Today in mildly unsettling news, someone got an email from PayPal saying that their wife’s death was a breech of their terms of service. The widower called the letter “Beyond the fucking pale”, a very British way of say it’s not acceptable.
Howard Durdle tweeted an image of the letter on Tuesday, saying PayPal “were informed of Lindsay’s death 3 weeks ago.” In fairness, I’d be pretty angry too. The letter, addressed to Durdle’s late wife Lindsay reads “You are in breach of condition 15.4(c) of your agreement with PayPal credit.”
https://twitter.com/hdurdle/status/1016610616700698624
So next time you die, just check that you’ve squared up any debt with PayPal because otherwise they’ll be coming for you in the afterlife. PayPal has since apologised and cleared the debt, they do not yet know how the letter was made in the first place however.
Lindsay Durdle passed away on 31 May, she had been fighting breast cancer for a year and a half. Howard alerted the company of her death three weeks ago. Durdle volunteers for a widows’ support charity and has seen how similar letters can affect people. He also says he made a fuss out of the matter so that the company and others can see the way it affects people and can make changes.
“If I’m going to make any fuss about this at all, it’s to make sure that PayPal – or any other organisation that might do this kind of insensitive thing – recognises the damage they can cause the recently bereaved.” He told BBC.
PayPal are still investigating the incident, and have remained in contact with Durdle throughout.
Watch: How PayPal works… Just don’t die.
