Broadband Renewal - Dementia

[Anonymous User]

Hello Experts,

My lovely 83 year old mother-in-law suffers from mixed dementia. We moved her from a basic BT landline with anytime calls to Now Broadband last September, so she could use her Smart TV for catch-up and perhaps Amazon's Echo. She has no idea that she has internet, and assumes everything comes through the aerial. Not a problem. But her renewal is on 23rd September and I've recently found that I can't just login remotely to her account and tick a box to say "please renew me at £x per month". 

We received an email to giving us 3 options, with basket reference numbers - but we have to call Now TV to go ahead. My mother-in-law will be bewildered by this. 

Is it possible, with her permission, to have an additional named contact (either her partner, or myself) so that we can call and discuss a new contract, or future issues with Now Broadband? I used to do this for my mother with BT, PlusNet & Vodafone - she didn't have dementia, she simply didn't know what to ask for.

MIL is a good 2 hours away from us, and we haven't been able to visit during the pandemic, but we're hoping to go in the next 10 days or so. I'm just doing my homework in advance, so we can re-contract her successfully ASAP.

Thanks for your help.

Johnnie

[Andy]

@Anonymous User It's certainly possible to have a named third-party help manage the account, but I couldn't tell you exactly how they will organise it. Often it requires the account holder to make the nomination, but if you have a lasting power of attorney for her then you should be able to arrange this yourself direct with NOW TV.

If I was you I'd contact the accessibility team before you see your MIL and they can at least advise you how what would need to be done to organise this (if no LPoA  it may be you would need to make a call to the accessibility team when you visit your MIL and pass the phone onto her to give consent when the team require this). 

You'll find further info including the number to call here:

https://help.nowtv.com/article/accessibility-support

But to summarize call the team before you visit your MIL, explain the situation and they should be able to advise what you need to do next! 

[Anonymous User]

@Andy

Thank you very much for your help and suggestions. I didn't know there was an accessibility team, so thanks for pointing me in their direction.

Thanks to her partner, we have had the paperwork signed & in-place for a LPoA, but now is not quite the right time to invoke it and cause her worry & trauma. Anything out of the ordinary causes her to focus and stress on the issue, because she gets annoyed about her "inadequacies", which are beyond her control, and definitely not her fault. It is such a pity that we can't renew from her online account. I realise that is uniquely not possible with Now Broadband.

I will gratefully take your advice and get in touch with the accessibility team prior to visiting her, to find the best options available. My mother-in-law is capable confirming who she is (on a good day!) and saying that she gives her partner/son permission to speak on her behalf. I appreciate all the data protection/rights issues and getting a named 3rd party contact is our goal.

[Andy]

@Anonymous User no problem,hope it goes smoothly! 🤞