Letters

Wednesday, 4th June 2008

Spectator readers respond to recent articles

Bureaucratic nightmare

Sir: Dealing with the financial affairs of a deceased relative has made me wonder if standards in our service industries have declined. In correspondence with our major banks I have been beset by problems. Two made mistakes in the figures they gave me, these being corrected after a letter and a reminding telephone call. Another named the deceased incorrectly, another required four reminders by telephone before the inquiry was answered and the fifth needed one telephone call before a reply came.

Two branches of government departments had to be phoned before letters received replies. One replied to the wrong address and also named the deceased incorrectly. The relevant papers were actually delivered by hand to the Probate Registry. An interview subsequently took place but it has taken ten weeks, less one day, from the first filing of the papers for the grant to be issued. In my view the whole procedure took an unreasonable length of time, even though inheritance tax was payable.

Charles E. Speight
Wilmslow, Cheshire

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Robert Vincent

June 6th, 2008 11:04am Report this comment

BUREAUCRATIC NIGHTMARE
As a one-time engineer, soldier, copywriter and publicist,
having found myself the executor of several wills, I realised too late that I'd entered the wrong profession and could have made much more money as a solicitor. The staggering inefficiency and mistakes I encountered among some of them served to make me wonder how they justified their fees.
I thanked God for their clerks.

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