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I happen to believe that if someone opts out of receiving information that should be honoured. The exception to that is information that may affect the performance of the product they are actually on. An ISP is obliged to provide that as I see it.

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Well it's either honoured or it isn't Don.

How does that fit in with the opt out stay out philosophy and privacy issues frequently used as a reason for not contacting customers?.

The two are totally different:

One is describing alternative products - if you opt out you don't get the information.

The other is changes to your current product/contract - that you must be sent and there cannot be an opt out for that.

"Wingco1 since you are not a customer it would be hard for you to judge the Plusnet service first hand. I would suggest you have a look in the Orange, Tiscali and Virgin ADSL forums to get some real perspective on poor customer service. When you have had a look come back here and let us know if Plusnet is getting that many complaints about poor connections, poor customer service and dishonesty from multiple current customers on this forum. "

I didn't mention any award it was in reference to getting some perspective on all aspects of provision including customer service. Let us know when you have checked out the above 3 forums and how you find they compare to Plusnet on this forum for customer service etc.

Why do you keep avoiding making the comparison ?

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There's nothing ageist about suggesting that some pensioners can't handle 5p pieces because their hands are cold and frail. Just ask my nan, who has precisely this difficulty.

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It is ageist - there's no reason why someone in their twenties or younger couldn't have a medical condition that results in the same symptoms.

Personally I agree about 5p pieces but you linked that to an inability to check whether they were getting a reasonable broadband deal and that's being ageist.

Manual dexterity and mental ability aren't linked - ask Stephen Hawking.

"It is ageist - there's no reason why someone in their twenties or younger couldn't have a medical condition that results in the same symptoms. "

I suggested that some pensioners have difficulty handling 5p pieces (a fact backed up by other posters in this thread) but did not exclude the possibility that others that might have similar difficulties.

You are being disingenuous at best.

The fact that something I suggested is true for one group does not infer that I believe it is untrue for another group, except to your mind.

"Personally I agree about 5p pieces but you linked that to an inability to check whether they were getting a reasonable broadband deal and that's being ageist.

Manual dexterity and mental ability aren't linked - ask Stephen Hawking. "

I think you are getting rather confused about what I posted.

I made no comment about pensioners in general nor their abilities or otherwise. I did say that many of the customers overpaying plus net might be poor pensioners - but that is essentially a characterisation of plus net's overpaying customers - not a characterisaton of pensioners. What's more, I was defending that group from being attacked as fools!!

The broad point is that people overpaying plus net are not necessarily fools - they are just in unfortunate circumstances.

Or, to put it another way, calling overpaying plus net customers "fools" is another case of overpaying-plus-net-customer-ism, which we see far too often on these forums.

Well, the reason for painting the scenario as I did was to counter the very harsh accusations that this particular group of customers are "fools."

People overpaying plus net are not, as some would like to characterize them, fools, but are often people who are merely poorly informed. My scenario is one example of that, but there are certainly others, I suspect.

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I did say that many of the customers overpaying plus net might be poor pensioners

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You're just digging yourself into a deepening hole.

"You're just digging yourself into a deepening hole. "

No, I'm just standing by what I already stated.

You seem to be in denial that there are many vulnerable groups in society, including a significant number of pensioners, who aren't as up to speed with some things as you might be. These people do not deserve to be characterised as "fools" on this board simply because they don't shop around for a broadband connection on a regular basis.