Widow takes husband’s ashes to mobile phone shop to prove he’s dead

A GRIEVING widow took her late husband’s ashes into a mobile phone shop – to persuade staff to stop his contract.

Maria Raybould, 56, was still receiving bills from T-Mobile after her husband David, 57, died of cancer – and was threatened with bailiffs if she didn’t pay up.

The day after Mr Raybould’s death, her son informed the phone company which asked to see a death certificate so staff could cancel the contract.

But after complying with their wishes, Mrs Raybould continued to receive threatening letters telling her to pay £129 or face a cancellation charge. She said: ‘It’s gone downhill since then. I’ve had texts asking if David wanted to pay an extra £2.50 for broadband and letters saying that the bailiffs woul d be coming.’

Her husband died on August 29 after a long fight with cancer. He had been paying £26 a month by direct debit f or a Samsung Galaxy SII Mini on a contract with T-Mobile.

Mrs Raybould, from Cardiff, said she visited her local T-Mobile branch three times in an attempt to convince them her husband had died.

‘I’ve been up to the shop with the death certificate, with a let- ter from the crematorium, the funeral bills – even his ashes. I took in everything I could,’ she said. ‘I lost it in the shop. I gave them 20 minutes to sort it out. ‘I went outside and had a panic attack.

‘When I went back in the girl told me she had spoken to the manager and they were going to stop the contract. Then I had another letter about the bailiffs.

‘My son spoke with T-Mobile again and was assured it was sent in error and that it wasn’t going to happen again.’

But last week, Mrs Raybould received yet another l etter addressed to her late husband from the firm’s customer finance department. It asked for a payment that was overdue and said the account would be passed to a debt collection agency.

She said it had been easier to bury her husband than end his phone contract.

‘How dare they put me and my sons through this? I wouldn’t want anyone to go through what we have over the last few months,’ she said.

‘It was easier for us to bury him than sort this out.’

A spokesman for T-Mobile yesterday apologised and said there was a delay to the automated process that cancels the balance, resulting in the letters being issued. He added: ‘We apologise to Mrs Raybould for any distress caused. We can confirm that the account has been closed and the balance cleared.’