Woolworths hands over matter *******ly: Mortified by the manner in which Woolworths Financial Services and Anthony Richards & Associates handled my dead mothers account

Woolworths – When you hear and see the name Woolworths, you instinctively associate the brand with quality, professionalism and most importantly excellent customer care. Well, at least that was my perception - until now. My disturbing experience with Woolworths cannot be overstated.

On Tuesday 21 April 2020, my life was shaken by the horror of my Mom’s passing - victim number 58 persecuted at the hands of this horrible Covid 19 Virus. I am in the legal fraternity, so naturally (instead of grieving), I put on my professional hat and attended to the duties of administering the estate (in conjunction with the duly appointed Attorney of record).

The journey of winding up Mom’s estate started with personally contacting all creditors advising them of her passing, and duly sending all relevant documentation to enable them to refer the account to their respective Deceased Estates Department to follow due process in claiming the outstanding amount (debt) from the account holder’s estate.

During a telephonic discussion with Customer Services at Woolworths, I was advised to send the death documents to the following email address ***. Following that telephone call, the requested documents were sent to Woolworths on 4 May 2020, being exactly 8 business days after mom had passed on. On 8 May 2020 on or about 8h44 am, I received an email from Woolworths, the contents of which are quoted and highlighted below.

“Dear Nadia Arnold Thank you for your e-mail. Please accept our condolences for the loss of your mother. We wish you and your family well throughout this difficult time. We have referred the details to the relevant department in order for them to better assist”.

This is probably a good time to emphasise that the relevant department, in the ordinary cause of things, is the Deceased Estates Department.

I was happy that they had acknowledged the documents as promptly as they did, and expected the closing of mom’s accounts to be smooth sailing from there. I mean, all I wanted to do was follow due process and pay the debts, to enable me to wind up the estate as timeously as possible. To my dismay, that is not what Woolworths had in mind.

At or around the second week in August 2020, being nearly two and half months after notifying Woolworths of the death, {accompanied by the relevant documents to enable them to deal with the matter accordingly}, I received what I would refer to as a rather abrupt call from Anthony Richards & Associates (hereinafter referred to “ARA”)

The call with ARA was unpleasantly surprising. I was informed that Mom’s Woolworths account and credit card had been handed over to attorneys (ARA) for legal collection and processing. I was utterly shocked by this news. How could this account have been handed over to attorneys? What happened to the process to be followed? Why wasn’t the account directed through to the correct internal workflow, and processed by the Deceased estates department, as it was legally supposed to be handled.

All these questions were put forth to ARA during our first correspondence. It was also during this call that I advised ARA, very clearly, that the relevant documents requested from Woolworths was duly forwarded to them on the dates specified above. The woman on the line appeared to be very rough in her tone and approach, telling me that I “must resend the documents to her so that she can make payment arrangements and assist me further”. What! payment arrangement? Seriously?! Having a legal background, I was absolutely not going resend the documents and accept the liability of the matter being handed over without any legal bases. Where this matter was supposed to be routed internally to be dealt with by the Woolworths Deceased Estates department, it was instead DUMPED on some attorney as a “collection matter” for default in payment. Yes, DEFAULT PAYMENT – My apologies Woolworths, that my mother decided to die of corona virus before she could make your April 2020 payment!! And then making my mother look bad because their staff failed to execute their duties competently and timeously.

Anyone who had a fraction of a brain would have identified that this was not a “default” account, there were no arrears, the last payment, in fact, was made on 28 March 2020, less than 20 days prior to the account holder dying. At this stage, I would like to emphasise that Woolworths was timeously notified of the death, which would have allowed them to deal with the matter appropriately. BUT, instead of following their own internal policies, they mindlessly handed the matter over without due cause.

I thought that once I’d explained the situation to ARA, emphasising that mom (the account holder) was not their client, and that they needed to go back to Woolworths to obtain further instruction, that the matter would be resolved. I was WRONG. Instead, I was harassed by ARA, endless telephone calls, warning messages and threats of further legal action. At this point I was fuming, how is it that a legal firm could be this *********** and not do their due diligence on the matters they take on. I then contacted Woolworths Financial Services again, explaining the situation again, along with the incorrect manner in which the situation had been dealt with. I was advised that they would follow up on the matter and provide me with feedback.

Days, weeks, months passed and no feedback from Woolworths, yet, I was still being harassed by ARA. Several follow up calls were made to Woolworths and I eventually spoke to one of the team leaders, his full names escapes me at this point (that’s how long it’s been), but if I recall correctly, his first name was “Pravin”. Again, I was forced to sing the entire song of my horrific experience as at that stage. During that communication, ‘Pravin’ again acknowledged that the documents were received and promised that he would attend to the matter and provide me with feedback as a matter of urgency. As already mentioned, the feedback never arrived. At or around the second week in November 2020, and just after receiving another text message from ARA threatening further legal action, I furiously called them to establish if the matter had been resolved by Woolworths already. I spoke to a Mrs Jantjies, who again promised to get into contact with Woolworths and provide me with feedback at the latest, the following day. She also tried to convince me to resend the documents again. Unsurprisingly, I have yet to receive feedback on even date.

I’m also going to use this opportunity to explain why I refused to resend the documents to ARA. Firstly, the matter was never meant to go to an attorneys offices as a “default on payments collections matter”, because that is NOT what it was. It was a Deceased matter, and should have been dealt with internally and in an entirely different manner. Aside from a dead woman’s name being handled without integrity and due care by Woolworths, the matter being handed over attracts further costs, for which my mom should not be liable. And the most obvious reason is that I had already sent the documents, they acknowledged it and then still expected more admin out of me, making their jobs easier and accepting liability of additional legal costs, after they routed a matter in a direction that it should not have gone in.

A little over 7 months since Mom has passed on, and Woolworths Financial Services has still not reverted to me with feedback and an explanation for their actions. The matter remains with ARA and I am still being harassed with telephone calls and text messages daily.

Again, all I wanted to do was the RIGHT THING and settle Mom’s debts due to Woolworths, and this is the kind of treatment they gave me. Avoidance. Evasive. Unprofessional. Complete lack of care. No Effort. All this while processing pain as a result of this pandemic.

I am repulsed by the manner in which both Woolworths Financial Services and Anthony Richards & Associates handled this situation. The reputation of ARA at stake as collateral damage for the inadequacies, incompetence and inefficiency in Woolworths to assess every account for what it actually is and deal with it accordingly, as opposed to dumping things as a quick fix to clearing a backlog.

This situation has caused me immense emotional trauma and distress. And the saddest part is that they simply DO NOT CARE. I am disappointed in a brand that I have trusted my entire life, and left with nothing but a taste of bitterness towards them.

I understand that we are in a pandemic that disrupted the ordinary cause of life, commerce and business, however, that is no excuse for what has transpired in this instance. Thus, I hope that this message invokes a response from Woolworths, along with an approach in which to resolve this issue, and a definite form of compensation for distress that they have put me through.