Platte and privacy: user accounts and repeating bills

Following on from my previous post, I need to say some more about the frequency of Platte's bills, both adding somewhat to my earlier response to Platte's explanation that when you install the software it installs across all user accounts on the PC. This is because it is the PC owner that is responsible for the account and also returning to a point I made in my original post on Platte all those months ago, that the software throws up more than one bill a day.

I have taken a series of screenshots this morning to illustrate what actually happens.

At 08.55 I logged into the account where Platte was installed and got this bill:




At 08.58 I logged into the computer's 'Guest' account and this bill displayed:



At 09.01 I logged into my own account, and again I got a bill:




When I returned to the first account (the one I had used to install the Platte software) no further bill displayed. However, when I went back to the 'Guest' account at 09.16 a bill displayed once again:




Logging back into the same account 15 minutes later I got yet another bill:




So it is fairly clear what happens: if you install Platte's software into your account on a PC you will receive one bill a day. However other users of the computer receive bills every time they log in, regardless of how often a day they do so. Actually, it's slightly more complicated than that. The account I installed Platte into is an 'administrator' account, where my own account is a 'power user' account while the guest account is just that. There is another 'administrator' account on the computer and when I went into that I got no bill. So what actually happens seems to be this: The computer administrator receives one bill a day, but all other users receive bills every time they log in.

But there's more... there's actually a significant difference between the bill displayed on the account where Platte was installed and all those other multiple repeat bills to the other accounts. The bill sent to the user who installed Platte simply tells them:

Invoice
Thank you for subscribing to a Platte Media Entertainment website. Your Platte Media membership is due for payment

Account Information
Your account is due for payment. To make a payment please select one of the payment options or contact us on 0845 017 8386.


However, the bill sent to the other users of the computer is not so polite:

Important Overdue Notice
Your account is overdue.
Please contact credit control on 0845 017 8389

Account Information
Your computer was recently used to subscribe to a Platte Media website and your account now requires payment

YOUR ACCOUNT HAS BEEN SUSPENDED UNTIL PAYMENT IS MADE

IMPORTANT: Your account is now overdue, failure to settle your account may result in us or our appointed agents taking legal action against you.

Please call our credit control department on 0845 017 8389

So clearly not only is Platte's software able to distinguish between the account that installed the software and those that didn't, but it only serves up threats of legal action on the bills to those that didn't (and are therefore more likely to be frightened by the bills and intimidated into paying). Note also that the two telephone numbers are different. This means that Platte can tell when you phone in whether or not you might have installed their software or are another user. I wonder if you get different responses depending which of the numbers you call?

Platte's contract (or at least the one I agreed to) clearly stated that I would receive only one bill reminder in any 24 hour period. Far more importantly, they have given specific assurances to the OFT that this is the case, although as I have shown, it is patently untrue.

I am inviting Platte to comment on this and will post their response when I receive it.


Go to my next post on Platte Media