A young Edna Cowen on her wedding day
Edna Cowen did everything she could to protect her family from the stress of having to plan and pay for her funeral following her eventual death.
She planned meticulously, diligently paying into an insurance policy with firm Scottish Widows for 17 years that would pay out to her loved ones when she died.
But five weeks after the 96-year-old’s death, her funeral has been plagued with delays and her family have been unable to carry out her wishes or lay her to rest.
Edna and her family have become the latest victims of customer service failings at Scottish Widows, and have been unable to get the payout of £5,545 earmarked for her funeral.
Her granddaughter, Laura Connor, 37, says the delays have been hugely distressing for the family and caused further upset during a difficult time.
The mother-of-two says: ‘It’s so painful knowing she is stuck in a fridge until someone at Scottish Widows decides otherwise. She did no wrong in this life and does not deserve what has followed after her passing.’
Last year, Money Mail revealed that bereaved families are being made to wait months to get hold of money they are entitled to after a loved one has died. In the worst cases, it has taken almost a year for the cash to be paid out.
And these delays have yet to be resolved, we can today reveal.
Scottish Widows has made a catalogue of errors since Edna died of old age on December 14 last year, starting with a denial that her policy existed.
Edna took out a Senior Protection Plan with the firm at age 79 and the family estimate she paid in more than £9,000 over 17 years. The plan is an insurance policy that pays out a fixed lump sum upon death to cover funeral costs — £5,545 in Edna’s case.
When 74-year-old Keith Cowen — Edna’s son and Laura’s uncle — wrote to Scottish Widows shortly after her death, and named the funeral home, he was told the policy could not be found.
The insurer then wrote to the funeral home in Wakefield to request bank statements that would prove Edna had made payments for the policy.
But this is highly unusual according to an expert at the National Association of Funeral Directors.
A spokesman for the organisation says: ‘The only time a funeral director would normally be contacted about an insurance policy is to confirm the redemption figure to be paid out after the funeral has taken place.
‘To hear that this situation has caused such uncertainty for the family and led to a postponement of the original funeral date is distressing and we hope the funeral is able to take place as soon as possible.’
After multiple phone calls from Keith and Edna’s daughter Gwynneth Connor, Scottish Widows tracked down the policy and confirmed that a payment was due. Keith was asked to send a copy of the death certificate.
He handed this into his local Lloyds bank branch — owned by the same parent company as Scottish Widows.
Only once that was received was he asked to fill in a claims form. He was later told he had sent the wrong form and a new one was on its way. However, it never arrived, Laura says.
‘My uncle, who doesn’t drive and is deemed as elderly himself, has had to go back and forth in taxis to the bank, jumping through the paperwork mountain and requests placed on him,’ she adds.
‘It’s been devastating not being able to do the funeral. The plans are in place, she wanted us to move on and not be burdened so gave us an idea of what she wanted. We spoke to a vicar and started putting things in motion before we realised how hard it would be. We were offered a date in early January but had to abandon those plans.’
Chaos at Scottish Widows has left customers facing hour-long call wait times on hold and being given incorrect information about their insurance policies or pensions, for example wrong balances and missing payments. Many customers complain of rude, dismissive staff and of information being lost by the company.
Laura, who works for the police, says her family has been no exception. Her mother Gwynneth has made eight calls in five weeks, all exceeding an hour, while Keith has made three calls.
‘It’s been traumatic for my mum having to relive her grief every call she makes,’ she says. ‘Mum is passed from operator to operator, having to retell the story over and over. Many of those she spoke to have been rude, unsympathetic and trying to get her off the phone.’
Last week, the family was told the funeral home could no l onger wait for the payment and they would need to find the money elsewhere.
‘We had to have a serious talk about funding it ourselves, which was really tricky and exactly what my nan wanted to avoid. It does get people even more upset because we are fairly private about it usually,’ says Laura. ‘As a family it was too much, too soon.’
After Money Mail got involved last week, Scottish Widows has settled the claim, paying the full policy value and interest. The insurer has also paid £500 each to Keith and Gwynneth in recognition of the difficulties they have faced and extended an apology.
The funeral can now go ahead, Laura says. Money Mail has put dozens of cases to the firm for investigation over the past 12 months, and Scottish Widows has admitted to failings that have been going on for 18 months at least.
It will not say how many people have been caught up in delays or disclose the reason behind them.
A Scottish Widows spokesman said: ‘We are very sorry that Mr Cowen and his family did not receive the level of service they should have at what was already an extremely difficult time.
‘The money has been received along with interest and we have made an additional payment to acknowledge the time taken to put things right.’
