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I have my phone service with Verizon (Fios). 2 phone lines. I recently came back to Verizon for phone service after being with Comcast for the previous 8 years, Verizon for years before that. At 2am the other night, I noticed a light come on my 2 line phone, that shows the line is open. I call that number from my other line, and get a message that the line is out of service, so I phone Verizon and I'm told that there was an order of disconnect, and that I'd have to phone at 8am to speak with billing when they opened. OK, no big deal, probably just a mistake, we'll clear it up. When I phoned in the morning, they told me that my number was ported to another provider, they said I must have agreed to service with another provider, which I didn't. They also couldn't tell me who was porting the number, they didn't have that information and wouldn't know until the porting process was complete. They transfer me to tech support, and they try to get the number back, but all tries failed. 4 hours of my time was wasted, they say there's nothing they could do about it.
I've had this phone number for 25 years. My business associates all reach me by this number, my union directory has this phone number, my business cards and website all show this number, and now if anyone phones it, they get the chime and the voice message that this number is no longer in service. I can't even forward calls from the old number to another number because that old number is not mine anymore.
Verizon says it is gone, and I should just pick another phone number. I filed a complaint with the NJ Board of Public Utilities. Next complaint goes to the FCC.
I never had any idea that a phone number could just be taken from you, without your permission, by any service that wants to port it.
Phone companies are known to screw things up and not just Verizon. If the number is ported you and they should be able to re port it back to whomever you want to supply the service on it. I would keep bugging them. Takes a while sometimes.
There was a scam going around YEARS ago when you talked to one of those telemarketing companies there was a message at the end that if you didn't stick around to listen to and tell them NOT to port your number, they did. I thought they made that illegal but who knows. Have you gotten any telemarketing calls lately??
I personally NEVER answer the phone if I don't recognize the number. Period.
There was a scam going around YEARS ago when you talked to one of those telemarketing companies there was a message at the end that if you didn't stick around to listen to and tell them NOT to port your number, they did. I thought they made that illegal but who knows. Have you gotten any telemarketing calls lately??
I personally NEVER answer the phone if I don't recognize the number. Period.
The telemarketing calls never stop, especially from utility companies.
Good for you for filing those complaints. File with the Better Business Bureau next. They can't do anything without your consent. I hope it works all works out.
It could be as simple as someone swapping a number on a legit port request and no one bothering to check it out. I had that happen with my cell phone once, but my carrier (Sprint) contacted me to verify I wanted to port the number. Whatever it is, it's obviously Verizon's mistake, but it should be correctable in a day or so.
It might be worth your time to send an email out to all of your contacts that use that number and let them know what is going on. Then, when you get the number back, put a message on the voicemail briefly explaining what happened. At this point, that's the best damage control you can do while you work on getting your pound of flesh out of Verizon, lol.
I'm not mad at Verizon because the number has been ported away. After doing a google search, it seems to be a very common thing done in error. Somebody puts in an order to switch their number from one provider to another, and maybe they typed in a wrong digit, or the person doing the porting typed in a wrong digit. I'm mad because they wouldn't do all they could to find out what happened, and fix it. I was told that my 25 year phone number was now gone, no longer available, and to pick another one.
I have tremendous faith in the work of the NJ Board of Public Utilities. Years ago I had a problem, reported it to the NJ BPU, and a problem I had with a provider over many months was fixed in a day.
I reported this issue to them, and I received a bunch of phone calls from different Verizon people today vowing to fix my problem within 24 hours. The BPU seems to have amazing control over the utilites, really work for the consumer, and got to work on my problem immediately.
I'll post back tomorrow if it is all fixed, but after speaking with all kinds of customer service people at Verizon, I'm feeling extremely optimistic.
I'm not mad at Verizon because the number has been ported away. After doing a google search, it seems to be a very common thing done in error. Somebody puts in an order to switch their number from one provider to another, and maybe they typed in a wrong digit, or the person doing the porting typed in a wrong digit. I'm mad because they wouldn't do all they could to find out what happened, and fix it. I was told that my 25 year phone number was now gone, no longer available, and to pick another one.
I have tremendous faith in the work of the NJ Board of Public Utilities. Years ago I had a problem, reported it to the NJ BPU, and a problem I had with a provider over many months was fixed in a day.
I reported this issue to them, and I received a bunch of phone calls from different Verizon people today vowing to fix my problem within 24 hours. The BPU seems to have amazing control over the utilites, really work for the consumer, and got to work on my problem immediately.
I'll post back tomorrow if it is all fixed, but after speaking with all kinds of customer service people at Verizon, I'm feeling extremely optimistic.
Glad its working out. NJ's BPU is great. They helped us out with PSE&G when we lived there.
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