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Q&A with the gaffer
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Ash
6:00
Hi everyone, Ash here to answer your questions for the next hour. Thanks so much for posting some in ahead of time, we’ll do our best to get through as many as we can. If you’ve got a support question about your service, I’d recommend asking in our Help forum first of all, and members will get you sorted.
cool 1
6:01
While we wait for our first live question, here’s a quick answer from one of the ones you’ve asked in advance…
cool 2
6:03
On the community, harrrrrry asked about Payforit, and whether we could ringfence charges depending on different services. You can read his question in full here: https://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Announcements/Q-amp-A-with-the-gaffe...
I think it's a really interesting idea. I had a quick chat with one of our product owners here at the gaff about this, because it sounds like a great opportunity to give people more control over their spending. With Payforit specifically, there have been some recent developments that you might know about that include a confirmation message that anyone wanting to make a purchase through Payforit will receive. That way, we can make sure that people are only getting charged for something they actually want.

To put members in control, we’ve already put toggles in place for lots of premium services in your giffgaff dashboard. In trying to isolate Payforit we have got a few more hurdles, but when we know more and properly understand the work needed, we’ll come back to you.
persco
6:04
Hi Ash, thanks for taking the time out for this.
cool 1
Ash
6:04
You're welcome, looking forward to some great questions.
Ash
6:06
Speaking of, you had one on the community about the recent smishing attempts members have received: https://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Announcements/Q-amp-A-with-the-gaffe...
6:07
First of all, we’ve got no information to suggest any giffgaff system has been broken into. I’ve had our security teams double check that everything we’ve set up to keep your information safe is working as intended.

Unfortunately, with a bit of technical know-how, it’s possible to pretend that a text is coming from any number at all. It’s a bit of an arms race - we take all the steps we can to stop them, but they’ll find ways to get around them, so we stop those, and so on.

Ultimately, it comes down to how well they can convince people that they’re legitimate versus how well people understand how to spot something dodgy. This week we’re launching an email campaign to try and better inform people about how to keep themselves safe and close that gap.

You’ll have heard the advice before of never using your username and password on any site, I’m sure. To keep yourself safe, please make sure all your passwords are unique - that way if there’s a breach at one site you use, your other accounts aren’t vulnerable.
cool 1
a1antman
6:09
Hi Ash when is the new giffgaff community due to go live?
Ash
6:09
Very soon, we’re putting the finishing touches on it at the moment. As soon as we have a date, Alex W will be posting on the community to make sure everyone can get ready.
Jack
6:12
Hello Ash, hob nob or digestive?
Ash
6:12
Ooh good question. It's got to be original Hob Nob, nothing fancy,  just straight up.
maverick77_uk
6:13
With 5g, the world of mobile Internet is changing, and is now being marketed as a practical replacement for home broadband. This is all great, however giffgaff currently blocks (as it is O2 based) some Internet ports, that would stop it being able to be a home replacement. For example Steam (the biggest pc game digital retailer) is blocked. This may well restrict giffgaff in this future (massive) market. Are there any plans to allow giffgaff to be a fully functional Internet provider going forward, to allow it to compete directly with the likes of 3 and EE in the mobile home Internet arena? Ie turn off these blocks which are from the bygone era of data restrictions, which is also doubly void as giffgaff no longer has unlimited data (which was a fantastic move by the way, as it stopped the 1% abusing the service).
Fantastic provider by the way. Keep it up!
Ash
6:13
I think the launch of 5G could open up new opportunities here.  We plan to start a trial after O2 launch in October to really understand the benefits, so please keep an eye on the conversation as it develops here in the community. We're working towards a full launch in early 2020.

Lots of questions about 5G today, as you might imagine. DC, our propositions manager, has a thread here that's worth keeping an eye on if you're curious. https://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Announcements/What-will-happen-with-...
Carly Beatz
6:15
Good evening Ash - firstly, this is such a good idea. I've been a Giffgaffer for a good few years now, and it's nice to have the opportunity to say hello!

My question is this - sorry if it's a bit lame, but I think I recall seeing an email about new goodybags coming up soon - like almost double the data or suchlike for the same price. Was I imagining this, or is there something in the pipeline in due course?

Carl.
samkebz
6:15
Hi recently I received an email from giffgaff that says from August goody bag offer would change the one for  £10 gives 6GB  but when I checked on the bundle it is not there is it a false message I received or is it a true one can anyone explain me
Ash
6:15
Good timing - these changes went live earlier today. The £10 goodybag now gets you 6GB, the £12 has 10GB, and the £15 has 15GB, all of which also have an extra 1GB to use if you run out. Any goodybag you buy from today will have the new allowances ready to go. Enjoy!
cool 1
persco
6:16
Thank you. I like the email campaign. Many don't use the forums to know or read about captain Bens post etc. There was an idea in contribute recently along the email campaign lines. I feel this will go some way. Thanks for covering my question
Ash
6:16
You're welcome, happy to.
brulaw
6:18
when the new platform goes live will the old one still be available for a while (  a transnational period ) .
Ash
6:18
Hi brulaw - no there won't be a transitional period actually. Once we migrate everything across it will switch over immediately to minimise downtime. If you want to preview it, have a look at the New Community Platform forum to have a look around and get familair with it ahead of launch.
endorphin
6:21
Do you think we've seen the end of these smishing attempts? They seem to be the latest form of scam for all networks.
Ash
6:21
We're doing all we can to spot these and get them closed down, but we do need your help to remain vigilant and stay safe. Always double-check the link you're being asked to click and take the time to question if a piece of communication is genuine.
johnrooney80
6:25
Hi vespaash2 just Qk question- will Community remain for foreseeable, and when will new App be available soon- Wht dont you get ian morland involved as his previous one was excellent and reliable)
Ash
6:25
We're a community business, and that's not going to change. You folks are the backbone of giffgaff and it's really important that we keep that. In terms of the app, we want to trial a new app soon - keep an eye on the Announcements forum for news on that. Ian is hard at work on the community migration to the new platform at the minute and as great as he is, we can't have him in two places at once.
cool 3
gizmo420
6:27
Hi boss does / will Giffgaff ever offer or have any opportunities for normal Giffgaff members to come and work for Giffgaff full or part time on the community - help pages and work from home?
Ash
6:27
Speaking of Ian, we hired him directly from the community - he made his first giffgaff app as a community member and we brought him on board as a result. We're always looking for new folks, whether it's developers, our excellent Educator team (who were all members themselves before working here) our Agent team, or anyone else. Keep an eye on our jobs page for something that might suit you.
cool 5
navi51
6:28
Hi ash my question is are a mod and do you actually ride a Vespa
cool 1
Ash
6:28
Haha I’m not quite old enough to be a proper mod but I do love the mod scene and I’m a proud owner of two vintage Vespas.  I could talk about them for ages so if you want to chat some more, drop me a PM on the community.
laughing 2
as7861
6:30
On top of 5G question does it open up prospect for giffgaff  to go into connected homes and self driving cars, drones.
cool 1
Ash
6:30
Lots of possibilities to explore - everything from mobile gaming to pet tech. Really excited to see where it leads us.
party 1
Ash
6:32
Essie112mm asked on the community that now that we're ten years old, what does the next decade hold for us: https://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Announcements/Q-amp-A-with-the-gaffe...
6:33
It's crazy to think we are 10 years old already but yes in that time we have, with your help, seen more and more people choosing giffgaff.   We set out to deliver better mobile and we aren’t done yet.  With the advent of 5G and eSIM there is lots to work on together to ensure we continue to lead the market on delivering the best possible experience.

Longer term we’d love to find new ways to create more value for you, please share any ideas in Labs, it would be great to hear them.
Rabz24
6:36
I want samsung s9 edge plus in cheap price.... any cheap deals available ?
Ash
6:36
For the best deal, I can definitely recommend you have a look at our refurbished phones at https://www.giffgaff.com/refurbished. We do a lot of checks to make sure they’re in good working order, you can save yourself a good chunk of change, and you’re saving the planet in the process.
tongue 1
as7861
6:40
Is giffgaff a Small Medium Business or has giffgaff grown beyond this?
Ash
6:40
With your help over 3million people now choose giffgaff, so to us that's a lot bigger than when we started!
love 1
Ash
6:42
On the community, woodyuk asked about the recent fine that we had from Ofcom. You can read his post in detail here: https://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Announcements/Q-amp-A-with-the-gaffe...
6:43
It's a fair question. We were trying to communicate quite a complicated story, so we focused on the main issue. Thanks for the opportunity to explain more about the secondary fine.

Re your second question, as soon as we became aware we fixed the problem, started paying members back and told Ofcom. Our initial investigation highlighted a technical change that appeared to be the root cause, so we told them as soon as we knew there was a problem.  On further investigation, whilst this did account for the lion’s share of the refunds we gave there was also an underlying issue of voice and data that came to light.
6:44
Thanks so much for all the questions so far, everyone, they're coming in thick and fast. I'm going to get to as many as I can.
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