[Richardhall4]

Good morning

I have just had an EONNext advisor hang up on me and I am not very happy about it.

My Mum died on 10 March. At the beginning of this month I advised them of the final meter reading and gave them my contact details as her next of kin and the person dealing with her affairs.

Rather than send me the last statement, they chose to send it to my Mums old address. They also sent the final account balance to her old bank account which had been frozen.

I contact Eon last Thursday (18th). I spoke to one of their colleagues who told me she didn’t know how to send the final balance to me, and would find out and phone me the next day - unfortunately she didn’t.

I phoned this morning to find out what has happened and an advisor spoke to me and said they couldn’t send me the money as I wasn’t named on the account, and I’m not the Executor (there wasn’t a Will). I was told that without these they cannot send the money to me. I was trying to explain that as my Mum had died it would prove problematic to obtain the documentation they need. I said that all I had was the Death Certificate, but apparently that’s not enough. At that point they hung up.

I can't believe Mum was the only EON customer who has died without a Will? Has anyone managed to get such a situation resolved?

[retrotecchie]

@Richardhall4

Sorry to hear of your loss. What I can do for you is tag our duty Nexties and ask them to have a look at this for you.

@Bennie_EONNext or @Anasa_EONNext any chance you could look into this, please?

[Tommysgirl]

@Richardhall4

Sorry to hear of your loss. My mum did not leave a will either, but her bank bereavement team said, as her next of kin, dealing with her affairs, I was her 'Personal Representative' for all financial affairs, and transferred what was left in her bank to my account. She lived with me, so the energy accounts were in my name, but other organisations paid any arrears of pensions and, overpaid income tax back to me without any problem.
It could be the advisor you spoke to, was not aware of the correct bereavement procedures, but now @retrotecchie has contacted the 'nexties,' they will look into it for you, and hopefully get it resolved quickly.

[Richardhall4]

Thanks Tommysgirl

The two EON advisors I have spoken to seemed to take an age to read through the regulations before telling me they couldn't pay out, which I found rather strange. Dealing with deceased accounts can't be that unusual can it?

Over the past month I have dealt with insurance companies, pension companies, banks, phone companies and the local council and not one of them was this awkward! 😡

[Tommysgirl]

@Richardhall4

It sounds like the two you spoke to definitely don't know the right regulations, but the 'nexties' are usually very helpful, and they'll get back to you.

The last thing you need at such a time is someone being awkward. Fingers crossed it will be resolved very soon for you🤞

[WizzyWigg]

@Richardhall4
Sorry to hear of your loss. This might be worth looking at:
https://community.eonnext.com/thread...ht=Bereavement

[meldrewreborn]

@Richardhall4

You have my condolences. Unfortunately there is no common standard between different organisations in dealing with this, particularly as your mothers account was in credit - E.on Next need to be sure they're paying money out to the right person, and in the absence of a will naming you as executor it can get very much more tricky than it really needs to be.

Having said that, if its clear (you can send a death certificate after all) that you mother has died, then in the absence of a will a sensible arrangement would be for you to fill out a form of indemnity, so that in the unlikely event that E.On Next paid out to the wrong person, you would then become liable.

You are not the first to find E.On Next's bereavement process very unhelpful. Partly I think this is due to them not having specialists in this particular area - all their specialists deal with every conceivable topic and the phrase "jack of all trades and master of none" seems apposite.

Perhaps @Anasa_EONNext or @PeterT_EONNext could intervene on this one.

[meldrewreborn]

As a general point, if the person dies intestate, that is without a will, in England and Wales the person dealing with the estate can apply for letters of administration to get court authority to deal with the estate. Scotland has similar. However that can take a long time to get approved.

Obviously not all estates involve lots of wealth, and one would like to think that a simplified process, involving submission of a death certificate plus an indemnity form would be sufficient to release sums of up to say £1000. How about it @Beki_EONNext ?

[Bennie_R97]

@Richardhall4 I am really sorry to hear about your late mum.

The last thing that anyone needs to deal with,after such a loss, is having extra issues with energy accounts. I am sorry that the Energy Specialist you have spoken to on the phone with wasn't able to support you. I will make sure to give some feedback about that. Of course this is an online public forum but I can try and give you some support that you may find helpful.

Have you managed to go through NotifyNow ? If you add all the details, the team that deals with bereavement should be able to get this sorted for you.

If you have any further questions, feel free to get in touch. Me and the other co-ordinators are more than welcome to help.
@retrotecchie thank you for highlighting this, I picked it up as soon as I could have.

[Richardhall4]

Bennie_EONNext

The frustration is that I went through the NotifyNow process on 1st May (and received a receipt confirmation). In spite of this, EON still sent the bill to my Mums address and the payment to her (frozen) bank account.

It seems as if completing the NotifyNow process was a total waste of my time. Any help you can give me to resolve this matter would be much appreciated - thank you.