Koodo -- damned near impossible to cancel post-mortem

[Galcobar]

Well, let's just make dealing with an estate even more fun, shall we?

Mom passed away in April. She had a Koodo cell phone on a $15/month plan -- we originally got it so she could carry it around the house and call one of us if she fell while we were out, then kept it so she could call at her convenience from the care facility when we could no longer support her at home.

I had, admittedly, forgotten about it until I was looking at her accounts and noticed a pre-authorized charge on May 14. Called Koodo on May 17, explained what had happened, and as executor requested cancellation. I was told I'd get a call back within 3-5 business days from the department which handled such. Okay, little annoying to have to wait, but whatever.

May 23 I called again, having received no call. Was told I should get a call the next day.

June 5, called Koodo. Oops, the email to the cancellation department was never sent. Will do that, 3-5 days again. Will get done before next billing cycle.

June 12, I see another pre-authorized charge pop up on the account. Unfortunately, blocking a charge costs $15 so I hadn't put a block on the account.

June 23, called Koodo. Was told the account had been cancelled June 5, effective May 17. Without the PIN, CSRs can't access the account to explain the June 12 charge. Get a supervisor, who also needs the PIN; will get the department which actually has the necessary access to call me Monday or Tuesday.

June 29, CSR tells me the department responsible for cancellations doesn't have a phone number, just an acronym OCD which he doesn't understand. And customer service can't transfer me to that department. Says my call on May 17 was the last day of the billing cycle (runs from 18th to 17th), and by law the phone company gets a month's notice on post-paid plans so they can charge the last month. Assures me the plan is cancelled and no further charges will be forthcoming.


Best part? Took me about 30 seconds to find Telus' CAM OCD/Settlement Department's public phone number. It was in a post on the Howard Forums (telecom discussion site); 1-800-345-2081 CAM OCD/Settlement desk.

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I hung up because I frustrated, and because I wanted to look over Koodo's legal documents. I can find an order from the CRTC to Telus regarding a customer's death (CRTC 21461 General Tariff, item 122.5):

Despite Item 122.4 and Item 110.2 (minimum charge for minimum contract period), when cancellation of service occurs as a result of the circumstances listed below, applicable termination charges will not apply and the customer is responsible only for charges for service to the cancellation date:
(a) In the event of the death of the customer, the cancellation date is the date the Company is notified of the death.

Unfortunately, I can't find a similar CRTC document for Koodo. Best I can do is Koodo's published terms of service, which don't mention death.

Can I cancel my service at any time?
Yes. To cancel your service, contact Koodo with the date you want the cancellation to be effective. Cancellation fees may apply

How are rate plans and features charged?
Recurring rate plan and feature charges are billed one month in advance, so your monthly bill will have rate plan and feature charges for the next month. If you change your rate plan or features during your billing cycle, the corresponding charges will be applied for the portion of the month during which the new rate plan or feature was active on your account. The recurring monthly charge for the next month will also appear on your bill for the new rate plan or feature.

Is it just my imagination, or does that mean the charge due and levied May 14 would cover the billing period of May 18-June 17? Which means my mother's estate should not have been charged in June?

[computergeek541]

Sorry to hear that you lost your mom not too long ago.

Koodo's customer service is giving you the run around. Once you were able to prove to Koodo that your mom died, they should have allowed you to change the PIN on the account and granted you full access. This is a necessary step as a measure to prevent people from stealing other people's accounts and compromising them. The fact that they were able to cancel the account for you means that they are satisfied that you are authorised to do so. So them now saying they can't discuss any charges makes zero logical sense.

Like it or not, cell phone companies do have a 30 day notice of cancellation clause that says that they will charge you for up to another 30 days after you've requested the cancellation. They don't always charge this fee and sometimes even refund for parts of that last 30 days. The Koodo terms of service will surely state that they reserve the right to charge for another 30 days, and it appears that's exactly what they have done. Pretty much they are saying since that no prior notice of cancellation was given that service will remain active for another month (until June 17th) and that they will charge for it.

But just because something is stated in Koodo's term's of service, doesn't make it legal. If you are certain that the CRTC ruled that cell phone companies can't charge for 30 days notice after the death of a customer, file a complaint with the CCTS. They handle complaints within the industry.

Another option is to just make sure that Koodo doesn't get paid by reversing the charges and blocking all future payments from the bank account/creidt card. Koodo will eventually send the amount owing to collections but it's not as if your mom's credit rating could be harmed. It's a matter of how strongly you feel about Koodo getting paid and whether such measures would be worth your trouble.

If the charges were being taken from the bank acccount/credit card on May 14th, that means that the charges for an additional 30 days after May 17th would have been mostly covered already on the May bill. This depends on the Koodo account billing date. A few days out of that 30 would be billed on the June bill. To me, it doesn't make sense that you were told that the 17th was the last day of each billing cycle. This is because preauthorized payments came out on the 12th and 14th of different months. There's no way Koodo could have possibly knew how much to take as a payment before the bill was even generated for each of those months.

[dajs]

Sorry for your loss!

I would say that the CRTC Order to Telus also applies to Koodo. Koodo is not a separate company, it is just a differend brand.

When you approach Telus/ODC just refer to the CRTC order and don't even start a discussion about wether that applies to Koodo or not. Just say something like

"Dear Telus team, My mother ($name, born at, decased at, address) had a contract with you, product "Koodo 15$ etc", contract #. As the executor I've notified you on $date of her passing. According to CRTC order # you should not levy any further charges for your service after that notification date. However, on $date you have charged $amount for $period after the notifiation date. I would like to bring this error to your attention and would like to receive information on when we can expect your refund.

BTW: Our numerous communication attempts with the Koodo hotline in the whole matter since $notification date have proven to be inefficient and frustrating, your internal processes could use a serious redesign.

Sincerely,
$ name, Executor."
Tel#

HTH!

[kocoman]

I don't think Telus/Koodo refunds you via cheque if the amount is less than $20

[Galcobar]

Thought I should update the thread for future readers. Registered on Koodo's community forums, pasted my initial post over there, and received a near-immediate reply from a Koodo employee.

He acknowledged that the situation I described was not to company expectations, requested some more information, and then acknowledged and apologized for the mistakes made in handling the account closure. I received a call that day to discuss the matter and was offered an entirely satisfactory resolution.

If anyone wants to read through the thread: community.koodomobile. com/koodo/topics/damned_near_impossible_to_cancel_deceased_account

So, kudos to Koodo for acknowledging and addressing the issue.

[awwong]

So, kudos to Koodo for acknowledging and addressing the issue.

Wow, a community forum where employees actually help out and things work, unlike another that recently closed down...