Reports that bereaved relatives struggle with the unsympathetic practices of banks and utility and tech companies struck a chord. After the formulaic “we’re sorry for your loss” when you first contact them, you encounter the familiar modern miseries of call waiting, opaque documentation and unreachable representatives. Companies slow walk through procedures, as if it is somehow respectful to move at funereal pace, when what your want is to get this dreary stuff done. Archaic and cumbersome methods are sometimes demanded – hard copies, snail mail, in-person meetings, notarised letters.
The worst offenders were bookmakers. My father, who liked to bet on the horses, backed the winner of the Grand National just before he went into hospital for the last time, but it required the completion of multi-page forms and several calls and emails even to establish that he had a balance in his account, before the sum of £70 was finally released – the company having first got the bank details wrong – some months later. It’s almost as if they didn’t want to let go of the money at all.
