HEARTBROKEN parents were disgusted when Three charged them £160 to cancel their dead daughter’s phone contract.
Rachel Pegler and husband Martin have slammed the ‘inhumane’ phone provider for making them pay months after Molly’s tragic death.
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Molly was only 23-years-old when she passed away in July 2022 from a shocking heart failure.
She had been diagnosed with a hormone deficiency called Hypopituitarism when she was 14, and Rachel was her full-time carer.
The devoted mum, from Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, said: “Everything has been so awful, trying to sort things out. We’ve been paying the bill because you don’t think about these things.
“Martin phoned them last week and explained Molly had died.
“He said we needed to close the contract and the guy said we couldn’t, it’s a legal contract and we needed to either pay £160 to get out of it or let it run until September when it ends on its own.
“Martin said his daughter is dead, the phone isn’t been used and hasn’t been since July. He was very upset.
“We’re all still very much in turmoil with it all.
“They said there was nothing they could do, it’s a legal contract and that’s that.
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“I got really angry. I didn’t like seeing him upset like that. He was visibly upset.
“He works 12 hours a day. He doesn’t need that on top of everything else. I was furious.”
The furious 49-year-old explained the couple are now facing serious financial struggles with £30,000 worth of debt.
The amount started to snowball after Molly’s death – due to the needed time off work during their grieving period.
“It was an awful time. Funeral expenses are a hideous amount of money. We lost the car because it was a mobility car. The expense has been immense,” she added.
“We were both there when it happened and it was hideous. I think we’ve all got a bit of PTSD from it.
“Molly was the centre of our lives, I spent 23 years with her. I never left her. It’s been such a big shock.”
Disturbed by Three’s response, Rachel took to social media and broadcast the company’s “disgusting” and “hideous” actions.
She wrote: “This is disgusting. It has taken my husband six months to cancel our daughter’s phone contract. She died suddenly in July.
“We now have to pay £160 to get out of her contract early. She has died you horrible horrible people. How is this ever right? Hideous.”
Rachel said: “Then I private messaged them saying it wasn’t humane and they can’t talk to their customers like that.
“We’ve been their customers for 20 years.
“I was really fuming and to be fair to him he was very nice but it shouldn’t have happened.
“He said there was a bereavement service and I said fair enough but why on earth weren’t customer service trained to know that because it’s quite important.
“I’m not happy that my husband is sat there on his own on a building site trying to get it sorted out. It’s just wrong.
“I don’t think the man he spoke to was aware that there was a bereavement service. You wouldn’t think they would be so cruel to say keep paying or pay £160 to get out of the contract.
Martin said his daughter is dead, the phone isn’t been used and hasn’t been since July. He was very upset.”
Rachel Pegler
After the family’s complaint on social media, Three confirmed they had closed the account and waived the fee.
Three also apologised for the distress caused and admitted their customer service was not up to their “usual high standards on this occasion”.
They then refunded £100 towards the previous payments, as well as sending a hamper to the couple as an apology.
A Three spokesperson said: “We apologise for the difficulty Mr and Mrs Pegler have faced in closing this account – our customer service was not up to our usual high standards on this occasion.
“We have since closed the account with immediate effect and waived the contract termination fee. We also offered Mr and Mrs Pegler compensation. We will be conducting further training with our team based on this experience.”
Rachel has written a book called Grandpa Bourbon, dedicated to Molly, in the hopes of raising some awareness of Hypopituitarism.
Hypopituitarism is when the person affected has a limited supply of one or more of the pituitary hormones.
These hormone deficiencies can affect several routine bodily functions, such as growth, blood pressure or reproduction.
She said: “The condition is very rare. I’ve been campaigning for ten years to raise awareness of it.
“She had been poorly for years but it wasn’t expected at all.
“The book is dedicated to her and I would like the world to know how much we love and miss her.
“All proceeds now go to putting our family back together.”
