registered in my dead grand ma's name. The police officer actually wanted to know "the address of the deceased" Her actual words! The second time was after my dad's passing as well. Cell phone company refused to cancel his contract after being presented with the death certificate. They don't see the death worthy to cancel a contract. so I told them well sue him and if you find the address to heaven, please inform me as well. I would love to sent my dad a letter telling him how much I miss him. The next e-mail I received was them telling me that they are not prepared to talk to me any more since I am extremely rude.
"Fast & Furious in the Afterlife: Dead Men Don't Drive" ...... [Dibs on the movie rights!]
If this happens in India, you would end up in a jail for sure. No cop is cooperative in India.
I understand why that one lady didn't budge from the statement that he was dead, because that could be a possible lie.But the fact tat she called the cops for harassment?!!??? Umm... WHAT?
When I was 14 my dad had died and man did we have some stories of stupid people. Including one lady my brother was talking to about his car who seemed appalled that we would ruin his credit score, even though he's dead and probably doesn't care about his credit score but what do I know. Also in trying to switch me to my mom's health insurance the lady was very insistent that he had to sign so that I could be taken off. When my mom said he was dead and couldn't sign she said I had, my mom then explained I was a minor and therefore also couldn't sign. This was a back and forth that went on for 15 min that only ended when my mom spoke to a supervisor who was very apologetic and literally seemed mad at the employee.
I couldn't help but be reminded of the movie "Brazil" by Terry Gilliam when I was reading the story as well as the above comments to the story.
Sympathies. But the issue was a simple one. Report to the utility company he has died and that's it. If they cut if off they cut it off. If they don't they don't. What are they going to do to him? Ruin his credit score?
If it's cold climate and they cut it off, there may be water damage. It may not always be a good idea to not have at least a minimum amount of heat on.
Load More Replies...One would almost think that Bored Panda is having a similar problem in repeating items within their posts today. This has to be at least the fourth article I've clicked on with at least one item listed twice. Something wrong with your editing algorithm, or what?
They do that... Facebook did it... I told them my dad expired in 2010 and that they can shut his account... they said they need proof... I showed them the RIPs on my dad's page... they said they still needed a official obituary... told them go to hell... so now I have these posts where random people tag my dad on their silly posts and it shows up on my page, saying so and so is with my dad... its just a very weird world that understands no emotions...
It’s not unreasonable that Facebook would want an official death certificate or obituary.
Load More Replies...When my brother died suddenly in an RTA my sister who was at uni at the time asked for an extension on a piece of work due to our bereavement. The uni said she would have to produce his death certificate before they would allow the extension! As my bro was married his wife had this info, not my little sis. She explained this to the uni n they still refused to give her a 2 week extension. She walked out of the uni cos of it. Disgusting how these big wigs think they can be so vile!
My UNI was, thankfully, the very opposite. When my daughter died they would have given me a no-deadline extension on my thesis. I just couldn't deal with anything of that at the time and quit completely. (It was a very expensive school and I lost my enthusiasm for it long before that)
Load More Replies...If you have ever dealt with idiots like this, you would understand. Sometimes you just have to give them a big dose of reality (i.e., the bag of ashes) to get through to them. Having done mortuary duty in the Air Force, worked in a cemetery office, and helped friends through the deaths of their loved ones, I've seen a lot of this c**p happen. This story has an air of truth to it, whether it is or not.
Load More Replies...I have been having similar problems with medical bills. Dad died 5/22/18 and had several medical bills. I sent certified death certificates, letters, and claim forms for probate so they could get paid. They continue to send me threatening letters that they are going to file a complaint with the credit companies and he would get a poor credit report. I told one of them that they could proceed as they wished, but that dead people don't give a c**p about their credit, and told another that they could feef free to dig him up if they thought that he had any money on him. I haven't heard from either again.
My father (who died about 5 days after yours, coincidently) decided to put everything he had in his children's (mostly mine, since I was living with and caring for him) names once he started getting sick in order to prevent all the c**p he knew we'd all have to deal with once he was gone. Bless him. For many things, but for thinking of that too. Thanks to that we didn't need to do anything other than dealing with the remains when time came, and splitting some possessions between us siblings as we wished, off record.
Load More Replies...Ugh, when my dad passed my sister was the one who ended up taking his cremains (cremated remains) home by plane. She did all her research to make sure she knew what she needed in order to be compliant in bringing human remains on a commercial flight. She had the ashes in a sealed bag inside a sealed container, a copy of the death certificate, and a certified letter by the state health board that the box contained nothing harmful, etc. etc.. She got through check-in and security just fine and thought she was clear, but when she sat down on the full plane the flight attendant approached her and said in the LOUDEST CHEERIEST VOICE EVER "OOO! WHAT'S IN THE BOX?!?" Everyone around her turned to stare and my sister just matched the same volume and said "MY DEAD FATHER, THANKS". The flight attendant was mortified, but said she *had* to ask for security. All my sister said was "you could have asked quietly and not drawn the entire plane's attention".
Similar thing happened to me. Dad was left handed and suffered a stroke that affected his left side so he couldn't write. Every person we saw said he had to fill out a form/sign something for one thing or another, it was almost impossible to get them to understand he couldn't write, never mind sign something.
This happened to me with my grandfather. I told them "by all means, keep billing him, then take him to court when he doesn't pay, then maybe you can dig his body up and put him in jail when he still can't pay up. Try and claim your court costs from him too!" It soon stopped.
I'm so sorry that you had to deal with this in your time of grieving.
Load More Replies...I purchased a used car from the estate of a deceased lady. When I took it to the local DMV it had been properly signed by the executor. The clerk refused to accept the pink slip unless it was signed by the legal owner (now dead). I explained the non-life situation and she insisted it be signed by the owner. I stood right there and signed on the line and it was processed. SMH...
These incidents are so common because staff are not able to think only follow protocol no matter how illogical it may be. Perhaps the robotic staff of the future will be more compassionate.
Well robotic staff only follow protocol too, so maybe those companies need to add a protocol for deceased clients for their service lines. Robots or humans :)
Load More Replies...ridiculous that people are that idiotic! i think she handled it perfectly--i'd have done the same thing. like they say, common sense isn't really common...
This sadly happens in really many countries, also here in Finland. Some companies just refuse to understand that their customer is dead. For example I know one woman who still gets one magazine that her husband used to subscibe and her husband died over 15 years ago. She does not pay the magazines but she still receives those magazines. And she has contacted the magazine several times that her husband is dead.
18 years ago, my dad passed away (I was 17). Two ears after, I had a call from the Tax Center, asking to speak with him. I told them he was dead and that my mother warned them and sent all the papers. The lady answered me she wanted to be sure the situation didn't change (????) and then informed me that he needed to pay forthe use of his TV the previous year. I remind her, he was already dead and didn't have the use of his TV. After 20 minutes of surrealistic talk, I realised that she already had all the informations, she knew he was dead, she knew his mother took his TV but had no clue where the TV went after her death few weeks later. As none of her heirs told her what happen to the TV, the agent thought it was a good idea to ask me (even if she knew I had a renunciation of inheritance done) the money to fill her files. She just wanted to have her rate of "I got the money" ... I'm pretty sure she must have call his all family tree to find somewhere to get the money;
My heart goes out to people who have to deal with this level of incompetence.
There's one thing I don't understand. If the person was living in the deceased person's house, why would they need to bother stopping it? Do all utility companies require only the person on the account pay the bill? Do they deny payment if they receive a check from someone else? If they had shut off the electricity for non payment, is it harder for the other person to just say the other person moved away and just start it back up in that person's name?
It’s complicated. This happened to me when we inherited a house after a relative died and I moved in and tried to turn the water bill over to my name. But everything was in probate for a couple years and the deed to the house wasn’t in my name yet and the county wouldn’t give me water service without proving that I owned the house. We had to just leave it in the relative’s name.
Load More Replies...As I plopped the bag of ashes down on her desk I would have also added "Here's my father..you'll have to speak up since he doesn't hear to good these days. And you may not get much out of him since he hasn't been very talkative lately."
I would have most certainly done the same. If im trying to get something done, and idiots cant get it right on thier end, I pull out all the stops with no shame.
I had to deal with BOA for 3 months trying to close out my late husband's accounts. They were in his name only, so there were many hoops. When the matter was finally solved the bank employee had the 'nads to ask if I wanted to set up an account with my late husband's funds! I laughed in his face and said, "you're joking, right?" Closing and transferring all of the rest of the accounts elsewhere were a walk in the park by comparison.
Load More Replies...As a person who works in a call center for car payments, yes it is a nightmare to get an account flagged as deceased. I don't think it should be that difficult especially since deaths are public record
My uncle had the same problem trying to get my dead grandmother's mail routed to his house, since her house was an hour away. They needed the death certificate, but it was held up. I told them I just filled out the change of address form & mailed it in, so he did that - problem solved. A lot of this stuff can just be cancelled online.
I work for a utility companies bereavement department, speaking from experience a lot of advisors do not know what to do in times of a bereavement, and breaking data protection can mean losing their jobs. Couple that with things getting lost in the system and being sent to the wrong department. I can understand how frustrating it is to not get things sorted the first time, however it seems needlessly aggressive to take in her father's ashes to an unaffiliated member of staff to get her point across.
When my husband died I went to HR of the department store where I worked to get bereavement leave. The clerk said "We usually get 3 weeks notice for this".
This happened to us on 2 different occasions. First In South AFrica legal gun owners are basically forced to hand in their weapons. So my mom did this, only to find out that the one 9mm was still registered in my dead grand ma's name. The police officer actually wanted to know "the address of the deceased" Her actual words! The second time was after my dad's passing as well. Cell phone company refused to cancel his contract after being presented with the death certificate. They don't see the death worthy to cancel a contract. so I told them well sue him and if you find the address to heaven, please inform me as well. I would love to sent my dad a letter telling him how much I miss him. The next e-mail I received was them telling me that they are not prepared to talk to me any more since I am extremely rude.
"Fast & Furious in the Afterlife: Dead Men Don't Drive" ...... [Dibs on the movie rights!]
If this happens in India, you would end up in a jail for sure. No cop is cooperative in India.
I understand why that one lady didn't budge from the statement that he was dead, because that could be a possible lie.But the fact tat she called the cops for harassment?!!??? Umm... WHAT?
When I was 14 my dad had died and man did we have some stories of stupid people. Including one lady my brother was talking to about his car who seemed appalled that we would ruin his credit score, even though he's dead and probably doesn't care about his credit score but what do I know. Also in trying to switch me to my mom's health insurance the lady was very insistent that he had to sign so that I could be taken off. When my mom said he was dead and couldn't sign she said I had, my mom then explained I was a minor and therefore also couldn't sign. This was a back and forth that went on for 15 min that only ended when my mom spoke to a supervisor who was very apologetic and literally seemed mad at the employee.
I couldn't help but be reminded of the movie "Brazil" by Terry Gilliam when I was reading the story as well as the above comments to the story.
Sympathies. But the issue was a simple one. Report to the utility company he has died and that's it. If they cut if off they cut it off. If they don't they don't. What are they going to do to him? Ruin his credit score?
If it's cold climate and they cut it off, there may be water damage. It may not always be a good idea to not have at least a minimum amount of heat on.
Load More Replies...One would almost think that Bored Panda is having a similar problem in repeating items within their posts today. This has to be at least the fourth article I've clicked on with at least one item listed twice. Something wrong with your editing algorithm, or what?
They do that... Facebook did it... I told them my dad expired in 2010 and that they can shut his account... they said they need proof... I showed them the RIPs on my dad's page... they said they still needed a official obituary... told them go to hell... so now I have these posts where random people tag my dad on their silly posts and it shows up on my page, saying so and so is with my dad... its just a very weird world that understands no emotions...
It’s not unreasonable that Facebook would want an official death certificate or obituary.
Load More Replies...When my brother died suddenly in an RTA my sister who was at uni at the time asked for an extension on a piece of work due to our bereavement. The uni said she would have to produce his death certificate before they would allow the extension! As my bro was married his wife had this info, not my little sis. She explained this to the uni n they still refused to give her a 2 week extension. She walked out of the uni cos of it. Disgusting how these big wigs think they can be so vile!
My UNI was, thankfully, the very opposite. When my daughter died they would have given me a no-deadline extension on my thesis. I just couldn't deal with anything of that at the time and quit completely. (It was a very expensive school and I lost my enthusiasm for it long before that)
Load More Replies...If you have ever dealt with idiots like this, you would understand. Sometimes you just have to give them a big dose of reality (i.e., the bag of ashes) to get through to them. Having done mortuary duty in the Air Force, worked in a cemetery office, and helped friends through the deaths of their loved ones, I've seen a lot of this c**p happen. This story has an air of truth to it, whether it is or not.
Load More Replies...
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