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farnorth
Grafter
Posts: 64
Registered: ‎24-03-2010

email account

I'm leaving Plusnet, but would like to downgrade to a free account so that I can keep my email address. I've already confirmed the switch to another ISP is it too late now to ask for the downgrade. If not how do I go about it?
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bobpullen
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Re: email account

In order to retain your email, you'd need to downgrade to a Mail Only account. I believe that incurs a cost of £20/year. To request it, you'd need to get in touch with support.

Bob Pullen
Plusnet Product Team
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farnorth
Grafter
Posts: 64
Registered: ‎24-03-2010

Re: email account

This was a reply in a different post, is this NOT now the case.
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« Reply #1 on 11/06/2015, 17:05 »
If you want to keep the e-mail address active all you have to do is request it when your cancelling.
We'll move you onto a free account after you move away.
bobpullen
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Re: email account

That's not policy, but if it's what you told by an employee then we should probably honour it. You'll not be able to use SMTP authentication on a non subscription account though.

Bob Pullen
Plusnet Product Team
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Oldjim
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Re: email account

Bob
I suggest that you talk to Chris then as he was the one who said it on here
Quote from: Chris
Quote
In addition what happens to an account holder also has Referrals
- does the account automatically close so all referrals are lost
- is the account downgraded to a free account so that the referrals continue to be paid
- if the above happens what other facilities associated with the account are retained such as email, web space, etc.

- If the account is closed, rather than downgraded then no referrals discounts will be paid.
- If requested, yes.
- Email can be retained, if it's a free email service then I don't believe there is authenticated SMTP available. Web space will be removed I believe (although most accounts do not have webspace now)
Quote
Downgrade - free or not
Referrals - effect of having them on the request or otherwise to downgrade

- Depends on the type of mail account requested.
- If the account is closed rather than downgraded then the referrals won't be paid.
I've asked for the online policy to be clarified and internal documentation made clearer too.
farnorth
Grafter
Posts: 64
Registered: ‎24-03-2010

Re: email account

No I wasn't told that, it was in reply to this post....How long do PlusNet email addresses stay active if you leave...by Matthew Wheeler    Plusnet Staff
I'm not overly bothered by it, I have a .co.uk account that forwards to my plusnet address and my email client picks up from there. I'll just forward it somewhere else.
Thank you for your reply.
Chris
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Re: email account

@Oldjim
Isn't what I've said about email accounts similar to Bob?
[quote=Me]- Email can be retained, if it's a free email service then I don't believe there is authenticated SMTP available.
[quote=Bob]You'll not be able to use SMTP authentication on a non subscription account though.
I'm still trying to get clarification on whether the free account should be offered, I'll chase again next week.
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
Oldjim
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Re: email account

except the important bit about the £20 charge
farnorth
Grafter
Posts: 64
Registered: ‎24-03-2010

Re: email account

Still no definitive answer then.
farnorth
Grafter
Posts: 64
Registered: ‎24-03-2010

Re: email account

Gone quiet on this subject!
bobpullen
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Re: email account

From here:
[quote author="Plusnet Cancellation Policy"]5. When an account is closed, access to all account features provided by Plusnet will be removed. This includes email, hosted web-space and Member Centre access (including discussion forums and access to the Help Assistant Ticketing system).
6. It is possible, when requesting a cease of service, to request a downgrade to a mail only package for £20.28 a year instead of full account closure. This will allow continued access to email and some Member Centre features. This option must be requested at the time of cancellation.
If you haven't already, I would contact support and take their word as final. Whilst what's written above is policy, it's probably not as well enforced as it should be Undecided

Bob Pullen
Plusnet Product Team
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Oldjim
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Re: email account

From the lack of any further comments I can only assume that the £20,28 cost is the only option if you want to retain your referrals so this http://portal.plus.net/support/tools/referrals/referrals_help.shtml should be updated as there is no longer officially a free account option
Quote
5. How are referral discounts and earnings paid?
    If you have a subscription account: Each month that a referred customer pays their subscription, the referrals value for their chosen product is discounted from your subscription. If your referrals discounts becomes larger than your subscription fee, the surplus amount is paid to you, either by cheque, or is automatically put into your account, if you pay by Direct Debit
    Want to change your billing to Direct Debit? Just update Payment Details.
    Note that it is not possible to pay money onto a credit or debit card.
    If you have a free account: Each month that a referred customer pays their subscription, the referral value for their product is credited to your account. When this credit exceeds £5, it is paid to your account via BACS or Direct Debit.

bobpullen
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Re: email account

The information on that referrals page still applies.
What is clear though, is that clarity is required around when a non-subscription account is/isn't allowed.
Providing things like email and domains for free made more sense back in the world of dial-up. Now that's a thing of the past though, I think we need to re-evaluate how we approach free accounts. There's absolutely loads of them and the pile isn't getting much smaller. They all take up space in our systems, storage platforms etc. and that cost us, whether they're used or not.
In an ideal world, I'd like to see us re-instate some sort of automated deactivation/deletion process for 'unused' accounts, and tidy up the process going forwards so that non-subscription accounts are an exception instead of a rule.

Bob Pullen
Plusnet Product Team
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gofaster
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Re: email account

Quote
What is clear though, is that clarity is required around when a non-subscription account is/isn't allowed

Could you provide the much needed clarity please Bob?
So far this thread has only provided confusing conflicting information and hasn't addressed the OPs question
bobpullen
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Re: email account

There are ways to allow an email address to be provided for free (minus SMTP authentication), however the official line is that retaining email (alone) is something you should pay for.

Bob Pullen
Plusnet Product Team
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