Internet trauma after death in the family (From Thisisdorset)
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Internet trauma after death in the family
6:45pm Friday 6th April 2007 in News By Eric Randolph
CUT OFF: Sandy Durragh is angry over Virgin Media's treatment of her daughter Jaymi
A DAUGHTER was left fearing she would lose her father's last words to her after a phone company cut off her internet access in the wake of his death.
Jaymi Darragh, 27, from Bournemouth, was disconnected by Virgin Media three days after the death of her father, Peter, because she spent £200 on her mobile talking to family and arranging the funeral.
They removed her phone and internet access, leaving her unable to retrieve her father's MSN messages which he sent just after the heart attack that claimed his life.
She fears those messages will have expired by the time her internet is restored.
Jaymi's mother, Sandy, rushed back from a holiday in Thailand to help. But despite seven hours of phone calls to Virgin Media, they could not be reconnected. Nor could anyone explain why they had been cut off in the first place.
"It's like banging your head against a brick wall," said Sandy. "My daughter didn't even have a credit limit on her phone. They gave us no good reason why this had happened."
The last straw came when Jaymi went to the florist to pick up her father's funeral flowers on Wednesday, only to find Virgin had emptied the last £85 from her account.
Mrs Darragh said: "They explicitly promised not to take any money out of her account while the funeral was being organised, and they've left her with nothing.
"When I phoned them, they just passed me from pillar to post. They were rude, they cut me off twice, I was even sworn at. They promised to get back to me, and didn't.
"Richard Branson is going to hear about this. His company are like a soulless machine - they just don't care."
Following contact from the Echo, Virgin Media phoned Mrs Darragh to apologise and promised to send flowers for the funeral.
A spokesperson said: "The reason Mrs Darragh's account was disconnected was to protect her when we noticed an extremely high number of calls from her phone line.
"We are confident that she will be able to retrieve the emails from her father as these are held on an account which is accessed via the internet. We have agreed to call Mrs Darragh this evening and talk her through this process."
