WARNING RE BT and NEW PHONE NUMBERS

YorkiePud_3

Just a warning to you all if you are thinking of changing your telephone number with BT.

I have just had my x-directory telephone number changed because Yell.Com decided to publish it as a business (it isn't).

It all went ahead today and now I am having phone calls from companies who sell businesses .... I have phoned some back who gave me the name for this "new" phone number I have been assigned.

Turns out it belonged to a signwriter in the same town ... so it is all over the internet and BT in their wisdom have given it to me as an x-directory phone number.

I purposely asked for my number to show as withheld and to be x-directory, so why give me another phone number that is advertised all over the internet (in the public domain) and listed on mailing lists for companies?????????

Am on with BT at the moment and even though this new phone number is active now (I have phoned myself and my old number no longer works but the new one does), the lady I am speaking to (who has me on hold now) says the new number doesn't start working until 1am tomorrow morning ... so how come I am using it now and people are phoning me on it?????

Now talking to another lady ... where do these people learn their manners? She says by 1am tomorrow morning my new phone number will be x-directory .... but how the hell does that stop people from going online or looking on mailing lists that have this number (listed for a business) and phoning me?
Do BT not realise that when people want to be x-directory, they don't want a phone number that is all over the internet as a business number and is held on mailing lists????

So yeah, it may be x-directory by 1am tomorrow morning, but it is still in the public domain so anyone can phone me.

Can anyone advise? Customer services just don't seem able to understand the problem ... they say it will be x-directory by tomorrow morning but what about it being listed as a business?

Talking to another person now ... a man ... he has another name listed for this new number they have assigned me. Aaaarrrggghhhhhhhhh .... !!!!!!
OMG ... this man is no help at all .... why can't people understand your concerns?

He wants me to write to him .... is he for real??????? I want this sorting as soon as possible ... this new number is supposed to be an x-directory number and he wants me to write to him about it.
I have lost count of the times I have shaken my head this morning.

Now he says the company where my new number is listed belongs to me ... errrmmm ... since when did I have a company???

I am now speaking to another man who is asking me for an order number (which I don't have) .. when I phoned up to ask about changing my number because Yell had it (I don't know where from), they put me through to the department who said they would action the change and that it would be today. They didn't send me any paperwork or give me an order number at all and they even told me what my new number would be.

This man just cannot understand me at all ... he is telling me now that my number is the old number I had (which, if you phone it, it says it is no longer in use) ... he just doesn't understand what I am phoning about at all. He has quoted me my account number and said, "so that is ok now" ...

He now says my old number was a business number ... omg, it NEVER has been! It has always been x-directory. This man is just not listening to me at all ... he keeps saying he will take a look at my details (this is the fourth time) but he isn't listening at all to what I am telling him, what the problem is ....

He now says the business whose number I have been given is still up and running .. so how are they going to get any phone calls when I have been given their number?

This is an absolute nightmare ....

Right, he won't listen and keeps giving me the same spiel .. he just doesn't understand my concerns about being given a phone number already in the public domain when I want an x-directory number .. he just doesn't see the problem at all so I am going to give Ofcom a call for advice.

YorkiePud_3

UPDATE

Just spoken to Ofcom and a lady who was really helpful and understood straightaway saying if I was wanting an x-directory number there is no way they should have assigned one to me that was already in the public domain.

She said she would get in touch with their contact at BT and request a phone number for me that had not been in use before.

I've been given a reference number and if I don't hear back in 5 days (as it may take that amount of time to sort out) then this lady said to phone her back.

I know sometimes the people answering calls abroad have trouble understanding us, but the ladies I spoke to initially were English ... they just couldn't see my concern at all and weren't helpful or courteous at all in their manner. Maybe I had interrupted their tea break.

YorkiePud_3

Sorry for the long and drawn out posts!!! .... I just wanted to warn you if you change your number to google it and make sure it isn't listed all over the place .. especially if, like me, you want to be x-directory!!

iniltous

I think the problem is what you think an ex-directory number is, I presume you asked for a renumber and for that new number to be made ex directory, that doesnt mean that your new number will never have been listed at some time in the past, it just means that the number wont be published against your name and address...I doubt that BT was the ability to select a number that has never been listed in the past....numbers are not usually recycled quickly, so if the business that had the number before you ceased service then it was probably a while ago, so if people are still using the number they must access to old phone books or similar,
If you were a customer of other companys Talk Talk and Sky spring to mind you wouldnt get a renumber unless you had abusive calls and involved the police and even then you wouldnt have the 'right' to demand a new number from them,
No number is safe from being called by people other than those you give your number to, many companys from outside these shores just use sequential dialers and make calls to every number in a known number range, so ex-directory by your definiton wouldnt stop those calls

YorkiePud_3

Hiyah, yes, I see what you mean.
The lady from Ofcom said that BT were able to provide numbers that hadn't been used before though and because of the reasons for me wanting to be x-directory and the number not being on the Direct Mailing she said I should have been provided with one instead of a recycled one.

Here's hoping anyway!