NEW BILLING SYSTEM IS APPALLING !

[#1]

That’s a result of the page not having completed it’s load / render process, it looks to me like it’s needing style sheets to arrive or code being called is delaying the load / rendering process.

[#2]

@MauriceC wrote:

Great use of excessive 'white space' @Strat 

@MauriceC I was aiming for the bigger picture.

[#3]

It is not about moaning, my first post was about over billing and being unable to view my bill, after that I posted about plusnet requiring me to download Adobe reader to view my bill. Which I do not want to do. Then it became about my system, If you could see the number of replies I have had, all telling me what I need to do. I view my bill on Firefox, not Windows 10 which quite a few had mentioned. I could annoy you as you think, by mentioning all the rest of the things I should do with my Firefox,  but I posted about the problems with the billing and payment system at plusnet. Not about my system. I know how to download system's. I just feel as if the messages I get are becoming about my system, not about the billing and payment issues with plusnet. Thanks anyway for your help.

[#4]

@Julee OK, I think I now understand what you are saying, but as I pointed out in an earlier post, you DO NOT need Adobe to read your bills - that is a bit of bad advice from PN - any PDF reader should render the bill.

You are not annoying me really, but sometimes when suggestions are made to try and help people, that suggestion is ignored/rejected out of hand, and I, personally, then lose interest in genuinely trying to help.

If you could just tell us what device you use (iPad/other tablet or whatever), then maybe we can get a bit further. There is usually a way round a problem, but without dome basic information, it is difficult to offer constructive advice.

As a point of interest/information, Firefox is a browser, not a system. I think it has an inbuilt PDF reader, which I am guessing you are using, and it should render the bill correctly - if it doesn't, let us know.

[#5]

Sorry, I did post that I  can read and download gas bill, electricity bills, utility bills, ect. I can print. I use Firefox the only problem I have with this issue is that I am repeatedly being told by plusnet billing that I need to download Adobe reader. But to me the more important issue is the problems with the over billing, and the lack of information. There is nothing coming though from plusnet, accept on the community posts. I hope that doesn't sound cross. Thanks for your help. 

[#6]

In that case, you should be able to read/download/print your Plusnet bill in exactly the same way - a pdf is a pdf, irrespective of where it comes from.

As an aside, have you raised the billing issue on the forum - as a separate issue, not as a side-issue within this thread?

[#7]

---

@jab1 wrote:

In that case, you should be able to read/download/print your Plusnet bill in exactly the same way - a pdf is a pdf, irrespective of where it comes from.

As an aside, have you raised the billing issue on the forum - as a separate issue, not as a side-issue within this thread?

---

No it isn't.  You are missing the point that I made many postings above that the file that gets downloaded is just called $STANDARD with no .pdf at the end.  I checked this again after somebody else claimed that there was a .pdf at the end, but the one I can download is still called $STANDARD.  This looks to me very much like a PHP variable name which has escaped into the wild, which they should never do.   If the file type is not declared standard PDF readers like Acrobat,SumatraPDF, and even Firefox and Edge will not know what to do with it.  If Plusnet can fix that, then some of the problems will be solved.   I wondered what the TSB programming team were doing now, and can make a shrewd guess.  Would one of them like to tell me what $STANDARD is if not a PHP variable?

[#8]

As Julee says, this is becoming a technical discussion rather than concentrating on the disastrous PN billing system. Most of us (including myself) have neither interest nor knowledge of pdf or similar systems. All we simple people want is to receive and view accurate bills and/or to have mistakes remedied without the delays and hassle currently encountered under PN's wonderful new system. Please could we stick to this theme?

[#9]

When I can actually get my bill to display which as I've said previously is very infrequently it actually opens up a new window and displays the PDF bill in there. If I go to save it the PDF is given the name $STANDARD.pdf

[#10]

@clive_p Sorry to argue with you, but the downloaded file DOES have a .pdf extension (although its 'name' is '$STANDARD') See below

[#11]

Windows often defaults to hiding known file extensions.

[#12]

@Longliner,

There’s a difference between issues in the billing system (of which there are a few) and trying to bundle in a disliked for using an industry standard file format ... just because a user does not like the reader. The file is there, it can be read within most web browsers (some better than others), printed and downloaded.

Agreed old invoices remain a pain, but hopefully will be addressed soon.

[#13]

---

@Strat wrote:

Windows often defaults to hiding known file extensions.

---

I'd forgotten about that, @Strat. When I configured this machine to my liking, I unticked the 'hide known extensions' option because I considered it a security risk - and that was MANY years ago.

[#14]

I am absolutely certain that the files that I have downloaded, 3 recently, are all called $STANDARD with no file extension.  I don't have them hidden, I can see the extensions such as .pdf and .exe, of others in my Firefox downloads directory.   If I try to open any of the $STANDARD files then I get a Windows message saying it does not know what to do with it.  If I fire up Adobe Acrobat or SumatraPDF and try to force it to open the file, each of them says that it is an unknown file type and refuses.

If I rename the file to have a .pdf extension then all is well - either of them will open it.  An open and shut case.  I strongly suspect that the reason others using tablets or smartphones cannot open their downloaded bill is just because it is an unknown file type and thus the operating system refuses to deal with it.

It may be that there are two or more ways of downloading a bill and that only some of the more obvious ones download a file called $STANDARD with no file type, but that is what I get every time, whether I use Firefox, Chrome, or Edge to access plus.net

[#15]

Well!  'twas me that suggested that the downloaded document was document.pdf - I've just checked again (see image below)?

NOTE:  Not doubting anyone - it could just be another anomoly that needs teasing out.  So here is what I do / see.

Set up is Windows 7; Firefox 62.0 (64bit); default for .pdf is set to Adobe Acrobat DC.

In Member Centre select 'Bills and Payments'; wait 30secs for page to load ; select 'View your Bills'; Select Sept 2018 bill via the spinner then View bill.  Bill opens as a PDF, now select 'download' and I get the image below.

Note the Filename in the save as box.  This is the Filename I see in my Downloads Folder.

To satisfy myself, I changed the default File Association for .pdf to Firefox (from Acrobat DC) and got the same result.

So it works for me, and has done since 13/9/2018 when I got my first .pdf bill.