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How would you react if someone on the other end of the phone said “fantastic” in response to hearing that your spouse had died?

This is what happened to Louise Kaye when she phoned her mobile phone company’s helpline to close her late husband David’s account. The employee had good intentions, Ms Kaye says, but the company had clearly failed to train its staff properly when dealing with the death of a customer.

“I knew the person on the other end of the line didn’t mean to be offensive — it was just his way of speaking — but it shocked me, and he kept saying it after everything I said. It is just not an appropriate response,” says the artist and charity fundraiser, who was also surprised to hear loud rock music played over the phone while she was kept on hold by the bereavement team. 

The mobile phone encounter was just one of many disconcerting experiences Mrs Kaye, 62, went through while trying to put her late husband’s finances in order. She was made…