Cold caller claiming to be on behalf of Plusnet

[#1]

Just had a call from "help pc online dot com" claiming to be representing plusnet... not that they knew my ISP!
They claim that I've made a complaint about the speed of my connection to my ISP and that all complaints made to ISPs are dealt with by them.
I wasted just over 8 minutes of their time before they realised I was wasting their time.
However this is clearly a scam. Not sure what you can do about people claiming to "fix computers" on your behalf but clearly their is a danger to your brand.
regards,
David

[#2]

Seen a few of these David, but I must admit I've never heard of anybody masquerading as us by name. It's not too dissimilar to what the BBC reported on here.

[#3]

Perhaps he was trying to get in from the cold. You denied him your charity

[#4]

they could also be genuine  https://www.helppconline.com/about-us.php

[#5]

[#6]

or it could be a scam
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100712022645AATwrtv

[#7]

You sure they were not from talktalk...'they own plusnet' you know...

[#8]

[#9]

Quote from: The

You sure they were not from talktalk...'they own plusnet' you know...

And did you know Talk Talk upgraded all the lines and cabinets in my part of South Yorkshire 
When the "salesmen" knocked at my door and told me I thought it was a really nice gesture by them to build all this new infrastruture for us and not to think of their companys profits or  their commision, and do you know why the new cabinets have "South Yorkshire Digital Region" and "Funded by Yorkshire Forward" etc  on the little stickers on them.

or does Talk Talk own Yorkshire Forward as well 

[#10]

Well, a talktalk rep outside Tescos told me that they are selling the post office tower in london next year along with Nelson Column and the lease to Buckingham Palace and are planning to give all of the money back to its customers via cheaper phone lines and internet...AND £250.00 if you introduce a friend
Plusnet, you'd better up your game a little...these people, although they own you too are making you look like rank outsiders!

[#11]

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/isp/plusnet.html

[#12]

There are plenty of e-mails from Banks and other organisations that we pay money to, informing us not to respond to anything other than through their official website.
Perhaps PN should consider e-mailing every user giving a similar warning.

[#13]

gleneagles,
If we see a widespread problem or evidence of one we will.
Unfortunately doing that at this stage could be detrimental as it may cause more queries to be raised in response to the announcement.

[#14]

lol, i remember a few years back, not long before carphonewarehouse bought aol (my isp at the time), a talk talk rep convinced my mum to change the phone service to them. When she asked if it would affect the broadband he said "no, not at all blah blah save save BT evil". I get home from work to find mum happy about the prospect of saving and my BBs safe as its just the phone being transferred.....you can guess where im goin with this
dsl drops on the day talk talk takes over. I ring up aol "there seems to be noise on your line, possibly another dsl signal" I ring up talk talk and go mad, they tell me mums signed upto BB and phone, I go mad even more and cancel it with a full refund leaving us without a phone line for 2 weeks
For anyone thats interested, the talk talk "reps/salemen" are not directly employed by talk talk at all. They are infact self-employed individuals working for one of hundreds of "businesses" under the cobra group who are inturn contracted to big companies like talk talk, sky, sentander, npower and many more. I know this as I was an npower rep. These indivduals may have a little training which consists of "this is what your selling in a nutshell" and a test after a couple of hours. As you can imagine, unless they've done their own research, they know absolutely nothing about their product that anyother lay-man does not already know. It also means (as no doubt everyone knows) they'll say anything if they think you'll sign up.
I'm not saying I disagree with cold-callers or salesman as they often do indeed offer the best deals(depending on circumstances), however, you should be extrememly cautious and read ALL small print, asking every question you can think of. Then send them on their way asking them to return in a few hours whilst you research it for yourself.
I quit that job after i realised that the majority of people that signed up only signed up because they believed in the rep and they took everything at face value, or they simply liked you.
In regards to phone calls, sign up to the TPS if you get a lot of them, that way only companies you authorised to call you are allowed (theres a few exceptions but not many) and if your worried about being conned ask for their address, landline number and registered company number and some literature on the product/service they're offering, if they wont provide all, hang up

[#15]

As far as I'm aware, cold callers at your door (like talktalk or energy) are an advertisement and as such are *not* allowed to lie, if they say "we're the cheapest" they have to be, if a cold caller knocks on your door and does tell a lie, take a note of their number (it'll be on their ID) and make a complaint to the respective obudsman, they have the power to revoke the licence to any company who repeatedly tells lies when they cold call.
With the phone thing, I had someone calling claiming to be from Microsoft, so I kept them talking for 15 minutes before laying into them with a total teardown of everything they said including what the events in event view mean (they are generally harmless, cept that kernel power one... stupid BSOD!!), keep em talking so they can't go con someone