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Call Kurtis: After Loved One Passed Away, Dell Won't Send Her Refund Check

ESCALON (CBS13) -- John Reed thinks Dell owes him an apology.

The company refuses to refund money it owes his late girlfriend's estate, he said, and after years fighting the company to get the check, he called Kurtis.

It's not much money -- just $14.73 is what Dell owes Reed's late girlfriend Margaret Elliott.

When his girlfriend died three years ago, Reed was put in charge of her estate. He thinks the computer company is taking advantage of her death.

Pulling out the engagement ring he would never give his girlfriend, Reed admits he still gets choked up thinking about her.

"This is the box," he said, taking it out of a plastic bag where he's stored the ring since her death. "I think of what might have been, but that wasn't in the cards."

After five years together, cancer took her life. That was in 2010.

"A day doesn't go by when I don't think of her," he said.

Sorting out her affairs, Reed found a small refund check from Dell, now expired.

He asked Dell to re-issue the check, even sending a death certificate and proof he was the administrator of her living trust, he said.

But he said his simple request has dragged on almost three years, because Dell refuses to mail him a check.

"They're basically stealing money from Margaret's trust," he said.

Attorney Mitch Abdallah said when a loved one passes away, any debts that person was owed still has to go to that person's estate or trust.

"Dell is being overly uncooperative," he said. "They ultimately have a duty to return that money."

We reached out to Dell which initially told us it did send him checks twice.

After we got involved, Dell realized it had not sent checks to his address saying, "We are dedicated to responding as best we can to provide a good experience."

The company agreed to issue him a check.

It's not much money, but Reed is relieved he's finally won this battle on Margaret's behalf.

"It hurts a lot, at times," he said. "But I also reassure myself that she's not in pain anymore."

State law actually requires a trustee to pursue money owed to their loved one's estate or trust.

One of the issues here is that Dell wanted to send the money to her old address, but someone else now lives there.

Dell refused to explain why it took so long to simply send him the check.

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