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A Little Mini Rant at BT

Own_My_Own
Posts: 6,098 Forumite

I am so cross and fed up at this moment in time.
Just so you don't end up feeling like this, if ever you get given a new land line number check(if you can) that the old user wasn't in debt, or died in debt.
I moved into this house 5 years ago, it was a new build and I had a new line put in by BT.
Within a couple of days I was getting phone calls from banks etc for a Mrs X.
I stupidly thought they would stop once I told all the banks she didn't live here.
5 years on, I am still getting near daily phone calls for Mrs X.
It doesn't seem to matter how many times I tell them I am not Mrs X, they still ring me back.
Today I have had TSB on the line. The woman actually wanted me to give her my address before she took my number off.
What, so they can send letters to her here as well. So the bailiffs can give us a visit.
Yes I know I could change my number, but I just keep believing this is nearly over.
I would ring BT and give them apiece of my mind about giving out dodgy numbers, but I am with Talk Talk now.
I feel a little calmer now I have sat and typed this.
OMO
Ps..I may be back tomorrow.
Just so you don't end up feeling like this, if ever you get given a new land line number check(if you can) that the old user wasn't in debt, or died in debt.
I moved into this house 5 years ago, it was a new build and I had a new line put in by BT.
Within a couple of days I was getting phone calls from banks etc for a Mrs X.
I stupidly thought they would stop once I told all the banks she didn't live here.
5 years on, I am still getting near daily phone calls for Mrs X.
It doesn't seem to matter how many times I tell them I am not Mrs X, they still ring me back.
Today I have had TSB on the line. The woman actually wanted me to give her my address before she took my number off.
What, so they can send letters to her here as well. So the bailiffs can give us a visit.
Yes I know I could change my number, but I just keep believing this is nearly over.
I would ring BT and give them apiece of my mind about giving out dodgy numbers, but I am with Talk Talk now.
I feel a little calmer now I have sat and typed this.
OMO
Ps..I may be back tomorrow.
0
Comments
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Sorry, I don't see how it can be BT's fault that the previous user of your number was in debt.Time has moved on (much quicker than it used to - or so it seems at my age) and my previous advice on residential telephony has been or is now gradually being overtaken by changes in the retail market. Hence, I have now deleted links to my previous 'pearls of wisdom'. I sincerely hope they helped save some of you money.0
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The number Mrs X had has obviously been reallocated to you when you had the line installed. The same thing happened to me in my old house (we had the old number of a local pub/restaurant and we, too, had near daily calls for them). You could change your number but you will have to pay for it.
It's not BT's fault; the number will have gone into a pool of unallocated numbers when Mrs X cancelled her line and automatically assigned to your line when it was installed.0 -
The number Mrs X had has obviously been reallocated to you when you had the line installed. The same thing happened to me in my old house (we had the old number of a local pub/restaurant and we, too, had near daily calls for them). You could change your number but you will have to pay for it.
It's not BT's fault; the number will have gone into a pool of unallocated numbers when Mrs X cancelled her line and automatically assigned to your line when it was installed.
Maybe they should leave numbers dormant for longer before re-allocating them to new clients.0 -
Own_My_Own wrote: »Maybe they should leave numbers dormant for longer before re-allocating them to new clients.
This wouldn't help you - as you note, years later the calls will still come. The only ray of hope is that after 6 years, any debt becomes largely uncollectable, but since firms often sell on debt recovery to firms prepared to purchase them for less, it is a vicious circle - not only will the new company try hard by calling repeatedly, the new one down he line will do so as well.
We solved the issue on our line (Where we had our number for 40 years), but didn't stop one Jamie Fleming from giving out our number as his, meaning we get up to 8 calls a day looking for him.
Only our Truecall device restored sanity - it weeds out the sales and debt chaser calls dead, and when your phone rings, the call IS for you!0
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