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Tuesday, June 7, 2016

This online service doesn't hold water


I just received my paperless online bill from Northumbria Water. After checking how much water I had used and how much I needed to pay, I decided to change my password too the site.

So I looked at the homepage header expecting to see [the normal] link to 'profile' or similar [note that they can't call it 'account' as the account in this example is my water usage account].
 
As you can see: no such link. Note also the live chat facility's hours. As I type this at 7am, it is a dead chat facility. Obviously it is designed only for people who can access their watre bill while that are at work or on a day off [but not Saturday afternoon or all day on Sunday].

So I put 'change password' into the on-site search, and got nothing relevant – the closest being 'I've forgotten my password'.

So I then posed a question in the 'ask a question' facility. Thinking that the answer to this question would take me to a 'profile' page, I asked; 'How do I change my contact details?' I got this response: 
 
So I clicked on the 'online form' link, and got:
 
Hmmm.

Further investigation would suggest that:

* To change my password I will need to pretend that I have forgotten my existing one and re-set the whole thing [that will involve – I assume – and exchange of emails and me following a number of requirements].

* To change – say – my contact phone number I will have to ring Northumbria Water's telephone helpline.

Ho hum.

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