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Cannot view bill in new billing system

Total_Chaos
Rising Star
Posts: 104
Thanks: 38
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Thanks for visiting, we'll be back soon

It's not just my opinion regarding FF but that of many including including some security and other organisations.  However it can be lumpy sometimes in operation.  As I know the benefits of the different of the browsers between those I mentioned I swap between them depending on what I am doing.  However a straight forward pdf, billing document, or pop up, should not be a problem for any browser.  (I actually enabled pop ups in FF to see if that was causing a problem, as well as disabling anti malware and they were not.)  Seeing that I have never come across one that FF could not handle then it points to PN.  (I also have a background in Networks and some in web development.)

 

The fact that PN have not sorted by now and it's a long time since the problem has appeared and there has not been any recent updates would indicate that.    You are the one that is jumping to conclusions as you don't know who or when I have spoken to at PN.  I have mentioned it to PN in the past and they just don't want to speak about it and when I said that I assume that as it can be viewed in other browsers they have decided to leave it as it is. Once again they didn't want to make a comment.  In business this is a common way of not doing anything but not stating that.  Politicians do it all the time.

 

I can use another browser and I do but as I said, it shouldn't be that way.  (Do you recall what the EU said about MS trying to create a situation whereon PCs they would only use IE. They forced it to be usable with all browsers.) However I have virtually said the same as you in that previous posting, but web developer tests on the majority of the most regularly used and if you find an issue you find out why.  It's not as though FF is a hardly unheard of browser and it does have an active community.  If you poise the issue at them then they are likely to look into it. That is unless PN already know what the issue is and it is going to be expensive to resolve or will have a knock on affect elsewhere.  All they need to do is be honest and state facts. 

 

BTW I have been with PN since the late 90's and have seen them on their bad and good days.  I have also seen them say in the past that something is low priority and then it never gets resolved.  For instance email; for about five years they kept on saying they were going to make it secure and it still isn't.  When I renewed my personal account recently they were advising me to move my mail to something like google. I already have a google email account, but that statement about moving it tells you a lot.

Longliner
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 584
Thanks: 291
Fixes: 7
Registered: ‎22-10-2014

Re: Thanks for visiting, we'll be back soon

For almost a year I tried to get Rapport security software to run on my Firefox/PC on my accounts with several banks. It wouldn't, despite requests to IBM which runs it for the banks.

 

I also contacted Mozilla who said it wasn't the first time they encountered this; some tech guy said that Rapport was rather old architecture which might not operate properly with latest systems. Equally, it could be conflict with my Kaspersky security which basically does the same job as Rapport.

 

So JonoH is being perfectly reasonable in saying “if it works well on the majority of browsers, but not on one, it will be a lower priority to fix than if it didn't work at all.” But I really wish PN could sort its accounting/billing software ...

JonoH
Hero
Posts: 4,346
Thanks: 1,594
Fixes: 157
Registered: ‎29-09-2011

Re: Thanks for visiting, we'll be back soon


@Total_Chaos wrote:

It's not just my opinion regarding FF but that of many including including some security and other organisations.  However it can be lumpy sometimes in operation.  As I know the benefits of the different of the browsers between those I mentioned I swap between them depending on what I am doing.  However a straight forward pdf, billing document, or pop up, should not be a problem for any browser.  (I actually enabled pop ups in FF to see if that was causing a problem, as well as disabling anti malware and they were not.)  Seeing that I have never come across one that FF could not handle then it points to PN.  (I also have a background in Networks and some in web development.)

I myself use Chrome firstly and FF secondly but browsers are one of those techy things that everyone has an opinion on or bias towards and we can find experts and professionals who would prefer and recommend each of them. I meant no slight, just that it's largely opinion.

 

You are the one that is jumping to conclusions as you don't know who or when I have spoken to at PN.  I have mentioned it to PN in the past and they just don't want to speak about it and when I said that I assume that as it can be viewed in other browsers they have decided to leave it as it is. Once again they didn't want to make a comment.  In business this is a common way of not doing anything but not stating that.  Politicians do it all the time.

Do you know that I'm a Plusnet employee? I have been since 2010 and I manage the community, a large part of my job is looking into the issues that we have (like this one) and seeing if we've prioritised it correctly internally, chasing updates and ensuring timely resolution. I work extremely closely with the Incident Management team and some of the key people that are instrumental in delivering the fixes to the various issues we have. I also do my best where possible to speak frankly and honestly and I don't think I've ever been accused of Politician speak, and so I'd suggest that irrespective of who you spoke to  I am in a position to tell you that without a shadow of a doubt, we haven't made the decision to not fix issues with any specific browser.

 

It's not as though FF is a hardly unheard of browser and it does have an active community.  If you poise the issue at them then they are likely to look into it. That is unless PN already know what the issue is and it is going to be expensive to resolve or will have a knock on affect elsewhere.  All they need to do is be honest and state facts. 

The truth is, it's not really about cost so much as it's about the prioritisation of resource, whilst you shouldn't have to use another browser, other browsers work fine and even this browser works fine for many people when viewing their bill, this makes it a lower priority than it might otherwise have been.

 

BTW I have been with PN since the late 90's and have seen them on their bad and good days.  I have also seen them say in the past that something is low priority and then it never gets resolved.  For instance email; for about five years they kept on saying they were going to make it secure and it still isn't.

I wholeheartedly agree with you, the last blocker that stopped that project going live was recently resolved. I'm actually writing the agent facing  support documents for this as I type this. 


 

 Jono H
 Plusnet Community Manager
corringham
Seasoned Champion
Posts: 1,195
Thanks: 621
Fixes: 16
Registered: ‎25-09-2015

Re: Thanks for visiting, we'll be back soon

Today I received an e-mail saying my bill is available. It isn't viewable using FF,  and Chrome gives a server error and suggests I contact my system administrator. It is viewable on Edge, but on this particular Plusnet account I have never had a problem viewing a bill before even using FF. If I didn't have a Windows PC available I wouldn't be able to see the bill at all.

On my other remaining Plusnet account I am of course still enjoying  free broadband as no bills have been generated for it for the past year - so viewing bills for that account isn't a problem.

Total_Chaos
Rising Star
Posts: 104
Thanks: 38
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Thanks for visiting, we'll be back soon

Rapport in the early days caused big issues with FF and it is/was the way it worked.  Due to this it can slow down browsers entirely not just when you go to a bank. Another issue is that Rapport uses predetermined IP addresses but they are not always the entire ones that your bank uses, as well as being in the Cloud these days.  I ditched rapport years ago, due to these reasons but also after some tests it appeared to slow down the computer it was installed on generally.  Every couple of years or so I give it a retry and after a couple of months pull it off again.

 

Incidentally though in those days Rapport support were quick to respond they had no remedy, or knew why it was happening.  It was FF developers that discovered what it was, initially supplied a work around, and eventually designed it to have less of an affect on the browser.   Another interesting thing at that time was that some AV and anti-malware programs reported Rapport as malware.  If tools, sometimes in AV or other software removal program was used it could cause big issues for the operation, or lack off, of the computer.  The only practical way was to use the Rapport's own removal system that got easier over time.

When you look at security it will usually slow down your computer so it is a trade off and getting the balance right between usability and security. With Rapport I never felt that it got that balance right.  The security aspect overtook and the banks themselves were more interested in security than their customers use of their computers.  This is a pity as security should be a major part of on-line activities but if it makes things too sluggish, etc then users will ignore it creating a bigger problem.

 

Incidentally though in those days Rapport support were quick to respond they had no remedy, or knew why it was happening.  It was FF developers that discovered what it was, initially supplied a work around, and eventually designed it to have less of an affect on the browser.