BT Floods Grieving Widow with Letters Addressed to Her Late Husband for Two Years

A WIDOW has been driven to tears after BT bombarded her with letters bearing her late husband’s name, two years after she begged them to stop after he died.

Lesley Woollard, 63, says the blunders sting even more because Graham gave 38 years to the telecoms giant as an engineer.

Lesley Wollard’s partner, Graham, tragically passed away in February 2024 The grieving widow was sent letters with her late husband’s name for 2 years despite telling the company to stop Credit: PA

Two years after the grieving grandmother notified them of her husband’s death, they sent a cheque refunding her late husband almost £50, despite her begging them not to.

“I’ve spent hours and hours on the phone with their bereavement team, but this still happened. It just drags my grief out, hammering everything home.”

After Graham’s death in February 2024, the wedding registrar tried to move the couple’s landline and into her name – but claims she was bizarrely asked for a signed letter from her late husband.

Eventually, in February this year, they managed to change the payments to her name.

But then the cheque came and she “just gave up.”

“I was just so angry, as I had begged them so many times to make sure they addressed it to me, but I was so worn out that I wasn’t surprised.

“I was just so frustrated and so heartbroken, so I switched my account to Virgin this year.

“I just couldn’t face it any more, it was prolonging the agony, the grief.

“In a weird way, it was stopping me from letting him go. There’s so much admin when a person dies, but every other company I dealt with was amazing.

“With BT, it got to the stage where I was in tears.”

She is still rocked by shock when she gets letters with her late husband’s name. The pair had been together 44 years, having met as teenagers while he worked for her Mum.

“I was answering the phones, and our eyes met, and we’ve been together ever since.

“By the time he died, so young, we had three children and a handful of grandkids thrown into the mix.

“I was devastated.”

For Lesley, it’s not really about the money, but she’s desperate to make sure that no one has to endure the traumatic process.

“I’m really lucky I’ve got a lot of support around me. If I didn’t, I don’t know what I would have done.

“When you’re in this situation, you’re fighting for something that you shouldn’t be – it’s not fair.

“The people on the phone tried to help, but the system wouldn’t let them.”

And it seems that Lesley is not alone.

On BT’s own website, customers have shared similar experiences as far back as 2024.

A user called HarrisMcPuffin accused the company of “hurtful errors” when he continued to receive messages addressed to his deceased wife despite “repeated attempts to correct the error and relieve my distress.”

He wrote: “For all those who have found themselves upon this tragic journey and all those who follow. Please, BT. Don’t make these hurtful errors again.”

BT even publicly responded: “I’m sorry if BT added to your distress,” but it does not seem to have fixed the glitch.

Responding, another BT customer wrote that the “insensitivity” wasn’t unusual.

After trying to cancel his late father-in-law Richard’s very expensive sports package in six or seven long phone calls with the bereavement team, they were still receiving letters addressed to him months later.

Even worse, he accused BT of still taking payments out of Richard’s account for seven months – despite her having late-stage dementia and struggling to afford care.

“After being notified of Richard’s death, they sent out a letter for the closing of the account: ‘Richard, so sorry to see you go.’ They couldn’t care less.”

To cap it off, when they finally agreed to a 50% refund, he alleges that the cheque was also made out to his late father-in-law.

A BT spokesperson said: “We’re deeply sorry that Mrs Woollard’s experience with us fell below the high standards of service we strive to achieve.

“Unfortunately, Mrs Woollard’s account wasn’t transferred correctly as part of our bereavement process, we have since closed her account and will be offering a gesture of goodwill to acknowledge her experience as well as ensuring any incorrect charges have been refunded correctly.

“We will stay in contact with Mrs Woollard until her complaint is resolved.”