Simon Read: 'A reader's bereavement was bad enough, but then British Gas created turmoil'

Coping with the loss of a loved one is traumatic. You certainly don't need to end up dealing with unnecessary problems created by a big company failing to use common sense. But that's what happened to Independent reader Paul, who contacted me this week. His mother died last year, which kicked off months of problems with Britain's biggest energy company.

"I've been trying to pay my late mum's final British Gas bill since she died last December," Paul told me. He contacted the company after her death with her meter readings, to ask for a final printed bill in her name for £93.01 that she owed and that could then be paid out of her estate.

"My executor's bank account only has a chequebook, so I need a printed bill I can pay at the bank. I also need the bill to show the estate where the money has gone," Paul explained. "But it seems it is impossible for them to provide it."

But it wasn't impossible for the company to start hassling him for what it decided was a debt. "They keep phoning and emailing to pursue the debt," he said. "Each time it's a different person, with whom I have to revisit my mother's death, and explain the story again. Each time, someone says they will post me a bill. Each time, it fails to appear."

Things got worse in March when a debt- collection agency phoned and texted Paul while he was on holiday. "The most recent phone call I received was last Saturday, from somebody else at a call centre. Again I had to go through the story of my mother's death, which after six months is extremely distressing," he said.

Feeling doomed to the constant turmoil of unkept promises and hassling calls, he turned to The Independent. After our intervention, British Gas sorted things out within hours. A spokeswoman said: "The customer was on direct debit, paperless billing. But an error with the automated billing system meant that when her son came to settle the final bills, they were still paperless, which left him unable to pay. A debt-recovery letter was also sent in error, but cancelled when he contacted us.

"We have apologised for the time it has taken to resolve this, and in such sensitive circumstances, and provided him with £100 as a gesture of goodwill."

Paul is happy his nightmare is over. "After 24 weeks and 24 emails, you seem to have sorted it in 24 hours!"

That raises two points. First, it shouldn't take the intervention of a newspaper to wake big companies up to their responsibility to customers.

Second, there must be other executors who need a printed bill from a formerly paperless account. I hope British Gas improves its systems so others don't experience a similar nightmare at the height of their grieving.

s.read@independent.co.uk

Twitter: @simonnread