Renewing account for vulnerable customer

[#1]

I am registered as an approved contact for my mother-in-law's Plusnet account. Her current deal ends soon and if nothing is done her monthly bills will increase by £11 per month. She is in her 80s, has dementia, and cannot deal with such matters on her own. 

Would it be possible for me to negotiate a new deal on her behalf, and if so, how would i go about it?

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Hi @maranello,

I'm afraid that we're unable to negotiate new contracts on the social media team and if that's what you'd like to discuss then I'd recommend contacting our Customer Options Team on 0800 013 2632. If you're not the account holder then I'm afraid that you wouldn't be able to make any account changes without the account holders permission first. It may be worth considering applying for a Power of Attorney document if you handle your mother's affairs as this can allow you to make these types of changes to her pre-existing account. For more information regarding this, please refer to this article on our site.

[#3]

@TheMightyAJ 

Thanks for responding so quickly. 

Would I be able to negotiate a new deal, discuss it with her, and then get my mother-in-law to ring up and confirm she understands and accepts the conditions?

There is a PoA in effect, but her two daughters are the attorneys, not me. 

[#4]

Hi @maranello,

We'd need express permission from whomever is in charge of the account before we can make any contract changes. It may be a better solution if you were to be in the same room as your mother-in-law and negotiate the terms of a new contract whilst she is present. That way, if the she is fine with it, all she would need to do is confirm so with the agent you're on the phone to and we'll be able to make the requested changes.

[#5]

I think it would be better to get her daughters involved. Thanks for the advice and link to the PoA information.

[#6]

We have decided to register the Power of Attorney on my mother-in-laws account. Having looked at the help pages, these merely state that all is required is to send an email with a scanned copy of the certified copy of the PoA. Please could you answer the following:

What other information is required? Both of her daughters are named on the PoA, but the help pages say that only one person becomes the point of contact for the account. Presumably we have to confirm in the email who will be acting on her behalf.

Does the email have to be sent from the email address registered on the account?

How long will it take to set up so that her daughter can negotiate the account renewal?

What checks are in place, and what information will be requested, to confirm the identity when her daughter phones the Customer Options Team?

[#7]

No problem @maranello. We'll just need a copy of that certificate for now - if more info is required we'll be in touch.

- There can be two authorised users on an account - so potentially both daughters could on there should they both wish to discuss your mother-in-laws affairs. In this case just to make things simple for now - provide one full name of who you wish to be the acting PoA on the account. 

- The email can be sent from any address - doesn't need to be the one registered with us.

- Once we have the certificate and it's been worked on, added to the account and the authorised user have been set up on the account then they can discuss it with us - it can take up to 10 working days. 

-The authorised user will need to be aware of the account username/password and other account specific info to pass our security checks in order to discuss anything on the account with us. 

Hope this helps. 

[#8]

@Mads 

Thanks for your prompt response, we'll get on with it.