Great-gran left in shock after debt letter saying she’s dead
A GREAT-GRAN was left in “shock” after returning home from cancer treatment only to receive a debt letter telling her she was dead.
Tillie McDonald, 89, received the letter from electricity company ScottishPower telling her she still owed an outstanding balance of £75.51.
The bill also offered four ways for the account to be settled – by debit card, phone or online banking, by post or with cash.
Mrs McDonald, of Greenock, Inverclyde, said: “Some bright spark obviously thought it was fine to address a letter to me telling me that I’d passed away.
“I’d like to know who informed ScottishPower of my demise, so I could strangle them.”
Mrs McDonald wondered why the company just accepted the “information without checking if it was right”.
She added: “A man I spoke to on the phone told me that I was off their system altogether.”
The pensioner, who says she is a spiritualist medium, was receiving treatment for breast cancer and gallstones when the letter was posted on January 9.
It stated: “Dear customer, we have been notified that our customer has passed away and send our sincere condolences.
“We don’t seem to have received the outstanding payment of £75.51 for the balance on this account.
“Please make the necessary arrangements to pay this.”
The letter also asked if there were any circumstances which may “delay this payment”.
Mrs McDonald told the Evening Times’ sister title, the Greenock Telegraph: “I’m raging. I was in tears. It was a shock that came around the anniversary of my hus- band’s passing, so I was upset anyway.
“My daughter joked with me that if they tell you you’re dead you don’t need to pay it.”
The spiritualist medium – who has three children, three grandchildren and one great-grandchild, added: “I’m a spiritualist and even I myself didn’t know I was dead.
“You should hear come of the cracks I get for that because of this letter.
“I went to the warden in my building and asked her to feel my arm and she asked me if there was something wrong with my arm and said, ‘no, I’m dead apparently’. I think she thought I was bonkers.”
Mrs McDonald said she phoned ScottishPower and was on the phone for “three-quarters-of-anhour” until she got cut off.
The pensioner seeks an apology from ScottishPower for the distress caused.
A ScottishPower spokesman said: “ScottishPower sincerely apologise to Mrs McDonald for the distress caused by this error, which is being fully investigated.
“We have spoken with Mrs McDonald today to personally apologise and explain that the letter was caused by human error.”
Further treatments have been scheduled for Mrs McDonald for her serious ailments on her birthday on February 1 and also in March.