Offered a new contract.

[#1]

I must add my own reply here.  Its amusing to see that Plusnet has described me as a 'newbie'. We joined Plusnet shortly after they (apparently) started.  I joined the forum somewhat later when it became apparent that they hid members' access to emailing Plusnet - so I thought they might reply if any problems were posted publicly.  I have therefore been with them a very long time .....  I discovered that phoning them was effectively a life-sentence whereas of course you can do one email and get on with your life while they mess around.  During one bill check I noticed that they has still got me living in Southampton - but I've already detailed that problem.  They never managed to fix it.  Instead they show me (miraculously) as having no fewer than three landlines!  I am shown as having 2 on the same number (!)  and 1 in Southampton.  Do please explain that one to me , Plusnet!

FWIW every time I raise this admin problem with them they *assure* me that it will be fixed - but it remains as it has always been. So the word 'newbie' seems a little odd - even by Plusnet standards.

Lawrence H

[#2]

Helpdesks IMO are little help. The staff on them have no interest in making things better as it might put them out of a job. They often don't have the authority to make the changes, and the information is hidden away so the customer doesn't know if it's right or wrong either. They are quite happy to take the same question 12x a day and drag it out as long as possible.

This isn't a complaint - I don't want PlusNet to go to the wall, have been with you for years but you need to put more money behind the developers on the website automation. Yes I'm a developer!

[#3]

When Plusnet do a promotion they should learn to check the market that they are aiming at, because when they get it wrong they really manage to upset their existing customers. Never a wise move.

You are quite right about attempting to 'phone them, a long delay, followed by a delay of several weeks before you discover that whatever was agreed hasn't been carried out.

This offer looks particularly slimy in that it is not clear whether you can actually use the landline for calls, whether it's for fibre to premises or it's just more of the same thing that I already subscribe to.

John

[#4]

The first thing they could do is to combine accounts by customer and not by phone number. I have two or three accounts for different numbers, all of which have to be logged into separately and all of which take money from my account at different times.  I am old and suffer from amnesia and probably dementia. I haven't a hope in hell in remembering my login details. Even my password manager gives up with Plusnet. So I can't tell if they are a bunch of thieving [-Censored-] or just a badly managed bunch of nice guys.

John

[#5]

[OT]  On that last problem, can I suggest that you do as I do?  Maintain a simple text file that contains all login data for every site? Many sites will permit you to store your login data but if you don't wish to, a simple text file can eliminate the problem of remembering such things. I have a screen shortcut to this file and can login in anywhere that I have visited before.

regards

Lawrence H

[#6]

You shouldn't use a plain text file for your passwords. The file could be taken by hackers and used to access your digital life. You should use a password manager which will encrypt the file and keep it safe. Or you can write them down, as you can't hack paper! Don't use the same username and password everywhere or even adjustments of the same thing - a password is simply a shared secret between you and the service you are trying to access. They have to know what it is so they know if it's right! And if they should get hacked or are so inclined, the same password can be tried elsewhere.

[#7]

OK - understood.  FWIW the file would not be found very easily behind the firewalls etc ....

Lawrence

[#8]

Hackers are very persisent. You might think it's well hidden. A virus can scan every file on your machine in minutes searching out what it needs. The info may be used as a way of getting you to authorise a push payment by convincing you it's geniune as they know a few details you think only the bank knows.

Try - https://keepass.info [Bit Techy]

https://bitwarden.com/

https://lastpass.com/ 

The latter two will pester you to upgrade to a paid account. KeePass is installed locally.

[#9]

Point made.

Lawrence

[#10]

Also bear in mind that even MD5 encryption can be hacked - I know as I used to run a small forum a few years back and I was bored and wondered if it can be done. It can quite easily. So don't assume just because something is encrypted it can't be hacked.

I tend to use a different password for every site I use, and not that I can talk about security I just keep all my passwords in an Excel file and even that is not password protected. Oops .. 🙄

So people with mod and admin rights please don't get the IP address of this post and try to hack me 😛

I suppose one way of doing it, is to store part of a password somewhere and the second part you don't store anywhere but it is something else you can remember. Even if it is something static. That way if someone gets hold the varied password you have stored then it is no good to anyone else as they won't know the other part.

[#11]

What your talking about there is 2FA - the 2nd part of the password is either the number sent to your mobile or the code you have to get from your authenticator app. Always enable it if offered by the service. While you might not think it's worth worrying about and won't happen to you - it probably will if you're that lax with your digital security, and is the equivalent of you saying I can't be bothered with door locks. The login pages of servers are rattled by other servers across the globe all day every day trying username password combinations trying to get in.

[#12]

Yeah @mar7t1n I know.

I remember when my parents had money stolen from their bank account, I think there was something like 4 dodgy transactions of the same amount £300-odd quid. So obviously 4x300 = £1200 nicked 🙄

Not a small amount of money of course, I remember logging onto their account and noticing that. I remember telling them the good news which of course went down like a lead balloon.

The thing was it was a major bank, and two of the dodgy £300 transactions were on the same day. The other two dodgy £300 ones were on the same day a few days later.

What I didn't understand, it is was payments to the same credit card company. The thing with credit cards is you usually get your statement and make one payment per month. I would have thought 4 payments within the same week of the same amount would have been noticed by the bank as not right, but obviously not.

[#13]

You have bought it nicely back to the crux of the problem. All companies are trying to do things as cheaply as possible. The problem is they cut so far back to the bone, that the staff left don't care as they will probably be next, and you can't get anything sorted so it becomes a game of fob off hope it all goes away. Rather than resolve and automate, they just throw more people at manually adjusting. Often because those in charge don't really understand what's posisble, or have a handle on the problem.

Sorry you had money taken, it's a curel sport, as often the most vulnerable who lose out. Does make you feel like just pulling the connection, but your banks still connected to the internet so that doesn't help.

[#14]

Quite a revealing thread. Thanks for the comments 🙂   I will review my security.

Lawrence H