We want to get rid of our customers!
Our goal is to get rid of all our customers. No other phone company wants to get rid of their customers as badly as we do. And no other phone company is as efficient at getting rid of their customers as we are. We even go out of our way to get rid of customers faster than any other phone company, because getting rid of our customers is actually our job. The more customers we can get rid of the better.
Regular phone companies want to get and hold their customer for as long as possible. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as they don’t add excessive fees to release their 800 numbers or try to hold you hostage by your number like shared use companies do. Most don’t refuse to release numbers, they just drag their feet as much as possible. And believe me, most phone companies are very efficient at dragging their feet. We’re the only ones crazy enough to try to build a business out of getting rid of our customers.
Sometimes it’s not as easy to get rid of customers as you’d think either. You’d probably think that phone companies would try to make it as quick and easy to transfer your 800 number and become their customer as possible, but unfortunately that isn’t the case. We’ve tried to speed up the transfer process, and have even studied the average 800 number transfer speeds of many phone companies.
Ironically they often want to blame us. That’s why I wrote this, to make it easier to respond to people that come to us acting like the excuses or requirements being thrown at them, by the people holding up the process, are valid. Acting like the excuses are valid doesn’t usually help but it usually just takes some communication to work it out and we’re happy to help in that regard. That’s why we say not to put yourself in the middle but to call us while they’re on with the phone if possible.
It’s kind of like the motor vehicle bureaucracy blaming their delay on FedEx, as if FedEx was the delay rather than their own bureaucracy. We’re small, efficient, accountable and reachable, which is the opposite of the resporg department at any big phone company. We don’t have anything at all against the resporg departments at any phone company. We try to maintain and develop good relationships with all of the Resporgs, because many of them send people to us or they may have numbers that our customers are begging and pleading for too.
The bottom line is that we’ll definitely do whatever we can to help transfer your 800 number as quickly as possible and work with the new company, but we can’t release it to them until they’re ready or it or it’s not going to work anyway. But we will release your 1-800 number the same day or even in real time if the new carrier calls us with your information and is ready for it.
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Bill Quimby (249 comments.) says:
June 13, 2008 at 12:35 am
We got an email today from Virtual PBX by way of one our customers that lead to the following conversation which although long I thought illustrated both the type of knee jerk blaming that not just this company but many companies tend to do quite often, as well as how quickly we release things which was the point of this post.
This is from technical support at Virtual PBX:
Thanks for your email. Unfortunately, despite what the phone representative from tollfreenumbers.com has told you, the number has not yet ported. As was described to you in an email from our Sales team on May 16, the porting process typically takes between 2-4 weeks. The porting of numbers from tollfreenumbers.com are typically on the shorter side of that time window, but even so, we received your signed LOA only last week.
Most likely, tollfreenumbers.com has authorized the
release of the number for porting, but that does not mean it has ported. The rest of the process must be performed by our toll-free carrier, Qwest Communications. We expect to receive an update from them soon regarding the status of your request, and we will update you when we receive further information.
The reason your number is no longer working is likely because the 30 day call-forwarding service they offered you has expired. VirtualPBX is not handling the incoming call traffic to that number yet, so we cannot resolve this for you. Because the process can take up to a month to complete, it is not recommended to publish the number in any kind of advertising before it is ported in the event of delays or rejection. You may be able to contact tollfreenumbers.com and request an extension on the call-forwarding.
Rita’s reply:
Please review the below history showing it was ported from QZA01 which is us TollFreeNumbers.com and ported it to LGT01, who is Qwest, VirtualPBX’s underlying carrier. Perhaps the communication between Qwest and VirtualPBX is the issue here. Therefore the information I provided to the customer is indeed accurate.
I already contacted Qwest to let them know the number is not working and was ported on 6/10/08. You will see attached the request. The customer signed the RespOrg form with VirtualPBX on 6/2/08, it looks like it was submitted to Qwest by VirtualPBX on 6/9/08 and we rec’d the request from Qwest on 6/10/08 2:49pm(EST) and it was ported on 6/10/08 at 2:51pm(CST). So it took us 1 hour and 2 minutes to respond to the port request.
Based on the below history you will see the information me "despite what the phone representative from tollfreenumbers.com has told you" Review the history and you will see I provided the customer accurate information.
History
for 877-377-4342
Change Date
Status
Status Change Date
RespOrg
Prev RO
Login ID
Download Date
06/10/2008 15:51:16
WORKING
05/16/2008 12:24:17
LGT01
QZA01
QZA01RBT
06/11/2008 00:01:00
05/16/2008 12:24:17
WORKING
05/16/2008 12:24:17
QZA01
ART01000
05/17/2008 00:01:00
05/16/2008 12:24:14
ASSIGNE
05/16/2008 12:24:14
QZA01
ART01000
05/17/2008 00:01:00
05/16/2008 12:24:10
RESERVE
05/16/2008 12:24:10
QZA01
ART01000
05/17/2008 00:01:00
Thank you and I hope that Qwest and VirtualPBX can figure resolve this in a timely fashion.
They then said we were being defensive and Rita pointed out that she had contacted Qwest already which was what it took to resolve this and she sent the list of numbers released to Virtual PBX within the past month
Below please see the numbers over the past month that have been setup with VirtualPBX. You will note that from the time the customer signs the RespOrg change form and when we received it from Qwest and the date I ported the number since I do all the Port Requests. You will see the delay is between VirtualPBX and Qwest review the below list of numbers we ported this past month. Every number is ported the same day we are requested.
RespOrg
Carrier
Number
Date
Signed
Date
Received
Date
Released
LGT01
VirtualPBX/Qwest
877-742-3847
4/23/08
5/12/08
5/12/08
LGT01
VirtualPBX/Qwest
888-773-2767
5/1/08
5/13/08
5/13/08
LGT01
VirtualPBX/Qwest
866-967-1234
4/23/08
5/15/08
5/15/08
LGT01
VirtualPBX/Qwest
877-665-9572
5/8/08
5/15/08
5/15/08
LGT01
VirtualPBX/Qwest
888-576-6738
5/8/08
5/15/08
5/15/08
LGT01
VirtualPBX/Qwest
877-672-8369
4/27/08
5/19/08
5/19/08
LGT01
VirtualPBX/Qwest
877-696-8259
5/15/08
5/19/08
5/19/08
LGT01
VirtualPBX/Qwest
888-568-8252
5/15/08
5/20/08
5/20/08
LGT01
VirtualPBX/Qwest
877-326-6577
5/20/08
5/22/08
5/22/08
LGT01
VirtualPBX/Qwest
877-726-9675
5/19/08
5/27/08
5/27/08
LGT01
VirtualPBX/Qwest
888-900-9445
5/12/08
5/28/08
5/28/08
LGT01
VirtualPBX/Qwest
888-767-6478
5/12/08
5/28/08
5/28/08
LGT01
VirtualPBX/Qwest
800-686-9070
5/21/08
5/29/08
5/29/08
LGT01
VirtualPBX/Qwest
888-400-2726
5/27/08
6/6/08
6/6/08
LGT01
VirtualPBX/Qwest
877-533-4255
5/23/08
6/6/08
6/6/08
LGT01
VirtualPBX/Qwest
877-377-4342
6/2/08
6/10/08
6/10/08
LGT01
VirtualPBX/Qwest
888-619-5278
5/30/08
6/10/08
6/10/08
Phone companies give worst case scenarios at TollFreeNumbers.com says:
June 19, 2008 at 9:02 am
[…] We want to get rid of our customers! (1) […]
Don’t drop the ball on your 800 number transfer at TollFreeNumbers.com says:
July 31, 2008 at 8:01 am
[…] We want to get rid of our customers! (2) […]
Bill Quimby (249 comments.) says:
August 24, 2008 at 4:11 pm
I wanted to add one more thing to this. Virtual PBX is one of the enhanced voicemail services we recommend quite a few people to and use ourself right now as well.
Since this was written they’ve started their own resporg so they have better control over the transfer process and they’re going through quicker and more smoothly lately.
VrtualPBX.com provides a very good service and we’ve been happy with them in our business and had overall positive feedback on them from customers we’ve sent there.
Bill