I had to close my dad's cell phone account with Bell Mobility, and I was feeling ripped off. When he died, they wouldn't close his account without seeing a death certificate. It took me 6 months to get the certificate. In the meantime, they kept taking his bill payments from his credit card. (I should have canceled it -- my bad. I thought they would give the money back from the time he died.)

They also did not offer me the option of canceling his contract and paying a penalty. So ... it was like...I couldn't cancel his contract, and I couldn't close his account either. They wanted to see the death certificate to waive the cancellation fee.

I faxed them the death certificate and the pertinent account details along with a letter expressing my disgust that they would take money from a dead person. (My notary had informed me that Bell Mobility was not obligated to give me anything.) Anyway, they closed his account and credited 3 or 4 months of payments back to me. I was happy about that.

But...I am still waiting for the cheque. I will have to follow up on that soon.

And I am in the process of clearing out my dad's place (again). When I went there on the weekend, I found that Cindy had returned the things with sentimental value I had asked for (I had asked for other things back, but I guess I can always buy those things). I am REALLY happy about that. She also threw in some extras that I didn't know existed. But seriously, having her keep things that had been in my family for such a long time just seemed weird and inappropriate. 

So, I got back my dad's chopsticks and photos of my grandparents. I think there were some other papers of theirs that didn't come back, but I can't remember. There had been an envelope full of that stuff. She also returned my aunt's chopsticks. She died about 30 years ago. These chopsticks are all ivory and have their names engraved on them. I also got back keys...extra keys to my place and the safety deposit box I shared with my dad.

I can see someone moving out and leaving behind stuff that was of no use to them...but to take everything just seems so wrong.