A 78-year-old great-grandmother in the United Kingdom was sent a debt collection letter addressed to the executor of her estate after a utility company mistakenly recorded her as deceased. Ginette Bye, a resident of the UK, later discovered that the letter had been dispatched by the debt collection agency Phillips and Cohen Associates on behalf of Southern Water over an alleged unpaid bill of £60.87, as reported by Metro.
The letter reportedly offered condolences on her supposed death before requesting payment linked to her water account, despite monthly payments continuing to be deducted from her bank account. The account had previously been jointly registered with her late husband, Paul Bye, who died in 2020, which appears to have caused the error. Bye stated that Southern Water had already been informed about her husband’s death years earlier and criticized the company for failing to contact her directly before referring the case to debt collectors.
“They’ve taken a direct debit every month for the last five years out of my bank account,” Bye told Metro. “If Southern Water had spoken to me and said, ‘Mrs Bye, you owe £60,’ then fine, I’d pay it. That’s what’s annoyed me.” She also expressed concern that the letter could have been deeply upsetting for elderly people living alone without family support.
The debt collection notice stated that Southern Water had been informed she had “sadly passed away” and claimed the unpaid amount could become the responsibility of her estate. Her son, Mark Bye, said the family was deeply disturbed by the situation. “She thought it was a scam at first,” he said. “She’s nearly 80 years old. Something like this could seriously affect somebody.” Daughter Paula Macvicar also questioned why payments were still being accepted while the company believed the account holder was deceased. “How can you speak to the bill payer when, according to you, she’s dead?” she said.
The account has since been transferred solely into Bye’s name, and the disputed balance was removed as a goodwill gesture. A spokesperson for Southern Water apologized for the incident and confirmed an investigation had been launched. “We’re sorry for this error, which has caused unnecessary distress to Mrs Bye,” the spokesperson said, as cited by Metro. “We’re now reviewing our processes to understand exactly what went wrong and ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
