Phone companies give worst case scenarios
When you ask a phone company how long it takes to transfer a toll free number, be prepared because they usually give the worst case scenario. Unless they ask what phone company it’s coming from, they are almost always giving you the worst case scenario for three reasons.
1. They don’t know how long the other company releasing it will take so they have to leave extra time for that since most companies take their time releasing numbers. (We are the only company trying to get rid of our customers as fast as possible)
2. If they tell a customer the “average” time it takes to transfer an 800 number, almost inevitably the customer comes back and raises hell if it goes over the average time. And by definition, half of the numbers will take longer than the average.
3. They have to cover their butt. They have much more incentive to down play a customer expectation and have learned either by their own experience or may even have been told to give the worst case scenario.
Their last resort if it takes longer than they said it would is usually just to blame the releasing company and claim the 800 transfer was rejected . In reality the person you’re talking to almost never knows why a number hasn’t been released yet. Everyone just blames the other company as their standard answer.
If you talk to a representative that says it was rejected ask the rep saying it was rejected WHO exactly rejected it, because you can call the person and find out for sure. If they dance around or refuse to email you the specifics of the rejection, you can tell it’s a canned answer. If they say they need a phone bill to transfer an 800 number, that’s basically another standard phone company excuse and only one level above the canned reject answer.
Offer to get them on the phone with the person who rejects and releases the numbers and they may suddeny bck down and offer to put it through again. If you can get them on the phone with us, we’ll certainly clear it up and even offer to release it on the spot if they can confirm that it’s been entered properly into their system and they’re ready for it. Offering to release it on the spot is he best way to prove you didn’t reject it without saying a word.
Just think about it. If you provided free service to someone, would you want to release their numbers quickly (and stop paying for their service) or would you want to drag your feet and keep providing the service for free? Even if the temporary service has already expired, it would be dumb for us to drag our feet (almost as dumb as transferring your number to a company that can’t or won’t process your request properly).
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CH (1 comments.) says:
June 20, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Yes Bill, I fit the poster child description for that last minute marketing campaign. What a rush to learn that your 800# published in thousands of marketing pieces isn’t going to work because of failing to take one little step…not reading all the excellent, and extremely valuable information that is emailed when you purchase your toll free number. After testing the number, I thought “great, I’m done.� WRONG. Bill, thank you for helping get the number working again. I’ve now read the material and have made the proper phone transfer.
Thanks for your help.