My ex telephone number

sarabe

I don't suppose there is anything I can do but a BT landline number that I gave up recently has been given to someone else but not by BT.


Is there a policy on how long a number should be left before being re issued as this is causing me grief?

Is there any way of finding out who the service provider is?

Sambucus_Nigra

Phone them up and ask them?

Why is it causing you grief?

Browntoa

no minimum time, could technically be reallocated the same day but probably woud'nt happen

sarabe

I called the number and left a message after receiving a few emails, messages on facebook etc about the hostile woman on the end of the phone. Just apologising and leaving my number.

I can understand her getting upset but I did let everyone know and with the best will in the world people are still going to have the number in their book or in their phone and forget to change it.

I called her again after my 80 year old mother had been on the receiving end for inadvertantly calling the old number and she said "Yes I got your message and this is twice you've called me. I'm calling the police, it's harrassement. So I hung up.

Last Sunday my neighbour called the number after being involved in an accident on the motorway and as you can imagine was not best prepared for what followed when the phone was answered.

So that is the grief it's causing me.

BT can't do anything about it.

Heinz

I'm a bit lost here. What exactly do you expect XX to do about it?

And who would XX be?

At the end of the day, there are a limted number of telephone numbers and, when one becomes vacant, it is reallocated when required. As has been explained (and as is your experience), that can be within a very short space of time.

The problem here appears to be your contacts have taken no notice of you advising them of a change of number and the woman with your old number is getting increasingly annoyed at your contacts calling her when they want you. TBH, if it was not for her apparent rants, I would be inclined to have more sympathy with her.

pcombo

sarabe wrote: »

I don't suppose there is anything I can do but a BT landline number that I gave up recently has been given to someone else but not by BT.


Is there a policy on how long a number should be left before being re issued as this is causing me grief?

Is there any way of finding out who the service provider is?

You having a laugh, Thats just like an IP being allocated to one user once they disconnect someone else will get it. Your not gonna start calling your isp saying someone else has your "ex" ip.

sarabe

Of course I advised all of my contacts. I think I explained that.

I only asked. Sorry I did now.

Kilty_2

pcombo wrote: »

You having a laugh, Thats just like an IP being allocated to one user once they disconnect someone else will get it. Your not gonna start calling your isp saying someone else has your "ex" ip.

I think the problem is the miserable person that's been given the number more than the reallocation of the number itself :rotfl:

RacyRed

I'm the other way round with this, I've been allocated a number which was obviously still in use until just before I got it.

I'm fed up of politely saying, "sorry, you have the wrong number" only to have someone scream No, YOU have the wrong number, or something equally as rude, before slamming the phone down on me. Often this happens quite late in the evening. I've begun to get pretty annoyed about it.

I called my phone provider and there is nothing they can do. It is up to the previous line holder to ensure their contacts have the right number.

In the meantime I add to my phone book everyone I give the number to, and ignore calls that don't show a name when the call comes through.

Have you made a point of ensuring everyone who had your old number now has your new one? Why on earth has your neighbour still got the old number?

sarabe

We had two numbers - business and private. We let the private one go as a cost cutting exercise and told everyone to call us on the business number which for 20 odd years was our only contact number anyway. So the neighbour had both but in her panic called the one she shouldn't have.

RacyRed

sarabe wrote: »

We had two numbers - business and private. We let the private one go as a cost cutting exercise and told everyone to call us on the business number which for 20 odd years was our only contact number anyway. So the neighbour had both but in her panic called the one she shouldn't have.

Understandable.

But it sounds as if the changes you made could be a little confusing, folk could be forgiven for assuming you had got rid of the business number and not the private one, which may have resulted in a higher number of calls to the new line holder than would normally be the case.

Perhaps you could text everyone a reminder of the right number? It makes it easier to change a mobile's address book that way, and it is easier to do "on the spot" with a text.

I don't know how you can find out which service provider has allocated the number, or what they can do about it even if you find out? Could BT have done anything if it had been them who re-allocated the number?