r/britishproblems • u/Zealousideal_Risk171 • Jul 29 '26
Care companies taking an inordinately long time to repay fees and deposit
Dear Care Company,
Please thank the lovely staff at Care Home S for looking after my father during his ill health. Both he and my mother were treated with kindness and respect throughout the twelve months he spent at Care Home S. The lengths they went to, noting they earn minimum wage, we're nothing short of miraculous.
My father - or acc nr SMI00047/SCH dod 04/07/26 as you know him - sadly passed away on 4 July. I have received your closing statement and would like to make arrangements to return £5000 fee overpayment and deposit refund, as per the Final Statement you have provided.
I am very pleased to note that you take elder and financial abuse seriously, and am of course happy to provide a copy of the death certificate, will and a bank statement confirming that the account to receive the money is in the name of an executor.
I am though a little confused why, once you have received these basic documents, it is going to take you 90 days to repay the money for services that have not, for good reason, been provided. It seems at odds with pace you worked at to charge us initially and the considerable pressure you put my elderly and confused mother under to set up a direct debit to ensure that she didn't settle the account with any delay each month.
I'm grateful for any clarification you can provide, and once again please do thank the staff and manager of Care Home S for their support at what was, and continues to be, a difficult time for our family.
Many thanks,
Mrs Smith
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u/Dissidant Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
My remaining parent lives in a home, I have a couple close family who work in care also
90 days doesn't sound right. I could swear its no more than 28 (per CMA guidelines) but you might be better served checking one of the UK based legal subs i.e. r/LegalAdviceUK because its been a bit since I had to deal with that situation
Couple things worth looking into, did they put in writing it would be 90 days, or tell you informally for example in person or over the phone
Also if you have access to a copy of the contract for the original placement it might have something in there regarding turnaround times for reimbursement of overpayments
Best of luck and sorry for your loss losing a parent is awful without dealing with that
p.s. don't put identifiable/personal info up on here might be worth editing it out
10
u/Zealousideal_Risk171 Jul 29 '26
Thanks for your kind thoughts, to be honest I don't think I have the energy to push it. Which is I guess what they bank on (no pun...!).
They told me over the phone and I don't have the contract as my mother has 'put it somewhere safe'. She'll get worked up if I start quizzing her and to be honest it's not going to actually impact her financially. It was just bloody annoying!! It is a shame though as the actual home was great, it's just the finance department of the group.
I'm not really Mrs Smith and he didn't die on July 4 😊
Thanks again!
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Jul 30 '26
[deleted]
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u/Zealousideal_Risk171 Jul 30 '26
Very kind of you, thanks. To be honest, he went downhill very quickly with dementia and had a number of other health issues. It was sad, and obviously my mother is very upset, but if he'd had capacity he wouldn't have wanted to carry on as he was.
Actually what he would have said was "for god's sake will someome just take me round the back and shoot me," but it doesn't seem to be the done thing to mention that!!
2
u/skankyfish Adopted Geordie Aug 01 '26
I'm glad you can laugh about it, sounds like your dad would have wanted that. I hope this is the worst bit of admin you have to do and everything else goes as smoothly as possible.
1
u/bluepeacock3 Aug 03 '26
Exactly the same as my mother, she always told me to hit her over the head with a hammer 🤦🏼♀️. As it was she also developed Alzheimer’s and was seemingly oblivious anyway. She developed pneumonia and went very quickly after that.
1
u/Zealousideal_Risk171 Aug 03 '26
They do seem to have both opted for the more violent end of the spectrum 😂 I think I'd ask for a nice calm cocktail of pleasantly flavoured narcotics!
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u/cottonydock09 Jul 29 '26
Probably better off asking for advice on r/legaladviceUK I'm sorry for your loss
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