closing post office account

[johnsouthwales]

in circumstances such as bereavment, especially when people are devastated or don't even want to go out but because of the formalities end up having no choice to go out even if suffering from agrophobia. people grieve in different ways, but there is a common emotion with the majority.

i went to the local town post office yersterday and requested the form to close an account. i was handed them and the manager mentioned pay particular attention to this white form she also gave which basically mentions the two parts of identification. as she didn't say anything else, i went home.
i was filling in both forms today as i could have filled them in at the post office yesterday while i was there.

i was under the impression i was to send the form away, and i thought to myself i'm not sending my birth certificate away as that is the original, and did not want to risk it going missing. so, i thought what could i send instead? so, i thought i'd send my driving licence. if they lost it, they can pay for a new one.

then they were asking to submit utility bills. i thought what can i send as the last electric bill was weeks ago and threw it away after paying it.
i rang up customer services for clarification on these kind of things. i said to them that the choice on the post office issued list is to small, and c/s said not to worry as there are more options available as it woyuld take a huge paper to list everything.

i said i cannot produce a BT statement as an utility bill because mine is paper free (online). i don't have a rent book/card as on the list.. form P6363
no mortgage statement..so i c/s if i can use a bank statement as proof of address. the advisor said yes.

then they asked for the original death certificate + a photocopy.

then i started thinking to myself, who do i send the forms to. i looked for an address and found nothing. it was getting near 4.45 and i thought i'd better go back to the postoffice to find out exactly what the procedure is. also requst a statement so i can pass it onto the solicitor, grant of probate.

off i trundle to the town with my fcked up leg, had to photocopy first, then p.o
i asked the counter assistant what exactly do i do with these? she said hand them in here. yesterday, the manager didn't say owt to bring them back here, so i handed them over.

she started looking through the form, i handed over all my other things, and she said she cannot process it as one of my signatures slightly went outside one of the boxes, fetched another one and pushed it back through the screen slat along with the other items. i started to feel a bit humiliated, having to put everything back into the neat envelopes, and proceeded to fill in the new form. as it was getting on for 5:10, i filled it in, and queued to get served again.
a different assistant was serving, and she said to fill out another form. i asked why and she said it's got to be black biro. i was looking up to the ceilingand let out a breath saying heaven's above, what kind of life is this world we live in.

i filled in the other new form, and queued up again. 5:20 a different assistant served me and i was relieved that i did it in time as i really did not want to be there at all and agitated. she said oh you filled in the form. i said yes i have filled in the form. she said it was her job. i thought to myself what are you on about? what it was, i filled out the P6363 form. the manager yesterday handed it to me and i thought it had to be filled in too.
she was checking through it. i gave her the bank statement first, then i handed over my driving licence. then she said she cannot accept it. i thought oh what now? she said that if she sends this off now, it will only be returned. i said what will be returned? she said the bank statement is not a valid proof of identity requested in part 3 - List B on the form P6363

i said customer services well said to me it is acceptable, and thinking to myself is this the way you treat people who are bereaved and in mourning? i said you be the death of me and said i shouldn't be here and was unwell. and became quite angry.

this is disgraceful, and i am not sure who is right and who is wrong. is it the postoffice or customer services?

maybe tomorrow or the day after i go there again or whenever. it seems now that they do not need to send away anything as such, so i will use my birth certificate as proof of identity and driving licence as proof of address. all this could have been sorted before leaving the house, and i am not blaming royal mail for this today. blame royal mail for other things but not this.

[johnsouthwales]

i just come off the phone from customer services, and the reason why the P6363 was issued in guidlines with the government what is acceptable proof of residency..

p6363 is the only guidline. the adviser yesterday at customer services had got it wrong. and i want to know why? the lady i was just speaking to was saying that she has been working there for 5 years and knows the p.o card system inside out. and she said it could have been somebody new that i was speaking to yesterday and they get a weeks training. that doesn't seem long, but even though if that is the case, there are only 6 options in part 3 list b4. she told me i can use my bank statement. i would like to know how she came to that conclusion. and it is obvious that she has not been trained. it would be common sense to have a p6363 in the advisers enquiry reference folder.

it is now looking like postoffice are not training the advisers.

the government says driving licence, utility bill, council tax bill, electoral register, morgage statement, rent book are the only items they class as requirement.
driving licence - not everybody drives a car or holds a licence so it is quite appalling to assume everybody does.
utility bill - most times, the utility bills are in the deceased name. if for example, the deceased was male and paid all the bills, how is it possible for anyone else to have an utilty bill that is not in the deceased's name?
council tax - same as above
electoral register - maybe not everybody enrols
mortgage statement - not everybody has a mortgage. maybe the house was purchased through something like right to buy and had enough savings in the first place. maybe someone bought the house through redundany payment or paid off the remaining mortgage balance. or maybe living with parents or an elderly's carer
rent book - people don't have rentbooks if as in above

[johnsouthwales]

it is obvious that royal mail have not trained this adviser, because an adviser cannot act on anything that is outside the recommended list.
and it is impossible to do this as the adviser mentioned that a larger P6363 will be needed to list every single item that can be used, which was giving the impression that there is a seperate additional list somewhere or mentioned in website. and if that is the case, how was the adviser under this impression in the first place? simply because it does not exist and the adviser believed there was a full list, was not trained because the adviser would have been told this is not so. either that or the adviser is a loose cannon giving out incorrect information. there can't be any other explaination.

[adb2aber]

There can in fact be many explanations other that this advisor being "not trained because the adviser would have been told this is not so. either that or the adviser is a loose cannon giving out incorrect information"

Perhaps the advisor has so many lists of what documents are suitable for different things they became confused and so gave you incorrect information? Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. As for the correct items to take in, if it isn't on the document that says "You need to take X number of items in this list..." then even if you've been told otherwise by someone you should take only the items on the appropriate list.

Utility statements are usually suggested to be kept for a few years for your own benefit, at least to check you are still getting good prices. Even if you have to wait a few months for a new monthly/quarterly/annual statement then it'll give you time to calm down and not give the counter staff grief for trying to do their job. As for bills in the wrong name, you'd have to get them updated by the gas/electric/water/phone etc companies anyway, wait until they send you a new bill and take that in.

Finally, please do read the forms before filling them in - it will have very clearly said to use black pen and the signature box will have said to sign *inside* the box. None of us have any say in the forms, just have to work with what we're given. The staff will have been helping you by pointing out these things - imagine if you had sent it off first time and waited for X days before it was returned for the signature being outside the box. Then done the same again for it in blue/pink/green/whatever colour pen you used ink. An extra few minutes doing it properly saves all that hassle.

[johnsouthwales]

Perhaps the advisor has so many lists of what documents are suitable for different things they became confused and so gave you incorrect information? Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. As for the correct items to take in, if it isn't on the document that says "You need to take X number of items in this list..." then even if you've been told otherwise by someone you should take only the items on the appropriate list.

i can't see how an adviser can get confused when it was said perfectly clear it was closing an account - deceased account form enquiry.

end of

[johnsouthwales]

so why did the adviser say i can use bank account statement to act as proof of address?

insensitive so and so's

[johnsouthwales]

actually, my signature was protruding less than a millimetre outside the box.. maybe half a millimetre if i had an accurate measuring tool..

what difference does it make? maybe they make the box a liittle bigger. they say black ink is used for photocopying purposes - doesnt make any difference as blue ink looks like black after the copy anyway

[johnsouthwales]

just came back from the post office..

i took my driving licence as proof of id, and my o2 statement/bill as the utility bill. guess what? the counter assistant said no. i asked why? she asked me if the o2 bill was a mobile? i said yes, is there something wrong with it? and said that on your P6363 it clearly states utility bill=telephone . then she said mobile phone is not a telephone. she lost her rag and said she doesn't make up the rules. and i asked what rules? all your rules are on the P6363. i cannot act any more than what is on the paper

excuse me for being thick but since i receive calls and make calls on my nokia, that equates to being a fecking telephone (didn't actually say it but was thinking it)... telephone=static, portable or mobile.

where does it say mobile phones are excluded from utility bills on either the P6363 or anywhere else? if anywhere else that is as nobody has mentioned the post office site, and i'll be damned to spend ages looking for the conditions again as i have important things to do like sleep and get a bit better.

how many people do have mobiles? maybe many people have got mobiles to replace their house phones as house phones got too expensive for them.

so, i asked. pass back the driving licence as identity and start again. and don't forget, i was under the impression items were going to be posted off in the beginning and was getting aware that this is not the case.... i passed her my birth certificate as id, and handed back the driving licence as the proof of address

finally sorted. have to wait god knows how long. what is requested is the closing statement so i can pass it to the solicitor to proceed with the grant of probate. at the post office, i thought that a little statement can be printed out in exactly the same way a bank does it, there and then. the solictor has got the bank one. then again, the solictor only wants the statements as proof that there is under £15,000, some legal technicality thing. i asked about if an interim statement can be produced just enough to show the solicitor the balance so he can get on with his things. and apparently i can't transfer the house insurance until house ownership changes, and as i see things at the moment, the house is technically uninsured. not only the contents, but the house itself.

[not me]

mobile phone bills are never accepted as a proof of identity as the phone isnt tied to the property

[johnsouthwales]

mobile phone bills are never accepted as a proof of identity as the phone isnt tied to the property

that maybe true, the question is where is this written down in black and white?

how on earth are the general public supposed to know this when the information is not available except through word and mouth?

where on the p6363 does it state mobile contract bills are excluded? where in post office website does it say this?..... exactly

does this mean people who cannot landline phones and solely rely on mobiles are discriminated against? seems like it... so may as well come out with it and discriminate the needy and poor because that is what it is inferring to, and is unacceptable.

i may be hurting and grieving for the rest of my life, but i am damn sure i still got my faculties right, and when someone is bereaved, i will never forgive the way i was treated

[not me]

i know you are miffed but a mobile phone bill has never in my experience been accepted by any company
im sure the wording should be landline phone bill as is often used but it also wont say mobile phone bill

[andy2007]

True. But surely it would be a good idea to change the form. So it specifies that Mobile Phone bills aren't acceptable. That way, we could avoid this type of problem in the future.