My call with Three’s bereavement team was strange and upsetting: CRANE ON THE CASE

My husband died in spring 2023. I’ve spent the last year sorting out his affairs, which has been a struggle while also grieving and trying to support my young children.

He had a phone with Three, costing just over £50 per month. At first I wanted to keep it because it contained pictures he had taken and other sentimental things, so I continued to pay the bill.

In September, I contacted Three asking if I could keep the phone on a cheaper contract, as I wasn’t using it for calls or messages. I was told someone from the specialist bereavement team would call me back.

The call was a very strange and upsetting experience. When I was asked to provide my husband’s death certificate, I got upset and started to cry.

Unwanted comments: Our reader found the call so upsetting she hung up the phone

The person told me off for being upset, which I though was totally inappropriate. They said I had ‘only’ lost my husband, whereas my husband had lost his life, his home and his friends, and that my crying ‘made things worse for him’. I hung up the call and later started a complaint.

This advice seemed motivated by religion and was totally unwelcome and unwarranted in a call about a financial transaction.

I’m particularly concerned that this came from an apparently trained member of the bereavement team as they could be saying similar things to other vulnerable people.

Three has not apologised to me or accepted that this was inappropriate. Anon 

Helen Crane, This is Money’s consumer champion, replies: I was very sorry to hear about your loss.

Financial admin is an unpleasant thing to do at the best of times, but when you are dealing with the death of someone so close to you things like cancelling a phone contract can seem a monumental task.

It is why companies have specially trained staff to help bereaved people sort out their loved ones’ accounts with minimum fuss and plenty of compassion. At least, that is what they are supposed to do.

Your account of the phone call with Three is appalling. What on earth was this person on the end of the phone thinking? I am astounded that they were ever put to work in the bereavement team.

We all slip up and say the wrong thing on occasion – but it sounded as if this member of staff had an outlook on the world that made them totally unsuitable for the role.

Do they not have to do practice calls or be vetted by managers before they are allowed to have these sensitive conversations with vulnerable people? 

You also told me that Three has continued to write letters and emails addressed to your husband many months after you informed it of his death.  

I am dismayed at the attitude Three had towards your complaint when you first made it. Like you, I worry that you are not the first grieving customer this person has upset.

I know that you are not an unreasonable person, because you specifically asked me to praise members of staff in Three’s Bristol store who you said were very helpful when you visited – and it was them that suggested you take this complaint further.

But when you made that complaint, you told me that Three minimised your concerns, and kept closing the complaint without having a dialogue with you. 

Your husband’s account also remains open.  

What was it playing at? I contacted the mobile giant to ask how this had been allowed to happen. 

‘Minimised concerns’: The customer says Three didn’t take her complaint seriously

I am glad to say that Three immediately changed its tune – though it should not have taken my involvement for you to be listened to.  

Importantly, it told me it would carry out training with its bereavement team based on your experience.

It has also refunded all payments made on the account since your husband died, totalling £392, and topped that amount up to £500 as a goodwill gesture. 

A Three spokesman said: ‘We apologise for the difficulty that [this customer] has faced in making changes to this account and dealing with our bereavement team – our customer service was not up to our usual high standards on this occasion.

‘We have reached out to [them] and closed the account with immediate effect. We have also offered compensation, including refunding all payments made on the account since [her husband’s] death. We will be conducting further training with our team based on this experience.’

You said that you have now spoken to a helpful member of staff at Three and feel your complaint has now been ‘heard, investigated and apologised for.’

I hope that lessons have really been learned.  

Why won’t O2 refund me after Wangiri scam? 

I’ve been the victim of a phone scam people need to know about.

Yesterday I received an unsolicited call from a number in Tunisia. I may be old, but I am not stupid and indeed am very suspicious of such calls – so I didn’t answer.

An hour later I received a text from O2 saying I had spent £150 over my monthly allowance.

I then rechecked my phone and found an outgoing call to Tunisia from my phone immediately above the incoming call. I didn’t make the call, though.

Scammed: I.J fell victim to a type of fraud revolving around calls from premium numbers – but her network o2 initially wouldn’t refund her 

I phoned O2 but it said I made the call so I would need to pay the charge.

I have looked on the O2 forums and this is happening to other people as well. I have received more calls from Tunisia since and have ignored them.

After I called again O2 said it would investigate further, but hasn’t said whether I will get the money back. Can you help? I.J

Helen Crane of This is Money replies: It appears that you have been the victim of what is known as a Wangiri scam.

Wangiri is a Japanese word which means ‘one ring and drop,’ and that is exactly how it works.

The victim will receive a call from a number they don’t recognise. The scammers hang up after one or two rings, in the hope that the victim will see the missed call and then ring back.

The sting in the tail being is that the call comes from a premium or international phone number – meaning it will be charged at a high rate, and the fraudsters can pocket the money.

If the victim calls back they will try and keep them on the line as long as possible and see the pounds adding up. They use all kinds of tactics to do this, so callers may be put on hold or played a long, pre-recorded message.

The scam has been going for years, originating in Japan but now being run by criminals all over the world. 

It’s not unique to the O2 network, with scammers calling thousands of numbers using automated dialling machines in the hope that a handful will bite.

In your research online, you noted that others were reporting calls from Tunisia (international dialling code +216) which suggests that it could be a hot spot for the scam at the moment. 

Other countries where Wangiri calls have come from in the past include Botswana (+267) Comoros (+269), Cook Islands (+682), Guinea (+224) Guyana (+592) and Liberia (+231). 

But the curious thing about this case is that, while you insist you didn’t call the number back, it does appear on your phone as an outgoing call.

I do also think it is unfair that O2 initially decided not to refund you for the £150, as these bills were racked up through no fault of your own.

I decided to speak to the phone firm and get to the bottom of this.

The network said that there was a call lasting 50 minutes from your phone to a Tunisian number on the day in question.

It said it wasn’t possible for scammers to artificially change the length of a call, or for a call to be added to a customer’s bill that didn’t really happen.

But when we have reported on Wangiri scams in the past, customers have also insisted that they never made the call – or that they hung up much earlier than the network says the call lasted.

Stay safe: If you do get a call from abroad and suspect a Wangiri scam, the advice is to block it so that the same number cannot contact you again

The phone network did say that it had seen instances in the past whereby victims have called back and the line went quiet, so they assumed it had been ended when it had not and inadvertently stayed on the line.

It is also possible that it could have been an unfortunate pocket dial.

However it happened, I am pleased to say that as a goodwill gesture, O2 has credited the £150 back to your account.

An spokesman said: ‘Unfortunately we believe I.J fell victim to a Wangiri scam, where a fraudster leaves a victim a missed call in the hope that they’ll call them back on an international or premium rate number that they can then profit from. 

‘We have reviewed this case and provided a full refund to I.J.

‘If a customer receives a call out of the blue from an international or premium rate number they don’t recognise, we strongly advise that they do not call back and report to us immediately if they believe it is a scam.’

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk