# Eircom and deceased customer



## Deedee06 (5 Sep 2017)

Hi all, 
My Grandfather passed away in 2005. The executor of the will (family member) was supposed to cancel the phone with eircom, however we have just found out they haven't.  We have just been handed a load of bills from April 2017 with a final demand from a solicitor, and other bills going back to 2012.

In 2012 the account appears to have been in credit which is odd, and we haven't had any bills prior to 2012, so just wanted some advice on how we should handle this.

Please note that my Grandfather's house has been empty since 2005, as we live in the U.K. 

Many thanks in advance.


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## elcato (5 Sep 2017)

If it was me I would send a letter back telling them that he is deceased since 2005 and they would need to check their records. I would doubt you would hear anything again.


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## mathepac (5 Sep 2017)

Who handed you the bills? If it was the executor hand them back with instructions to fix the problem. Who has access to the house / phone? Was your Grandfather in receipt of the home benefits package (free line rental) at some point?


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## noproblem (5 Sep 2017)

More than likely your granddad had free telephone, electricity, tv licence and a fuel allowance as part of his pension before he passed away. That may be the reason the account was in credit. However, there shouldn't have been any calls made since his death. Check this out with other family members and the executor then get on to the phone co with explanation. What are the bills for?


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## gnf_ireland (5 Sep 2017)

noproblem said:


> More than likely your granddad had free telephone, electricity, tv licence and a fuel allowance as part of his pension before he passed away. That may be the reason the account was in credit.


If this is the case, the same should have happened from up to 31st December 2013. The Free Telephone was ceased at that stage, although if the Dept of Social Protection may have attempted to issue a claw back on the funds paid to eircom.

Has probate been closed, or is it still pending? Has the house been sold etc? I assume the account is still in your grandfather's name.

It really was up to the Executor to close the account with eircom and inform them your grandfather had passed away. Does the same situation exist for ESB etc?

Historically, it has been standard industry practice over the years to close accounts and write-off balances in the case of 'payer deceased'. If there have been no calls made from the phone since 2005, you should get the executor or a solicitor to write to the eircom or their representatives, explain the situation and include a copy of the death certificate. I would be surprised if it went any further - assuming there were no calls made. If there are still calls being made, for whatever reason, this would be a different matter I am guessing.


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## Leper (5 Sep 2017)

Your grandfather died 12 years ago and you live in the UK. Eircom (Telecom Eireann) is not a bad company with which to deal. If there are no calls registered on the account since 2005 common sense dictates that no further charge should exist since then. I advise that you write to Eircom and keep copy of letters. But, if there is a significant number calls registered on the account over the years then that's another story.


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## Deedee06 (14 Sep 2017)

Thank you all so much for your advice on this matter.  Think we will be writing a letter to eircom with the death certificate and get this sorted out.  Thank you again.


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## DirectDevil (12 Oct 2017)

I thought that there was a time limit of 2 years from date of death to issue proceedings against the estate of a deceased person ?


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