'Dear customer, sorry to hear you're dead'

Mrs Fulton, who was described as frail by neighbours acting on her behalf, said she was left "extremely upset". The widow suffered a severe stroke almost a decade ago and lived alone.

"You can imagine how shocked I was to receive the letter," Mrs Fulton said. "Fortunately I still have my wits about me, but I dread to think what the consequences could have been for someone in more fragile health than myself."

Standard Life said the blunder was caused by human error after a routine pension payment failed. A staff member had incorrectly marked reason for the payment being returned as “deceased”.

A spokesman said: "We are very sorry this occurred and for the concern it has caused. We apologised immediately and carried out a review to understand what had happened. We reissued the pension payment immediately and sent Mrs Fulton flowers and £50 as apology too."

The reason for the failed payment remains a mystery, the spokesman said. Mrs Felton had received regular, automated transfers to her bank account for many years without a hitch.

The case is the latest embarrassing blunder made by financial firms' bereavement departments. Companies have in the past been criticised for a lack of tact around death and failing to carry out basic checks before sending letters. Here are two other examples.

Woman made to feel like a murderer

In November 2012, a grieving woman was sent a letter by an insurer which made her feel like a murder suspect. Sun Life Financial of Canada refused to pay Belinda Wells, 53, money inherited from the estate of her late fiancé, had died suddenly after a nursing accident in hospital.

The firm said it couldn’t pay because "UK law prohibits us from paying any monies to a person that may have committed a crime from which they may profit."

The letter, reported by the Daily Mail , also said the firm had asked the police to see whether they "are looking into the death as a possible crime".

There was never any suggestion Ms Wells had been involved in her fiance's death. A nurse was later suspended after an inquest heard that Ms Well's fiancé, Paul Coventry died after being given the wrong saline solution. The coroner's verdict was accidental death contributed to by neglect.

Sun Life apologised profusely to Ms Wells, offered £250 compensation and promised to review its procedures.

'Computer says you’re dead'

In another case, a 52-year-old with a serious illness said he ran up thousands of pounds in bank charges because a credit reference agency listed him as deceased.

In December 2012, Fred Banagan told the Mail on Sunday that he had tried three times to correct the error on his credit file, run by Equifax, which listed him as dead since 2007.

"It’s like the character in Little Britain who taps away at her keyboard and then says, ‘‘Computer says no", except in my case it’s, ‘‘Computer says you’re dead,’ he said. "I could do nothing about it. And this was real life, not a comedy."

It transpired that the incorrect information was originating from Virgin, which whom Mr Banagan had signed a contract in 2007. Virgin had listed him as dead, despite taking money from his account each month.

Both Experian and Virgin apologised for the error and promised to improve their systems and processes.

dan.hyde@telegraph.co.uk

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