Hundreds of families are still caught in a backlog of complaints following a customer service meltdown at Scottish Widows, despite the firm’s promises to clear the logjam by the end of March.
Many bereaved families have waited months to get hold of money they are entitled to from the insurance and pension firm after a loved one has died. In the worst cases, it has taken almost a year for the cash to be paid out.
In an exclusive interview with Money Mail in January, Scottish Widows’ chief operating officer Donald MacKechnie told us that up to 6,000 families were still waiting for their complaints to be resolved.
Backlog: Many bereaved families have waited months to get hold of money from Scottish Widows despite the firm’s promises to clear the logjam by the end of March
He promised that all of those cases would be cleared by March 31, which came as a relief to frustrated customers.
Within the first month, the backlog had fallen to 4,700. But as of March 31, more than 600 are still awaiting an answer.
A spokesman for Scottish Widows says: ‘The remainder are generally more complex cases and will be resolved in the weeks ahead.
‘We’re very sorry that some of our customers have not received the level of service they should have over recent months.’
The company has now increased the number of staff answering calls and dealing with customer requests. Complaints should be resolved within four weeks of being lodged, the spokesman adds.
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