Porting landline number

[Angua]

Odd problem some of our tenants have with porting a phone number and other issues.

They did seem to have a Virgin phone line through a BT connection and wanted to keep this number. They have now had a new line installed at a charge that was not explained to them or me at the time of booking the switch. However, I was assured that their old number was available to transfer to the new Virgin connection at the time of booking the work. I explained very carefully that these were vulnerable adults who could not cope with new numbers or being without a landline.

The confusion seems to start with us cancelling the line back in April as we would no longer be paying the bills. The line was not disconnected until the end of May. Meanwhile there were issues over paying the bills at our end. Plus Virgin seem to think the line was never a Virgin line.


Now Virgin are claiming the number has been stopped so is not available because it was left too late. Yet no one else has the number.

Any help with this is much appreciated.

[BenMcr]

I don't quite understand what's happened. What prompted the change? And they've gone from Virgin to Virgin?

It really depends on what was ordered and when. Normally a number port is done based on the order for the new line, and requires the old line to active with no disconnection order on it.

From your description, the old line was a National line, so was the the line rental paid to Virgin Media or to BT?

[Angua]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

I don't quite understand what's happened. What prompted the change? And they've gone from Virgin to Virgin?

It really depends on what was ordered and when. Normally a number port is done based on the order for the new line, and requires the old line to active with no disconnection order on it.

From your description, the old line was a National line, so was the the line rental paid to Virgin Media or to BT?

We thought they were going Virgin to Virgin. We thought from a BT style line to a cabled line.

They already had Virgin TV & BB which they always paid for themselves.

[BenMcr]

Virgin don't do a BT based landline only service, only landline + ADSL broadband.

So if they already had TV + cable BB, then they'd either already have a Virgin cable landline, or it would be with another BT based provider.

If it was with a BT based provider, then Virgin should have arranged the number transfer, if they were told to do so, and as I said before, if the other line was active at the point in time of the request.

[Angua]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Virgin don't do a BT based landline only service, only landline + ADSL broadband.

So if they already had TV + cable BB, then they'd either already have a Virgin cable landline, or it would be with another BT based provider.

If it was with a BT based provider, then Virgin should have arranged the number transfer, if they were told to do so, and as I said before, if the other line was active at the point in time of the request.

The Virgin cable was ONLY used for BB & TV paid for by a tenant. The phone line was supplied and paid for by us.

This is the tricky part. It was active but the bill had not been paid in time. This was organised as part of the NTL/Virgin Business phone line provisions.

I did specifically ask that the number be checked to ensure it could be ported. Maybe the customer service person bent the truth somewhat in order to book the swap, if so I am blummin furious.

Where an issue may arise is that as far as I can find out at work it was a Virgin/NTL Business Line, this may have been done at a bulk rate when many phone lines all over the country were put on to NTL. The person who used to manage this has left.

[BenMcr]

If it was a business line, then I'm pretty sure the numbers can't be ported over to residential account, unless things have changed since I was in the call centre. Also business operate a completely different model, so is possible it was provisioned over BT, rather than residential cable.

If the number has been lost without it being made clear that would happen, then I'm not defending that, just trying to think of reasons for why it went wrong.

Unfortunately if the line isn't now active, I'm not sure what options are left.

[Angua]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

If it was a business line, then I'm pretty sure the numbers can't be ported over to residential account, unless things have changed since I was in the call centre. Also business operate a completely different model, so is possible it was provisioned over BT, rather than residential cable.

If the number has been lost without it being made clear that would happen, then I'm not defending that, just trying to think of reasons for why it went wrong.

Unfortunately if the line isn't now active, I'm not sure what options are left.

Thanks anyway. Just very annoyed about the whole thing. I deliberately started the whole switching process through the business side to try to ensure the number would be ported as we (our company) were agreeing to the port.