Number porting problem - HELP!

[barrington]

Hopefully someone can help.  My mother in law moved house last week.  I arranged the transfer of her services from Sky to Virgin which included transferring her telephone number.  There appears to have been an almightly mix up and this hasn't happened.  Virgin claim to have asked Sky for the details but didn't get them.  Sky claim to have heard nothing and to have passed the number back to BT when the contract ended (on the day of the move).

Virgin claim to be unable to do anything without an active number, Sky claim to have no active number and have returned the number to a 'pot' for 6 months.  They pointed me at BT.

I spoke to BT on Sunday who claim to not have the number.

I have no idea how to progress this.  It's the number she's had for over 30 years and is the last link to her husband who passed away 6 months ago.  

I've spent around 12 hours on hold with various companies over the past three days.

Any help or thoughts very greatfully received.

[Keith_Beddoe]

@barrington 

Her number would have returned to the number range holder, not to BT Retail, unless her number was originally issued by BT Retail.

If it was issued by BT Retail, and the house she is now living in, is connected to the same BT exchange building, then she should be able to get the number back, by becoming a BT Retail customer.

What are the first six digits of her phone number? Please do not post the full number here.

[barrington]

0191257

[Keith_Beddoe]

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@barrington wrote:

0191257

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Thanks, I will look that up for you.

[Keith_Beddoe]

The number belongs to BT Retail and could only be returned to her, if she got her phone service from BT Retail.

As this would have been issued to her, at her original address, the how far has she moved from that address, as each BT exchange has its own unique number range?

1912 57

Allocated

BT

3+7

15/07/1994

[barrington]

Thanks so much,  She's moved around 6 streets away - on the same estate.

[Keith_Beddoe]

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@barrington wrote:

Thanks so much,  She's moved around 6 streets away - on the same estate.

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There is a fairly good chance she is still connected to the same BT Exchange building.

If she decides to get her phone service from BT Retail, then initially she would be given a new phone number. Once this is active, she can then request a re-number back to here original number.

If she is taking her other services from Virgin, then that would mean paying for a separate phone line from BT. There may be a reduction from VM, if she does not want a phone line from them.

[barrington]

Thanks for the help.  I guess my issue is - do I have any recourse?  It seems that between them Sky and Virgin have dropped the ball.  As a customer I asked for a service and neither of them have delivered.

[imjolly]

as the number is owned by BT Retail the number porting was never going to happen

you need to take it up with SKY and/or Virgin

[Keith_Beddoe]

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@barrington wrote:

Thanks for the help.  I guess my issue is - do I have any recourse?  It seems that between them Sky and Virgin have dropped the ball.  As a customer I asked for a service and neither of them have delivered.

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Its very unlikely you will make any progress with them.

Sky did not own her number, it belonged to BT Retail, so Sky would not have been able to give it to VM. Also. VM have their own network, which is totally different to both BT and Sky.

If she is still within her cancellation period, the she could cancel VM, and then take all her service from BT Retail, provided they offer the same features.

This is a very common problem, and it has been reported many times before.