Why I did NOT go with Plusnet Sim offer

LeesArt

A few weeks back I was looking for a new Sim Only account and saw the Plusnet deal on MSE.

I had a decent allowance and the plan was to use it for data as it has a healthy 12gb per month.

I clicked through only to be asked for my date of birth and my address for the last three years.

I reviewed their site and as you may have guessed this was because PlusNet do a credit check on people buying a Sim Only contract.

I ended the sign up process and went back to Sky Mobile, I already has the PAC code so I called the retention department, they made it very simple by crediting the account with the difference between the two sims over 12 months.

Sky did No Credit Check because guess what, I was not buying anything on credit, go figure.

I do not mind a credit check if I buy a phone over 2 years or enter into some other credit agreement, but I will not submit to this checking for the sake of giving Plusnet free credit checks for the customers that DO take credit.

Next time I see any offer on here from Plusnet, whether it be for phone, broadband or TV I will always make sure there is no credit check and I suggest you do the same.

flashg67

The other side of the coin is that they can / do actually give you credit - potentially hundreds of pounds if you go over your allowance / go abroad etc before it gets billed, so could we say are the ones that don't check re remiss somehow?
I'm not sure why you're worried about one credit check by a mobile company - something which is expected and nearly everyone has. It's unlikely to affect your 'credit score', and even if it does, lenders use more than a £10 monthly mobile check to assess affordability

LeesArt

There is no other side of the coin, because the supplier can simply turn off the tap. I am buying a service with 12gb of data, unlimited text and calls. There are caps for going abroad so really those are non arguments.

It is not so much a worry rather than a company is bartering my data in a credit check to get itself a free credit check service.

I don't want to participate in this credit score nonsense, don't want to borrow, don't want credit, so no lenders.

It is a slippery slope, for example we register our cars with the DVLA for the purpose legitimate purpose, next thing you know cowboy clampers move into private car parks and have access to your data.

Credit Reference Agencies are now being used as an alternative to Royal Mail, but it is not necessary.  When I took out Sky Broadband they were able to check my address by taking £5 on a debit card (which was offset on my bill).

We really need the ability to opt out of credit referencing, the CRA's need to have explicit permission to store our data, not have it buried in T&C's.  Obviously we would have to accept the downsides of no credit but I love being debt free and part of that freedom is denying the CRA's my data.

I think a lot of people just get in line because they are prodded to do so but more and more people are using their brain and refusing to be part of this system by not giving business to those that take and share your data for no good reason.

Sky Mobile take their payment in advance which is quite a clever way to reduce risk (not that there is any) and they benefit from the cash flow improvement of millions of customers paying them upfront.

simax

All mobile networks charge for line rental a month in advance?!?

LeesArt

Proves my point, no credit being given

Jonboy_1984

You have dodged another bullet as well, Plusnet don’t allow text messages to be sent to SMS short codes. This caused problems this week as Barclays sent a text to my wife to authenticate a transaction and she couldn’t reply. These 2FA texts are slowly becoming more common but Plusnet are not looking to change anytime soon (I emailed them to ask).

Neil49

Jonboy_1984 said:

You have dodged another bullet as well, Plusnet don’t allow text messages to be sent to SMS short codes. This caused problems this week as Barclays sent a text to my wife to authenticate a transaction and she couldn’t reply. These 2FA texts are slowly becoming more common but Plusnet are not looking to change anytime soon (I emailed them to ask).

I totally agree with what you say but I also think that Barclays should be more proactive and introduce other (possibly more secure) means of authentication. 

I often get requests to authenticate transactions on my Tesco credit card, but the process to do so requires me to sign into my account and approve it rather than simply respond to a text message.

Once you know what is required then you can be ready to respond accordingly. 

oliverbrown

Neil49 said:

Jonboy_1984 said:

You have dodged another bullet as well, Plusnet don’t allow text messages to be sent to SMS short codes. This caused problems this week as Barclays sent a text to my wife to authenticate a transaction and she couldn’t reply. These 2FA texts are slowly becoming more common but Plusnet are not looking to change anytime soon (I emailed them to ask).

I totally agree with what you say but I also think that Barclays should be more proactive and introduce other (possibly more secure) means of authentication. 

They have. Where the Barclays app is installed, they will authenticate with that. 

LeesArt

Neil49 said:

Jonboy_1984 said:

You have dodged another bullet as well, Plusnet don’t allow text messages to be sent to SMS short codes. This caused problems this week as Barclays sent a text to my wife to authenticate a transaction and she couldn’t reply. These 2FA texts are slowly becoming more common but Plusnet are not looking to change anytime soon (I emailed them to ask).

I totally agree with what you say but I also think that Barclays should be more proactive and introduce other (possibly more secure) means of authentication. 

I often get requests to authenticate transactions on my Tesco credit card, but the process to do so requires me to sign into my account and approve it rather than simply respond to a text message.

Once you know what is required then you can be ready to respond accordingly. 

Paypal send via SMS but they send a ramdom 6 digit number, maybe that is something Barclays could consider.

I suspect that it helps them that a user follows more solid action so they can't be held responsible for people being scammed.

So what happens if you are abroad where you might pay for roaming to receive or send SMS?

Neil49

LeesArt said:

Neil49 said:

Jonboy_1984 said:

You have dodged another bullet as well, Plusnet don’t allow text messages to be sent to SMS short codes. This caused problems this week as Barclays sent a text to my wife to authenticate a transaction and she couldn’t reply. These 2FA texts are slowly becoming more common but Plusnet are not looking to change anytime soon (I emailed them to ask).

I totally agree with what you say but I also think that Barclays should be more proactive and introduce other (possibly more secure) means of authentication. 

I often get requests to authenticate transactions on my Tesco credit card, but the process to do so requires me to sign into my account and approve it rather than simply respond to a text message.

Once you know what is required then you can be ready to respond accordingly. 

Paypal send via SMS but they send a ramdom 6 digit number, maybe that is something Barclays could consider.

I suspect that it helps them that a user follows more solid action so they can't be held responsible for people being scammed.

So what happens if you are abroad where you might pay for roaming to receive or send SMS?

You can't send short code sms messages from overseas as they are country specific.

There is no charge for receiving sms messages. 

Given that Plusnet (which is the company your original post was all about) don't support short code sms messages then it doesn't matter whether you are abroad or not! 

LeesArt

Neil49 said:

LeesArt said:

Neil49 said:

Jonboy_1984 said:

You have dodged another bullet as well, Plusnet don’t allow text messages to be sent to SMS short codes. This caused problems this week as Barclays sent a text to my wife to authenticate a transaction and she couldn’t reply. These 2FA texts are slowly becoming more common but Plusnet are not looking to change anytime soon (I emailed them to ask).

I totally agree with what you say but I also think that Barclays should be more proactive and introduce other (possibly more secure) means of authentication. 

I often get requests to authenticate transactions on my Tesco credit card, but the process to do so requires me to sign into my account and approve it rather than simply respond to a text message.

Once you know what is required then you can be ready to respond accordingly. 

Paypal send via SMS but they send a ramdom 6 digit number, maybe that is something Barclays could consider.

I suspect that it helps them that a user follows more solid action so they can't be held responsible for people being scammed.

So what happens if you are abroad where you might pay for roaming to receive or send SMS?

You can't send short code sms messages from overseas as they are country specific.

There is no charge for receiving sms messages. 

Given that Plusnet (which is the company your original post was all about) don't support short code sms messages then it doesn't matter whether you are abroad or not! 

I thought some short codes were industry standard

There is a charge in for receiving sms messages in some countries, I know because I have been charged them.

I think it is a bit of a daft thing for them to drop, I can only imagine that they wanted to take something away so that the network they run on can say they offer less.

Glad I found out on this forum rather than in real world experience.