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

[coolactuary]

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

[Keith_Beddoe]

@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/

[imjolly]

this is similar post

Solved: Ex-directory again - BT Community

[coolactuary]

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.

[coolactuary]

@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.

[iniltous]

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 .

[chrisjp]

"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?

[coolactuary]

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 😞

[coolactuary]

@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).

[Aljaha]

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.