Families still stuck in Scottish Widows payouts after customer service collapse
Hundreds of families are still caught in a backlog of complaints following a customer service breakdown at Scottish Widows, despite the company’s promises to lift the block by the end of March.
Many bereaved people have waited months to get their hands on money they are entitled to after the death of a loved one. In the worst case, it took almost a year for the money to be paid out.
In an exclusive interview with Money Mail in January, Scottish Widows chief operating officer Donald MacKechnie told us that there are still some 6,000 families waiting for their complaints to be resolved.
Backlog: Many bereaved families have waited months to get their hands on funds from Scottish Widows, despite the company’s promises to clear the blockade at the end of March
He promised that all those matters would be settled by March 31, which was a relief to frustrated customers.
Within the first month, the backlog had dropped to 4,700. But as of March 31, more than 600 are still waiting for an answer.
A Scottish Widows spokesman said: ‘The rest are generally more complex matters and will be resolved in the coming weeks.
“We are deeply sorry that some of our customers have not received the level of service they should have in recent months.”
The company has now increased the number of employees answering calls and handling customer requests. Complaints must be resolved within four weeks of submission, the spokesperson adds.
j.beard@dailymail.co.uk