PPPoE password is in no way sensitive, as one can only use it if they are able to connect a router to your phone line.

A few ISPs have PPPoE passwords that match the website passwords for billing etc and are able to be given out by staff, this is a bad bad idea.

Finally got username and password. Got the attention of SSE's social media team by tweeting (@YourSSE) and that led to an email correspondence. Impressed by the social media team, not by the support team.

Anyway, thanks to all who offered suggestions. We have a result!

In reply to a post by tatami:

Finally got username and password. Got the attention of SSE's social media team by tweeting (@YourSSE) and that led to an email correspondence. Impressed by the social media team, not by the support team.

Well done.

Not being a fan Twitter or Facebook, I have not yet tried that approach for dealing with unhelpful companies. Maybe I should give it a try!

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

Not being a fan Twitter or Facebook, I have not yet tried that approach for dealing with unhelpful companies. Maybe I should give it a try!

It's (more than) a bit sad that many, not just ISP, companies seem to be moving to such places to provide support.

There is a logic to it, in that it is on social media that the widest bad (or good) publicity occurs these days. Addressing the bad directly in the same place makes a lot of sense.

Given that all support costs time and money, conventional support inevitably suffers.

Get rid of the social media. The world would be a better place.

It's (more than) a bit sad that many, not just ISP, companies seem to be moving to such places to provide support.

Get rid of the social media. The world would be a better place.

Vote Robertos for President !

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

Not being a fan Twitter or Facebook, I have not yet tried that approach for dealing with unhelpful companies. Maybe I should give it a try!

You should. It has the advantage of spreading knowledge about your problems to a wide audience which increases the pressure on companies to fix them.

It is also cheaper for most companies to deal with issues via social media than by telephone - on the phone you can only generally deal with one thing at a time but on social media/web chat/email you can deal with a number of issues at once.

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

Not being a fan Twitter or Facebook, I have not yet tried that approach for dealing with unhelpful companies. Maybe I should give it a try!

You should. It has the advantage of spreading knowledge about your problems to a wide audience which increases the pressure on companies to fix them.

That is a very reasonable point.

I would like to raise an issue about a certain bank which is taking it opon itself to advise the US tax authorities about a certain bank a/c which I am related to.

The entitity to which the account belongs has no US connection whatsoever. The bank appear to think I should tell the US Tax people this. I see no reason why I should be forced to do this, as it is the bank themselves that have made the false allegation.

It is difficult to raise the issue on social media and get it resolved without also making details of the a/c public which is something in these days of stolen data I am reluctant to do.

HSBC?

Scottish Widows. When I rang the person I spoke to advised me that they had been told not to answer customers questions on the subject I was asking about as they had not been trained. They had had a number of calls, and they really should have had one or two people with the appropriate training, granted it was an issue which only a few customers would be concerned about.