topic Re: New accounts system in Plusnet Feedback

New accounts system

jelv — Sun, 04 Nov 2018 16:04:05 GMT

These are some of the issues/needed improvements that have been discussed/promised over the years waiting for the new accounts system to emerge. How many of these have been delivered?

Ability to select/change billing date
Correction/cancellation of Direct Debit if user contacts Plusnet immediately on receipt of notification email
Display contract end date
Discounts maximum of 12 months when contracts can be 18
Emailed statements or availability of pdf downloads
Single account for multiple lines

Re: New accounts system

idonno — Sun, 04 Nov 2018 16:32:40 GMT

If you've left Plusnet, why would you worry what has been implemented and what has not? After all, I use to be with BT (and a fair number of ISP's before that) but haven't been back to any of them since. No interest at all. It's called moving on. Maybe you regret leaving. 🙂

I'm only concerned about my current ISP i.e. Plusnet. I get a bill and it gets paid each month, I haven't been totally off line since I joined Plusnet back in 2015. Last time the line speed just slowed down. Line fault - took 3 OR engineers a week to sort. I use quite a lot of GB's each month. Plusnet have never written to me to say I have used too much. I suppose I'm what they call a satisfied customer. Yes, they could be better but no doubt the price would increase.

Re: New accounts system

Townman — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 09:26:35 GMT

Hi @jelv,

Its great to see your continued interest in the community … and useful to have someone remind us of the many expectations set for the new billing system.

@jelv wrote:

Ability to select/change billing date

Delivered - can only change once in 4 four months - there some restrictions (not 29-31) and the date change must be made more than 7 days before the next bill is produced

Correction/cancellation of Direct Debit if user contacts Plusnet immediately on receipt of notification email

Difficult to tell in the early billing cycles - there has been no explicit reference to this

Display contract end date

I have seen some reference to this, but I have not seen it

Discounts maximum of 12 months when contracts can be 18

I think this is a product / package offer rather than a billing matter

Emailed statements or availability of pdf downloads

Like many companies, Plusnet are not emailing account sensitive data, but continue to make the same accessible on line … only now invoices are produced as a PDF document - the single document includes service charges, discounts, referral credits, previous balance, payments and phone call charge details.

Single account for multiple lines

Nope!

If you can access it, this might interest you - https://www.plus.net/help/my-account/billing-changes

HTH?

Moderator's note by Adie (Dvorak) updated url to correct one

Re: New accounts system

jelv — Sun, 04 Nov 2018 23:28:04 GMT

The point of emailing invoices is this:

Some years ago I managed an office in Crawley which had a Plusnet business line. We required VAT invoices for the accounts department in the Bristol head office. The choice was:

I had to print to PDF and forward the invoice every month
I give the account login and password to someone in the accounts department so they could print the invoices themselves

Neither option was good. I'm sure Plusnet would prefer login details and passwords not being given out willy nilly to staff who had no need to get at anything else on the account. It would have been preferable to receive them automatically with a mail rule forwarding them.

If Plusnet are not going to email invoices they should allow a second login on business accounts that just accesses the account and billing information, and does not allow any technical access such as mail setup.

Re: New accounts system

Townman — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 08:23:27 GMT

Hi @jelv,

Personally I agree with you 100%. The SUs discussed this matter, for I thought invoices as an attachment was part of the expectation for the new system, particularly in respect of business users with multiple lines (I have a business referral with 6 lines).

The response was that not attaching invoices ensures that potentially sensitive data can only be accessed by the account holder. It also eliminates a stack of code!!

Personally I think it’s overkill and does not help multiple account customers. Oh and talking of VAT invoices, only business accounts now have valid VAT invoices ... but I suspect you’ve read all about that one.

Re: New accounts system

Townman — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 19:25:24 GMT

@jelv

Display contract end date ... timely reminder where I’d seen reference to it ... https://community.plus.net/t5/Service-Information/Member-Centre-Improvements/m-p/1585677#M324

Not billing but the user portal changes!!

Re: New accounts system

JonoH — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 20:30:57 GMT

@jelv wrote:

Ability to select/change billing date

Yes, but you can't choose the 29,30,31 or 1st. There are also rules about how often you can change it and it can't be done with 7 days of your next invoice

Correction/cancellation of Direct Debit if user contacts Plusnet immediately on receipt of notification email

No, if we've submitted a Direct Debit request to the bank we can't amend it as the request has already been made.

Display contract end date

This is much more prominent now thankfully and shows clearly on the landing page when you log into the member centre.

Discounts maximum of 12 months when contracts can be 18

We've been able to discount for the entirety of the contract period for a few years now, there have been a few outliers where we weren't able to but that wasn't anything to do with the billing system.

Emailed statements or availability of pdf downloads

No, we floated the idea but it was rejected by our security team.

Single account for multiple lines

No we don't do this

Re: New accounts system

jgb — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 15:50:46 GMT

@JonoH

Unfortunately, in my case, the contract dates shown on the landing page of the Members Centre are incorrect.

However, having chatted on line I have discovered that the correct dates are held in your main system, so I am not too concerned, but it does devalue the usefulness of the new system if fundamental information is incorrect.

Re: New accounts system

jelv — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 21:41:42 GMT

@JonoH wrote:

Correction/cancellation of Direct Debit if user contacts Plusnet immediately on receipt of notification email

No, if we've submitted a Direct Debit request to the bank we can't amend it as the request has already been made.

I think you've missed the point of what was suggested. Obviously once it has been submitted to the bank it cannot be changed. If you emailed notice say 8 days in advance and only submitted 3 days in advance there would be a 5 day window for the user to contact you and get the bill corrected. You could put the deadline for contacting you in the email notice.

Re: New accounts system

JonoH — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 16:34:22 GMT

Sorry Jelv, my misunderstanding.

The new billing engine includes the ability for us to be able to edit a Bill if the customer disputes the amount with us prior to us requesting it from the bank. (this functionality is currently unavailable due to a bug we're working on now) We also have a new team about to start who monitor bills for spikes and should the bill spike the bill will be held whilst we investigate and contact the account holder. If all is well it will slot back into the billing run. If not the account will be billed the non-disputed amount and the account would remain active whilst the dispute is investigated.

Re: New accounts system

jelv — Sat, 10 Nov 2018 11:58:46 GMT

That is good news.

How long is the gap between sending the email notification and sending the request to the bank?

Re: New accounts system

22over7 — Sat, 10 Nov 2018 14:56:51 GMT

@JonoH wrote:

@jelv wrote:

Display contract end date

This is much more prominent now thankfully and shows clearly on the landing page when you log into the member centre.

Sorry to be dense (and/or blind), but when I log in to the member centre, the only date I see is under "Your next bill is due on: ...". Is that the same as the date my contract ends? (If I were to decide to change ISP, the new one would presumably ask when my existing contract ends. I'd just give them my next bill's due date?)

Re: New accounts system

jab1 — Sat, 10 Nov 2018 16:02:44 GMT

@22over7 On the page displayed immediately you log in to the Members Centre - see below.

Re: New accounts system

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Nov 2018 16:06:33 GMT

@22over7 - Should've gone to SpecSavers!

Re: New accounts system

Strat — Sat, 10 Nov 2018 16:12:15 GMT

I don't see the contract dates on two accounts I have access too.

Re: New accounts system

jab1 — Sat, 10 Nov 2018 16:10:45 GMT

VERY strange, @Strat

Re: New accounts system

Strat — Sat, 10 Nov 2018 16:14:18 GMT

Indeed it is @jab1.

Such information easily available would be a bonus.

Re: New accounts system

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Nov 2018 16:33:24 GMT

Never mind a trip to the opticians one has to ask why the inconsistencies, it's either another bug or something contract related.

Re: New accounts system

jab1 — Sat, 10 Nov 2018 16:45:23 GMT

Something for the Products Manager to look at? Can't seem to find him using the '@' tag.

Re: New accounts system

MisterW — Sat, 10 Nov 2018 17:18:00 GMT

@Strat probably a daft question , but is there any possibility that those accounts are out of contract ?

My member centre certainly shows the contract dates