pORTING PHONE NUMBER

[Cribyn]

Hi I am looking at switching from Daisey back to BT with digital phone and fibre broadband.

We got to the point of setting a switch date and setting up direct debit and the sales man  after a few minutes on hold informed me that it was not possible to port the phone number.   

The phone number is currently in use  and I contacted Daisey to see if they were restricting the release of the phone number.  They assured me they were not quoted some regulations that prevented them doing so and suggested BT liaise with them if there is a problem.

I am a bit at a loss as to why  it can't be transferred and what I can do to make the transfer happen.  Has any body had a similar experience and what was the solution.  Any advice would be appreciated 

[iniltous]

Have you tried making  your order online ?,

the online ordering portal ( once you get to the checkout portion of the website, after selecting a broadband package any other extras you may want  and a phone service call plan etc  ) asks if you have an existing phone number you want to keep , so presumably checking that  particular box at the checkout  enables the process of porting the number into BT , ( or more likely in your case  its the return of a number to the number range holder (BT)  )  , if you looked online and didn’t see the option for keeping your phone number , but didn’t want to progress to the checkout thinking that would commit you purchase without indicating that the phone number was to be retained, you are not committing to a purchase even at the checkout stage , or perhaps you want the reassurance of speaking to a representative that’s why you haven’t tried the online ordering portal , why the representative would say porting  the number isn’t possible seems unlikely to be true , as it’s definitely an option using ‘self service’ 

[Cribyn]

The address did not appear on line with the drop down for the  post code so couldn't confirm address.

Therefore I contacted sales and the salesman took me through  the process as I stated we arranged a date to transfer set up direct debit and at the end we came to the point after a short period on hold they can not port the number.

why the representative would say porting  the number isn’t possible seems unlikely to be true , as it’s definitely an option using ‘self service’ 

This is not something I would fabricate why would I?  I purely wanted to transfer back to BT having left 3 years ago  a move which I regret.

I was hoping for some advice on this from someone  not to be told that it is not true.  The address still does not appear on the drop down from the postcode  to try and continue online.

[licquorice]

Nobody is saying you fabricated anything, rather the call handler was mistaken.

[Cribyn]

unlikely to be true

[licquorice]

What is?

[iniltous]

I thought it pretty clear that I was suggesting the BT representative was mistaken in saying the number can’t be ported ( so what they said us unlikely to be true ) rather than suggesting the OP was misrepresenting or fabricating what the representative said , pointing out that the online ordering service clearly offers the customer the option to keep their  existing phone number indicates BT do offer number portability inwards , as well as porting out (imagine the outcry if BT said we don’t export numbers ) 

The fact that the OP now states their address doesn’t appear for selection when trying to use the online ordering is indication to where the problem probably lies , a large part of success using number portability in either direction, porting in or out , is matching the customers details, both the account name and account/installation address ( the old provider and the new provider need to confirm that the details  match before a port is available, for pretty obvious reasons ) if the address the customer uses doesn’t even have an appearance on the BT addressing system (which in itself is based on the Royal Mail PAF ) then clearly no match can ever be made .

[Cribyn]

The salesman found my details on his computer.  He accessed my previous BT account  and  checked that all the details recorded remained the same including my mobile number.

The details not matching may be the problem just not sure why as the details on the Daisey account are exactly the same inc tel number.  To be fair I believe that the salesman went for advise when I was left on hold for a few minutes.  He did say  there could be an option of a cloud account at a much increased price.  My knowledge of cloud account etc is non exsistent and all I want is to go back to what we had previously before the mistake of changing

My options are to stay with Daisy or try the sales team again suggesting that they clarify details match as I can not progress the online application past the address.

Thank you for the time to comment pity we started off on the wrong foot hopefully this is resolved now.

[iniltous]

Given your old provider is Daisy  , and you mention BT Cloud Voice , presumably it’s a business not residential service you require, and as this forum is a BT Consumer one  , you may have better luck on the BT Business forum 

https://business.forums.bt.com/

[chrisjp]

"My options are to stay with Daisy or try the sales team again suggesting that they clarify details match as I can not progress the online application past the address."

I would try the sales team again and hope you get a more knowledgeable agent. BT's telphone agents are generally badly trained and often talk nonsense.