topic Re: Emailed PDF Invoices in Plusnet Feedback

Emailed PDF Invoices

R_ — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:21:54 GMT

Hi
Please could it be made possible to have Invoices (preferrably in PDF format) sent to an email address of choice. As a business customer the accounts dept. wants a copy of the Invoice but as an admin I don't want them to be access the member centre and all the settings.
Thanks
Rich

Re: Emailed PDF Invoices

pierre_pierre — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:02:26 GMT

why cant you print your own? all invoices are on the members centre, and if you go to the bottom, there is a radio button to produce a printable version, I even have a PDF (free) driver that I can print to

Re: Emailed PDF Invoices

MauriceC — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:07:45 GMT

Been requested ---> Promised ----> over the years. See PUGIT and the associated for the details.
comment thread
http://usergroup.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,6540.0.html
If enough Users believe this is important, then we will push again for his work to be completed.

Re: Emailed PDF Invoices

MauriceC — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:11:48 GMT

Quote from: pierre_pierre
why cant you print your own? all invoices are on the members centre, and if you go to the bottom, there is a radio button to produce a printable version, I even have a PDF (free) driver that I can print to

You can do. But for a business where the invoice has to passed to accounts for payment, it is a labour intensive task. Imagine asking the accounts Dept. to log into each suppliers web site to retrieve each invoice from multiple suppliers.

Re: Emailed PDF Invoices

R_ — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:30:33 GMT

Quote from: pierre_pierre
why cant you print your own? all invoices are on the members centre, and if you go to the bottom, there is a radio button to produce a printable version, I even have a PDF (free) driver that I can print to

I can print them off all day long but that isn't the point. The point is that I want a lazy and automated way for my accounts dept. to receive a copy of the invoice without any intervention on my behalf and without giving them full access to the member centre. If Plusnet can send me email each month telling me that I can view the invoice in the member centre then it shouldn't be that difficult to send an email with the actual invoice in pdf or html format.

Re: Emailed PDF Invoices

Simon_M — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:39:27 GMT

I'll add my vote (again). An increasing number of suppliers send their invoices electronically these days & in a variety of formats (including XML for direct import to accounting systems). It's a real pain when you have to log on to get them - utilities please take note.
Part of the day job is supporting & training customers to send accounting documents out by email. Our customers usually number their customers in the hundreds, rather than the hundred thousands, but if Plusnet are really struggling with their accounting systems, I suppose we could make an exception in this case......

Re: Emailed PDF Invoices

pierre_pierre — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:44:36 GMT

I do get invoices and statements via e-mail from several companies, and from others, my power utility company for instance, via a link. The main problem surely is security of information, the e-mails are a known insecure method, even PDF's can be snooped, but via the net, the link can be secure and take little more time to open

Re: Emailed PDF Invoices

jelv — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:44:42 GMT

Peter,
Having to log in to get invoices might be perfectly acceptable for residential users, but it is totally unacceptable for business users. When I ran a branch office I had to give the accounts department in head office the account login and password - I was very unhappy about that. A big problem is that exactly the same password has to be used for both access to accounting information and in the router to get a connection.

Re: Emailed PDF Invoices

Anotherone — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:25:18 GMT

Pierre makes a very good and valid point about security, and I would never want an invoice in an e-mail.
That said what R is requesting is not unreasonable, but it has to be secure, and jelv has made the point about security of the member centre and other settings.
However I think Simon M has not realised the security implications, especially with personal utility bills, as a number of organisations make use of these for identification purposes. I think the solution would involve a separate secure area, where you could download invoices en bloc. I have no idea what that would involve.
@Maurice, unfortunately the links you've provided are only accessible by PUG members.

Re: Emailed PDF Invoices

jelv — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:01:48 GMT

Please could you explain the security concerns over an emailed PDF invoice for a broadband bill for an office (not a business account for someone working from home), where the details on the account are a company name and address which is highly likely to be in the public domain anyway. I'm struggling to understand.
Nobody is saying this should be compulsory, just an available option.

Re: Emailed PDF Invoices

MauriceC — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:04:58 GMT

Quote from: Anotherone

@Maurice, unfortunately the links you've provided are only accessible by PUG members.

Just sign up its free. Unfortunately there is currently no way to support access to the PUGIT database via Community
Maurice

Re: Emailed PDF Invoices

mal0z — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:27:21 GMT

I'll add my vote AGAIN ! - as Maurice says we have asked for this many times especially for business users.
It really is a basic requirement of any business account.

Re: Emailed PDF Invoices

Anotherone — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:20:11 GMT

As far as I am concerned it must be an OPTION not a default, and I still think considering a separate secure area where they can be downloaded en bloc should be considered.

Re: Emailed PDF Invoices

jelv — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:18:21 GMT

If this were a company that only issued paper invoices would you think it acceptable that someone had to go round to the company and collect the invoice? Or you had to ring them up each and every time to ask for it to be delivered? No you'd expect them to be delivered without having to be requested.
Electronic invoices are no different, the customer should be able to receive them automatically.

Re: Emailed PDF Invoices

Anotherone — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:44:08 GMT

John that is rubbish, E-mail is NOT SECURE as you well know. And, Yes they are delivered, they are delivered to your ACCOUNT at the member centre, the same as e-mail is delivered to your inbox - which you have to collect
And the way the Royal Mail issues are going etc. it wouldn't surprise me that in the fullness of time you might have to go to the post office to collect your mail
I responded to your post in the other thread and I'm going to quote in full what I said there

Quote
For a start, I've not disagreed that for business users it may not be an issue as their details are in the public domain anyway, although for a very small private business, I'm not sure that the possibilities of their bank details getting into the public domain would be a good idea.
As for the residential/private user, you are well aware of the fact that e-mail is NOT SECURE, and the reason that there aren't many users expressing concern, is that they are not made aware enough. It's only those that are more astute to such things and those that have been scammed, skimmed or what ever that know about these. Why do you think that the Police, Trading Standards, Watchdog etc are still inundated with complaints of fraud, identity theft (the crime with the fastest increasing rate), phishing e-mails and such.
Whilst warnings are continually being pushed out, they are not getting to a large enough audience unfortunately.
All I'm suggesting is that there could be an alternative to e-mail that doesn't actually compromise security and satisfies the business user - a bit of thought "outside the box?". A bit of a no-brainer really!
Edit: Further more I did provide a link to the thread that was raised on this issue http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,80873.0.html discussion on these points should be continued there, not here .... which was a topic started by a member of PN staff asking what the Invoice should look like.

Please respond here if you wish not in the other thread

Re: Emailed PDF Invoices

jelv — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:56:58 GMT

1. An accounts department will be receiving invoices from many different organisations. They can log in to email ONCE and get all the invoices. Accounts departments are not happy about having to log in to different places to collect invoices (unless it is a very large organisation and there are lots of invoices every day).
2. You said "I'm not sure that the possibilities of their bank details getting into the public domain would be a good idea." The invoices don't have bank details.
3. For residential users. Nobody has said that this would be imposed on residential users. Everybody has said it should be an option, primarily aimed at business users.

Re:Emailed PDF Invoices

Chris — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:08:48 GMT

Luke posted a thread asking for invoice suggestions, I'll give him a nudge to take a look at your responses so far.
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,80400.msg660435/boardseen.html#new

Re: Emailed PDF Invoices

Anotherone — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:46:11 GMT

Quote from: jelv
1. An accounts department will be receiving invoices from many different organisations. They can log in to email ONCE and get all the invoices. Accounts departments are not happy about having to log in to different places to collect invoices (unless it is a very large organisation and there are lots of invoices every day).
2. You said "I'm not sure that the possibilities of their bank details getting into the public domain would be a good idea." The invoices don't have bank details.
3. For residential users. Nobody has said that this would be imposed on residential users. Everybody has said it should be an option, primarily aimed at business users.

1. Since PN are not "many different organisations" that point is invalid. You could login to a separate PN secure area and get all you PN invoices in one go. If you could manage to persuade EVERY organisation that you will have invoices from to e-mail them, then your point would become valid.
2. My apologies, I meant account details (not bank). It's still a security issue. I will give you an example. Sometime ago I had someone's BT bill. I phoned BT and made a number of changes - BT had no idea I was not the actual account holder. Same would apply to any other utility company. I will add the call and the changes were made with the full knowledge and agreement of the account holder on their behalf. All I'm pointing out is that there are security risks.
3. It was merely being pointed out, that a security issue existed, residential users shouldn't have it.
Further more -
1. Just for my edification, what major organisations do you know of that currently e-mail out full invoices (as opposed to a link to your account area) do British Gas , your Electricity company etc ? Only asking.

Re: Emailed PDF Invoices

jelv — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:00:44 GMT

I'm talking about the users accounts department, they will be getting invoices from many different organisations. Having to log in to each suppliers website to get the invoices is a pain. Giving the accounts department full access to all areas of the account including email, domain settings is stupid - but at the moment there's no choice.
To most businesses accounts department, Plusnet is not a "major organisation", just a pain in the butt because it's such a pain to get invoices. (I'm pretty sure I can remember someone a couple of years back who migrated to a different ISP because of this issue).

Re:Emailed PDF Invoices

MauriceC — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:10:39 GMT

Quote from: Chris
Luke posted a thread asking for invoice suggestions, I'll give him a nudge to take a look at your responses so far.
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,80400.msg660435/boardseen.html#new

Luke made a similar post in the PUG User forums which did elicit a small interchange of ideas - including this much vaunted PDF issue. But no response from Luke since 29 Oct? Is anything happening?
Maurice