PayPal seems to live by the “death and taxes” motto, as this incredible mishap shows.
The company sent Lindsay Durdle, a woman who died on May 31, a letter that stated that her death was “in breach of her agreement with PayPal.” Yes, you read that right.
Although the husband of the woman had sent PayPal documentation like a death certificate and a will, PayPal responded with an email that will make you do a double take:
“Dear Mrs. Lindsay Durdle,
This is a default notice served under section 87(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Your account has an outstanding balance of £3,240.72.
Provision of Agreement Breached
You are in breach of condition 15-4(c) of your agreement with Paypal Credit as we have received notice that you are deceased. In accordance with condition 15-4(c), we are entitled to close your account, terminate your agreement and demand repayment of the full amount outstanding.”
Understandably, the husband was furious, which sent PayPal scrambling to provide an explanation.
Excuse the language but this is beyond the fucking pale. @AskPayPal @PayPalUK – who were informed of Lindsay’s death 3 weeks ago – have sent HER a letter claiming breach of contract due to her being deceased. What the hell? pic.twitter.com/4zelBLGszc
— (@hdurdle) July 10, 2018
The company said that three possible explanations for the callous letter were a bug, a bad letter template or a good old-fashioned human letter. Afterwards, the company also issued an apology posted by TheNextWeb and kept in touch with the husband in order to right the situation.
” We apologise unreservedly to Mr Durdle for the understandable distress this letter has caused. As soon as we became aware of this mistake, we contacted Mr Durdle directly to offer our support, cleared the outstanding debt and closed down his wife’s account as he requested. We are urgently reviewing our internal processes to ensure this does not happen again.”
PayPal have been in touch, have apologised sincerely and have promised to change whatever they need to internally to ensure this can’t happen again. I just hope more orgs can apply empathy and common sense to avoid hurting the recently bereaved. https://t.co/YyUsCVGNX8
— (@hdurdle) July 10, 2018
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