Help, please.

[#1]

We have broadband and a phone line provided by Plusnet to our church parish office.  The account is in the name one of our contacts and the account address is 'The name of the Church, Parish Office' etc.  Problem is that a tree branch has fallen and pulled the incoming line off the wall.  I have tried reporting it but Plusnet will do nothing because I'm not the name on the account.  I told them I can login into our account on Plusnet can provide bank details as to how we pay etc. etc. but they will not accept this.  The named person is on holiday out of the UK for another 10 days.  Is there no way we can have the line repaired before he returns?  Having written this I guess I could call again and claim to be the named person since I know everything they know but that doesn't seem an ethical thing to do for a church organisation.

[#2]

you could try here https://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/contactus/tellussomething/tellus.do

[#3]

I'm sorry to see this and I can understand the inconvenience or even distress at not being able to raise this. This is due to data protection laws which mean only the listed account holder would be able to report a fault with us.

I would try following the advice on the page OldJim has linked you to though.

[#4]

Morally I hated myself for doing it but I did ring back and lied that I was the named person.  Answered the security stuff which of course I know.  The fault was logged and the line fixed by Openreach by 5pm the same day!

[#5]

Glad to hear it's working now.

[#6]

Sometimes PN's DPA "rules" can be over zealous sometimes to the point of stupidity.  If one can pass the security checks, that ought to be enough.

I am a named contact on a number of referral accounts I support; whilst I can do most things, I cannot do anything that might incur a charge, only the account holder can do that ... and how does PN achieve that?  I just pass the phone across to the account holder and they say (without any further security check) "Yes I agree to the charges!".

All rather mad really.

Security has to be appropriate and effective, not just window dressing.

[#7]

---

@loades wrote:

....I guess I could call again and claim to be the named person since I know everything they know but that doesn't seem an ethical thing to do for a church organisation.

---

In the circumstances I think you're on higher moral ground than Plusnet.