I read with great amusement Arthur Green's letter regarding BT's charge for paying by cheque (Letters, May 23) and I think I can top it.

A close relative of mine died recently and I was charged with winding up her estate. She was a BT pensioner and her late husband served when the original organisation was known as the GPO.

The day after the death I informed the bank of the situation and also informed the BT Pensions Service.

The bank quite rightly froze the account.

The BT landline was still connected at my deceased relatives's home. My wife and I thought it would be useful if we could use that phone on future visits to deal with the estate, so we contacted BT with a view to taking responsibility for the phone and its costs as BT could no longer be paid by direct debit from a frozen bank account.

My wife, an articulate and clever woman, duly rang BT and spoke, of course, to an Indian call centre. The full situation was explained but as the deceased person had been paying the phone bill by direct debit and BT were trying to charge us between £4 and £5 for the cancellation of the deceased person's direct debit agreement, it all became too difficult and the phone was disconnected.

When we visit the address and need to use a phone we will be using our mobile phones and the overall cost will be less than paying the charges imposed by BT.

  • DG Stamp, Mile Oak Road, Portslade