I got my old phone number back (and it wasn't easy)

[MaximRecoil]

My parents had the number 6950 from at least 1968 when they got married (my father may have had it before they got married, as early as 1960, because that's when he moved to this town and bought the house that I grew up in, and now own) until 1991 when my mother moved to a different town. So that was my phone number from the time I was born until I was 16.

In 1999 I acquired the house I grew up in and moved back in here. One of the first things I did was find a black Western Electric model 554 to take its rightful place on the kitchen wall, like the one my parents leased from the phone company until 1986. As a bonus, the original Bell System modular wall jack that I watched them install in 1979 or 1980 when they converted our 554 to modular, was/is still there, complete with the Bell System logo stamped in the lower right-hand corner.

I wasn't pleased with the 3822 phone number they gave me in 1999 though. I asked for 6950 but someone else had it by that time.

Several years ago I checked 6950 and it still belonged to someone else. I made do by getting a 6950 Google Voice number (along with the same exchange code I had as a kid), which I still have, but the area code was wrong.

A couple of weeks ago I entered the full 6950 number into Google, and it appeared that the same guy who had it several years ago still had it, but given that so many people are ditching their landlines these days, I decided to give it a call and heard, "The number you have dialed has been disconnected..." That was awesome to hear, so I immediately called the operator to see about changing my number to 6950. Unfortunately it was Saturday and the business office was closed.

Come Monday morning I called the business office, and after being on hold for about 20 minutes (remember when you didn't have to wait to speak to an operator?), I told the operator what I wanted to do. She put me on hold while she checked to see if 6950 was available, and then, CLICK... disconnected. And she didn't even bother to call me back, even though she obviously knew my phone number. That never would have happened in the days of the Bell System.

I called back and their IVR system seemed to be broken, i.e., after pressing 4 for customer service, and 1 for residential service, instead of going into the hold music like before, there was just silence. I tried that several times with the same results. Finally I called the operator that you eventually reach when pressing 0, told her what happened, and she did some arcane DTMF wizardry which immediately connected me to a customer service operator (she was the only operator who displayed any sort of competence in this whole ordeal).

When the customer service operator wanted to put me on hold to check the availability of 6950, I asked her not to, because the last time I got disconnected. After about five minutes of her fumbling about, she told me that 6950 was already "reserved" by someone else. I said, "How can it be reserved if it's been disconnected?" She didn't know, nor did she have any other information about it.

I waited a week and tried again. This time the operator said she didn't know what the deal was with the other operator who said 6950 was reserved, but she would try to send it through anyway. She said she would call back to tell me the results. Of course, she never did.

Two days later I called again to ask what was going on. The operator said that it had gone through, and was just awaiting a call-back (which they never gave me), so she would finalize the order. Of course, she ran into a problem, put me on hold to confer with her "team leader", and then told me that she would have to talk to the operator I'd talked to two days earlier, and that she'd call me back. Of course, she never did.

However, on the off chance that they actually did their job, despite not calling back, I dialed my 3822 number a few minutes ago, and instead of the usual busy signal, I got a recording saying that it had been disconnected. Then I dialed 6950 and I got a busy signal. Then I had someone call 6950 and my phones rang, so, wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, the phone company actually did it.

Now all those dial cards I made with the 6950 number on them are actually legitimate.

[jsowers]

Well, what phone company do you have? It sounds a lot like the Hooterville Telephone Company to me, and Sarah is out basting her rump roast. What strikes me as funny and sad is the telephone company has two problems--their phone system wasn't working and they are batting zero at communication skills. We have fallen mighty far from the days of the Bell System.

I can't imagine how they thought they could change your phone number and not even call and inform you of the change. Maybe you'll be getting something in the mail? That's about their speed. You also have to wonder how a company so poor at communication can stay in business long. POTS could be doomed just by incompetence.

Congratulations on at least getting something done and getting your old phone number back. My area code has changed three times since I was a child, from 704 to 910 to 336 and now we have 10-digit dialing, so it can never be the same as it was for me.

[MaximRecoil]

Well, what phone company do you have? It sounds a lot like the Hooterville Telephone Company to me, and Sarah is out basting her rump roast.

Or Irlene Mandrell at the Kornfield Kounty Operator Assistance switchboard.

Here in Maine, the original post-breakup Baby Bell was NYNEX, and then it went to Verizon, and then to Fairpoint Communications, and several months ago, Consolidated Communications, which is the most generic sounding name I've ever heard for a phone company.

What strikes me as funny and sad is the telephone company has two problems--their phone system wasn't working and they are batting zero at communication skills. We have fallen mighty far from the days of the Bell System.

It's ironic that the phone company can't even keep its own phone system working properly. Compare the way the phone companies are today to the miracle that the Bell System pulled off in restoring service so quickly after the 1975 New York Telephone Exchange fire:

https://youtu.be/f_AWAmGi-g8

I can't imagine how they thought they could change your phone number and not even call and inform you of the change. Maybe you'll be getting something in the mail? That's about their speed. You also have to wonder how a company so poor at communication can stay in business long. POTS could be doomed just by incompetence.

Yeah, it's bizarre. I still haven't gotten the promised call-back from them, and I'll be surprised if I ever do.

Congratulations on at least getting something done and getting your old phone number back. My area code has changed three times since I was a child, from 704 to 910 to 336 and now we have 10-digit dialing, so it can never be the same as it was for me.

Maine still has only one area code (I hope that never changes), and this town still has the same exchange code it's had since long before I was born, so the only thing I needed to get back was the last 4 digits. When I was a kid we had 4-digit dialing for local calls and 7-digit dialing for in-state toll calls. In the early 1990s when we first got touch-tone service, along with those other "modern" features like call waiting, caller ID, 911 service, *67, *69, etc., it changed to 7-digit dialing even for local calls, and it's still that way today.

The funny thing is, I had the 3822 number for 19 years but I never got attached to it, and sometimes I'd have to stop and think just to remember what it was. It always felt like someone else's number. Sometimes I confused it with my aunt's phone number (3328) or the number my best friend had when we were kids (3392). I'm glad to be rid of it.

[Greg G.]

... and then, CLICK... disconnected. And she didn't even bother to call me back, even though she obviously knew my phone number. That never would have happened in the days of the Bell System.
...

Amen to that!  It really galls me when they emphasize that their responsibility ends where the wires enter the house every time they have to come out for whatever reason. 
And there was Todd in Boise: http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=15687.msg162937#msg162937

[MaximRecoil]

Amen to that!  It really galls me when they emphasize that their responsibility ends where the wires enter the house every time they have to come out for whatever reason. 
And there was Todd in Boise: http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=15687.msg162937#msg162937

Interesting thread. Thanks for the link.

I'm not old enough to have had my own phone service through the Bell System (I was 9 when the Bell System was broken up), but I used the phone plenty when I was a kid, and I talked to the operator quite a few times back then; usually just to ask for the correct time, but sometimes to ask questions about toll rates or which exchange codes were local calls from my number, or to have a charge removed if I dialed a wrong number that was a toll call, etc.

Back then when you dialed zero, a real live human operator would immediately answer. There was no IVR system and I don't remember ever being placed on hold, and I certainly never got disconnected. I also don't remember ever being transferred to someone else; the operator you got when you dialed zero seemed to be able to help you with just about anything you'd need to contact the phone company about. These days, the "operator" I get when I dial zero (after listening to a long IVR recording and then being put on hold) is essentially just a receptionist.

[Dan/Panther]

I consider myself as a person that does not have stellar patience with customer service, because I take the term literally. They are being paid by me, to service my requests or issues.
Back in the day, you talked to people to solve issues, not always to my satisfaction, but I find the NEW customer service system, is blatantly worthless. By the time you finish going through a list of, push one for blah, two for blah blah etc. You either get the wrong person, or like in Maxims case disconnected.
Recently Pay-Pal had updated their Business Debit Card system, and they issued me a new card. The first time I use it, it gets declined. So I go home embarrassed, and call. They say that my Pay-Pal account is not set up for a card that links to my bank. I have had that system for many years now, and have linked all of my accounts and businesses to that card. A HUGE PROBLEM. I ask how I can get the card linked to my account again. They said: "You can't you don't have a business account at Pay-Pal", I asked then why did my former card say BUSINESS Debit right on the card ? At this point my patience are gone. I said; "So basically I'm screwed as far as my card is concerned", and I added, look at my Pay-Pal account I joined in 1998, that's 20 years." I added if I can't have my account the way it was before my card was changed you can stick your Pay-Pal up your ***. 
The next day I get an email from Pay-Pal, your card has been approved you should receive it in a plan white envelope in 7 to 10 days. Even though I am nopt proud of my loss of cool, in some cases it pays to let them know who they are serving.

D/P 

[twocvbloke]

I've been pretty annoyed with customer "service" before, not for a while though, last issue was with the former UK courier CityLink, a few months before they went bust, because they'd "lost" a package of mine (Pioneer turntable), except I knew where it was and told them to go and get it, took a week of calling them to get them to get off their rears to collect it and deliver it to the correct address, it was just lie after lie with them, the last one was the depot manager saying "Yeah, it's here beside me", being based in Gateshead several miles away, and then 5 minutes after the call, the package arrived (along with another "lost" delivery), they'd have needed to have driven at several hundred miles per hour to get from Gateshead to here in that space of time!!!

I'm so glad they went bust, sad that people lost their jobs, but they were such a poor outfit that they were just a joke, the made the USPS look reliable!!

[Key2871]

It's funny, just the other day when I saw a truck with the words Consolidated telephone.... I said boy I miss ma bell.
This new phone company is worse than fairly pointless as I called it. I thought they were bad, sounds like no improvement yet, not do I expect any in the future...

Gone are the good old days, of seeing New England Telephone, on trucks all over the place.
Thanks to the government for screwing with a working thing.

[MaximRecoil]

It's funny, just the other day when I saw a truck with the words Consolidated telephone.... I said boy I miss ma bell.
This new phone company is worse than fairly pointless as I called it. I thought they were bad, sounds like no improvement yet, not do I expect any in the future...

Gone are the good old days, of seeing New England Telephone, on trucks all over the place.
Thanks to the government for screwing with a working thing.

I still remember the jingle: "We're the one for you New England, New England Telephone"

And yeah, Fairpoint was horrible. I was on hold with them for something like 2 hours one time, and never did get through. I eventually hung up. I was at work and had the phone on speaker, but I got sick of hearing that hold music for 2 hours straight.

[MaximRecoil]

I've had my old number back for about a day and a half now, and so far, I haven't gotten a single robocall nor any other type of nuisance call. I used to get a few of them per day. I wonder how long it will take for them to find me.

I haven't gotten any calls asking for the guy that had this number before me either.

[jsowers]

Wow! An added bonus. I have a feeling they call every number possible somehow, because even people with unlisted numbers get just as many robocalls as the listed ones. And since your number was previously owned, it could still be on some of the scammers' lists.

I know a lady from work whose home phone number used to be similar to the main number for our county government. It was 7011 and she was 0711. They got calls out the wazoo for all kinds of departments and when she was at work, her mother, who suffered from the early stages of dementia, would answer the phone. And instead of telling them they got the wrong number, she would try to help the people! Evidently it went on for some time until one day she was off work and her mother answered the phone and she saw it happen. As we say in the South, bless her heart. She meant well.

Luckily the county got a new centrex-type phone system and changed its phone number and the problem went away and her mother went to a nursing home.

[Owain]

I had a similar situation with my home number and the local bus station.

I just told people the buses ran every 20 minutes :-)

[twocvbloke]

We get calls for a takeaway now and then, definitely no takeaways here, not once I've finished with 'em... 

[MaximRecoil]

Wow! An added bonus. I have a feeling they call every number possible somehow, because even people with unlisted numbers get just as many robocalls as the listed ones. And since your number was previously owned, it could still be on some of the scammers' lists.

Yeah, I figure it's inevitable that they will find me; it's just a matter of when. For the time being it's peaceful though.

I know a lady from work whose home phone number used to be similar to the main number for our county government. It was 7011 and she was 0711. They got calls out the wazoo for all kinds of departments and when she was at work, her mother, who suffered from the early stages of dementia, would answer the phone. And instead of telling them they got the wrong number, she would try to help the people! Evidently it went on for some time until one day she was off work and her mother answered the phone and she saw it happen. As we say in the South, bless her heart. She meant well.

Luckily the county got a new centrex-type phone system and changed its phone number and the problem went away and her mother went to a nursing home.

That's funny. When I was a kid the local junkyard / garage / towing service number was very close to ours, so we got a lot of calls like, "Do you have a passenger-side fender for a '74 Dodge Monaco?"

I just did a Google search and it looks like that number still belongs to the same place, even though the junkyard is long gone, they have moved to the other side of town, and they are just a towing service now. So I'll probably be getting some of their calls again, for the first time in ~30 years.

[andre_janew]

I may try to get my landline back in the future.  I may try to get my grandmother's phone number.  Yes, it probably will have a different area code because the 785 area code didn't exist when she was alive.