This topic

I am ex-directory so why are my phone and address still being published by BT

coolactuary — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 12:04:27 GMT

Apologies if this is not the right Board. As with other routes into BT there seems to be an assumption that I am a BT customer. I am not.

I am trying to work out why having been registered with the Telephone Preference Service and also been ex-directory for more than 10 years our most recent local paper phone book - published by BT - contains my phone number and address. Additionally this information is available from a simple search at https://www.thephonebook.bt.com/Person/PersonSearch/

My wife has checked and we remain xd and registered with TPS. I phoned the complaints line 0330 1234 150 this morning and they can't help; same menus as elsewhere in BT and it appears they cannot accept queries or complaints unless I'm a BT customer. Indeed the menu has nothing to do with complaints.

I also phone the number advertised for ex-directory - 0800 800 150. As with the number above the menu have nothing to do with ex-directory. For neither of the above two numbers is my listed landline phone number (the one being published by BT) recognised. There are further menu options but these go into customer support.

Bottom line: no one seems to recognise that BT has a responsibility for the information it places in the public domain, whether this is in paper form or via websites. This surely applies whether or not the people involved (i.e. my family and specifically me) are BT customers or not. There is no robust complaints process, so I am thrown back to writing to BT with their 28-day turnaround time.

Pretty grim.

Andrew

Re: I am ex-directory so why are my phone and address still being published by BT

Keith_Beddoe — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 12:13:45 GMT

@coolactuary

You need to raise the issue with whoever provides your phone service. The directory has nothing to do with BT Retail, who run this forum.

Try here https://www.thephonebook.bt.com/HelpAndSupport/HelpAndSupport/

Re: I am ex-directory so why are my phone and address still being published by BT

imjolly — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 12:14:57 GMT

this is similar post

Solved: Ex-directory again - BT Community

Re: I am ex-directory so why are my phone and address still being published by BT

coolactuary — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 12:25:56 GMT

Thanks @imjolly I hope I've read that thread correctly - started in the last 2 days I think - but although @dubie has solved their issue I've no idea how - so I've asked him/her with an @. People there seemed to generally be recommending the things I've tried. Apologies if I'm missing something obvious.

Re: I am ex-directory so why are my phone and address still being published by BT

coolactuary — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 12:42:20 GMT

@Keith_Beddoe

Thanks. I tried this first, as my service is provided by Vodafone. They said it had nothing to do with them and confirmed that they had not shared any data. While you may be right that the problem has been caused by Vodafone I'd have thought that:

* As publisher of both the paper phone book and the online search BT does in fact have a major responsibility. BT retail may well be the owner of this form but BT *overall* surely has an overall responsibility. I feel confident a regulator would deem this to be the case.

* Having registered to be by XD and through the TPS BT would be able to respect our family's wishes. There is no indication that the number 0800 800 150 works only for BT customers.

It does seem that, as you say, this is not the forum to get this resolved, whatever the legal and moral position. I guess reverting to paper i.e. a letter might help. Sad though.

Re: I am ex-directory so why are my phone and address still being published by BT

iniltous — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 12:55:16 GMT

Here is a section from the phone book site,

If you have a service provider other than BT you will need to contact your own service provider as BT is not able to make changes to this central database on behalf of other telephone service providers.
Once you have asked your own service provider to make the necessary amendments the correct data will be added to the OSIS database for cascade to all directory service providers including BT.

For you to request changes ( presumably to remove your entry from the online directory) , contact your own provider, not BT , if VF don’t know how to do this , or state it’s not their responsibility, that obviously got nothing to do with anyone other than yourself and them , and certainly not a service provider you don’t use .

Re: I am ex-directory so why are my phone and address still being published by BT

chrisjp — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 13:00:38 GMT

"To make changes , contact your provider, not BT , if they don’t know how to do this , that obviously got nothing to do with anyone other than yourself and them , certainly not a service provider you don’t use".
Did you not read the OP's statement: "I tried this first, as my service is provided by Vodafone. They said it had nothing to do with them and confirmed that they had not shared any data"
I'm with the OP here - the directory is printed and issued by BT - so they must have responsibility for what's in it, musn't they?

Re: I am ex-directory so why are my phone and address still being published by BT

coolactuary — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 13:00:45 GMT

Thanks @iniltous
I accept your point and will take back to VOD, quoting the above.
I remain completely confused about the point of registering as XD and TPS. Now *that* surely had nothing to do with VOD. BT's name remains all over this, whatever the operational technicalities of who is allowed to (and does) update the underlying database.
But thanks again - your material will be useful for me to quote to VOD, though I have little hope of them resolving 😞

Re: I am ex-directory so why are my phone and address still being published by BT

coolactuary — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 13:05:55 GMT

@chrisjpAs you might expect I'm with you morally. You *may* be right from a legal and regulatory perspective too - at least I felt that way as a risk manager in regulated financial services. But if forum experts think BT have no responsibility I'll have to go with that for practical purposes. Unfortunately I'm spending far too much of much life on this sort of thing and will almost go with anything which gives any hope of resolving, however low (and I fear the reverting to Vodafone is a low probability of resolving).

Re: I am ex-directory so why are my phone and address still being published by BT

Aljaha — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 13:29:47 GMT

I received my phone book last month and it quotes on the front "Final Edition, Hold on to it forever". If yours is the same you will never remove your name from the paper copy.

Re: I am ex-directory so why are my phone and address still being published by BT

imjolly — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 13:32:12 GMT

if you are now a vodafone customer for broadband and phone did you keep your existing number and XD status when transferring to vodafone from BT? if so then as previously posted the problem has to be raised with your service provider vodafone as they are the ones responsible for supplying your data to OSIS database not BT

Re: I am ex-directory so why are my phone and address still being published by BT

coolactuary — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 14:32:44 GMT

@Aljaha Indeed. I'm not expecting BT or its suppliers to reprint the documents, and that probably wouldn't help anyway. It's probably a GDPR breach but that's just tough on me.

I would like someone to stand up and take responsibility for my address and phone number appearing in the BT-provided online directory though. And for whoever to remove my details.

Ideally I'd also like to understand what the point is of our being XD and on the TPS list - my wife checked our status this morning - if that has no operational effect. That's probably just a fantasy.

Re: I am ex-directory so why are my phone and address still being published by BT

coolactuary — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 14:36:00 GMT

@imjolly I thank you again and confirm that I will raise with VOD again and expect no success whatsoever. We kept out existing number on transfer as we've always done. My wife confirmed our XD and TPS status this morning. The TPS number belongs to BT. The whole thing seems a bit farcical, but I will indeed revert to VOD, quoting your text, with almost zero expectation of success.

Re: I am ex-directory so why are my phone and address still being published by BT

c64z86 — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 14:40:04 GMT

I don't have any advice to give but I just want to say that it sounds like someone seriously messed up somewhere along the chain!

Re: I am ex-directory so why are my phone and address still being published by BT

coolactuary — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 14:41:21 GMT

@c64z86 Would that this was the only instance in 2024 Britain!

Re: I am ex-directory so why are my phone and address still being published by BT

c64z86 — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 14:51:00 GMT

Yep lol!

The bright side, if there is one that can be found here? Not many people use telephone books anymore, nor directory services when everything can be searched online.

So you shouldn't be getting too many weird calls from random people! 😛

But yeah, it is a serious breach of data and should be sorted out.

Re: I am ex-directory so why are my phone and address still being published by BT

coolactuary — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 14:51:46 GMT

@c64z86 Regrettably (unlike email spam which seems to be a largely sorted thing) we seem to be getting more than ever. Happily they're easy to spot, esp if you pick up.

What worries me more is all the supposedly genuine companies - two mentioned in this post - making my life miserable. I try to avoid them (e.g. we don't even pay explicitly for landline) but you've got to have *someone* provide you with broadband, phone and banking services, all of which can be painful. Apparently BT can't get me FTTP, but can't for neighbours in the next road.

Tesco would die if they served this **** up. I'm going to crawl back under my stone now. You've probably picked up that I'm a little agitated 🙂

Re: I am ex-directory so why are my phone and address still being published by BT

c64z86 — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 15:02:13 GMT

Sadly, it's profit before people now for many companies. My friends just shrug it off and say "ok" but it upsets me a lot. 😕 I just try and see the bright side in everything, even when there isn't one, or I would never be able to manage to get out of bed for work in the morning.

I hope you manage to get it sorted out soon and maybe even find out who or what was responsible for the mess up. The chances are indeed slim but you never know!

Re: I am ex-directory so why are my phone and address still being published by BT

countrypaul — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 15:03:26 GMT

@coolactuary just out of curiosity have you checked with any other online providers of telephone directory services to see if they too have your ex-d number listed?

Re: I am ex-directory so why are my phone and address still being published by BT

iniltous — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 15:20:08 GMT

When you joined Vodafone, bearing in mind , joining VF you had absolutely no need to inform BT of this migration ( and assuming you went directly from BT to VF ) so basically BT are completely uninvolved in your service after that point , no doubt they would be pilloried if they arbitrarily removed on line phone book entries just because the consumer has moved from BT to someone else ,

VF should have enquired with you if you wanted to be ex directory or not , if you said not , it’s pretty clear where the error is , same as if they didn’t ask at all , it’s almost incredible that you continue to apportion blame , if you were ‘XD’ with BT , did you check the same on line directory ? , were you listed ? , if you were , why didn’t you make the same enquiries you are making now but back then ? , if you were not listed then , but are now , that’s simply more evidence where the error was made , if you didn’t check when BT were your provider , presumably you had a more relaxed view of this matter back them , but obviously cannot claim to know if you were listed or not .
Its pretty plain from the guidance on the phone book site , it’s your current provider that is responsible for keeping your entry ( or no entry if that’s your preference ) in the ‘Phone Book’, if they appear to not know this , that’s also a failing on their part