Couple of questions regarding New Accounts

[#1]

Have just been following and trying to assist somebody with a transfer from AOL to PlusNet and from the conversation we've been having I have a couple of queries.
1) There shouldn't be any downtime should there?  AOL stated that broadband had been turned off on Saturday and wouldn't be back up until Tuesday.  i thought migrations were supposed to be almost seamless?
2) PN Password - should this not have been confirmed in writing to the user rather than given out over the phone?  Unfortunately the user in question was having trouble setting his router up and following on from the support in SA, simply typed the details in rather than writing them down.  He is now unable to access his PN email account, and attempts to retrieve password are not resulting in him receiving an email.
(I tried the latter myself, and whilst it is sent to my Postmaster address and copied in to my external non PN address, I didn't receive the CC version (normally I do)).

[#2]

Hi Geoff,
1) There shouldn't be any downtime unless it's a move from an LLU connection, in which case it's normally upto 2 hours disruption.
2) Did they sign up over the phone?  In that case they would have chosen the password over the phone.  However, if they were just calling to confirm what the password was, they would have been expected to pass DPA through qwuestion like confirming the username and the payment details on the account.  Feel free to correct me if otherwise.