Change of Username

[#1]

Simple request - My wife and I have separated, so i want to change the account name of emmaallsopp to something else.  "No, it can't be done" is the answer i get.  really?  Apparently it cant be done, they cant even close my account and open a new one.
I now want to go to fibre, so last chance, I've been with them for over 9 years, if they want my business, all they have to do is create a new account with a new name.  If my wife had died, i would be in tears by now.
I want to stay with them.  If i had gone to BT, Sky or Talk Talk I could complete a form and be on the way to Fibre in a matter of 10 minutes.  Because I want to stay with Plus Net, I have to call after call (between 9 & 5 weekdays only).
Really?  Come on!

[#2]

Account names cannot be changed so your options are limited. However I'm hopeful one of the Digital care team will see this tomorrow and come up with an idea.

[#3]

"Cannot" is another word like "never" which one should avoid using.
It might be difficult, complicated, need manual intervention, not automated or be the norm, but it should be possible. It is after all a label used to identify objects in the system configuration.  I suggest that such labels can be changed, though it may be so difficult that PN understandably do not offer the option / ability to do so.  That is different to cannot be done.
The OP however raises a number of reasonable social points.  People do create accounts with personalised labels.  People die, people separate and as a consequence will wish to change those labels. Surely IT system implementations need to consider the desire to change labels and be able to fulfil that need.
Where there's a wiill, there's away!

[#4]

Hi there,
I'd like to give you a call and sort this out for you if that's alright - just let me know the best time to call, thanks.

[#5]

I can certainly see the advantage in being able to change a username. As well as the reasons already mentioned in previous posts, 
My username for example  includes the name of the town where I live, and should I ever move house it would become meaningless,
and I would certainly wish to change it to something more appropriate. 
Whilst I can see that maybe I shouldhave considered this possibility when I originally set up my Username and chose a more
generic name at that point, It's a lways easy to be wise with hindsight.  I think that a bit of fleibility on this issue would go a
long way to cementing good customer relationships

[#6]

It's not just the user name that has to change. A major issue is that (unless it's changed recently) there is a directory hierarchy used on the mail storage servers so that there are not too many entries in each directory. The top directory is based on the first two or three (I can't remember which) of the user name. If you look at the directory paths on the ccgi servers it's similar and I bet homepages paths are the same. All of the DNS entries (e.g. MX) would have to be regenerated. I'm sure there will be a lot of other issues as well. So changing a user name isn't simple - there are a lot of consequential changes. I can remember it being attempted in the past and it all ending in tears. The development and testing effort to provide a safe reliable process would not be warranted by the number of times it is requested.
Then of course the user would have the issue that at an instant all his old email addresses would stop working and mail sent to them would be rejected. Putting in place a method a redirect the mail and keep a second mail storage and mailbox configuration associated with a single account would be major work.
So changing a user name on an existing account is a non-starter. However creating a new account and giving a free transfer to the new account which involves no changes by BT and hence no direct cost to Plusnet is the only possible approach.

Quote from: Matt

Hi there, I'd like to give you a call and sort this out for you if that's alright - just let me know the best time to call, thanks.

I suspect that is what is going to be discussed.

[#7]

Quote

Whilst I can see that maybe I shouldhave considered this possibility when I originally set up my Username and chose a more generic name at that point,

Get yourself a .me.uk,.co.uk or .org.uk domain for a few pounds a year, use that for email and either use email forwarding or, if your account with PlusNet allows it, get it hosted by PlusNet. Then change your displayname on the forum and now your actual PlsuNet username is largely irrelevant, you only use it to log into the router and the member centre, and if you change ISP's your email stays the same

[#8]

MisterW,
Sound advice and is indeed an approach which all should take so that one can retain email addresses irrespective of who one's ISP is from time to time.  However Domain Name registration and the management thereof is I suggest some way beyond the ablity / understanding / experience of the majority.  Which is why it is such a shame that PN nolonger offers domain names with accounts.  I got my .me.uk domain name through PN back in the days when they were included for free - and have never looked back - life is not so simples though any more and domain name registration through PN (if the still do it) is rather costly.
However PN's sister company juts-the-name does offer the service at a reasonable price - and what's better is that support for configuring the domain name into PN's services is all under one roof even if divided by Chinese paper walls..

[#9]

Quote from: townman

Which is why it is such a shame that PN nolonger offers domain names with accounts.  I got my .me.uk domain name through PN back in the days when they were included for free

My account gives me the option of a co.uk domain for £1/month so PN do offer domain names with accounts, just somewhat more expensive than elsewhere!

[#10]

Quote from: GrahamF

My username for example  includes the name of the town where I live, and should I ever move house it would become meaningless, and I would certainly wish to change it to something more appropriate.

Most people here and on other forums use pseudonyms and they are all "meaningless"!  So, if I wanted to email you, I would use your email and it would not matter to me what it included provided it was the correct address.
Alex

[#11]

this is something my wife would love to change, I didn't know when signing up they my user name would become part of the catch-all email so I just used my own name ... now she is stuck with hername@myname.plus.com (I did set up a PAYG account for her, but she keeps forgetting it)

[#12]

Jon,
You can change the catch-all email address through the manage your email options in the member centre portal.
As for hername@hisname.plus.com you could get the domain-name ourdomain.me.uk and have that 'pointed' to your plusnet service hisname.plus.com so that her email address becomes hername@ourdomain.me.uk - should you ever decide to move away from PN, you can 'redirect' your domain name elsewhere and will not need to tell everyone that you have a new email address.
This might go someway to appeasing SWMBO.