Jeff Tangen’s Wordpress

The support case number for my phone number being “slammed” is *****095 (same one as before).   The technical support person decided that I should get a month free of Vonage phone for my inconvenience.

I was connected over to a sales person who was going to set up new service, but needed a debit card or credit card to set up the account.   The card was needed for taxes and other items for the account.  I told him that I canceled my card and didn’t have debit or credit card.   He then insisted on me asking someone around me to “borrow” their card to make this “sale”.   My perception is that this sales person really really really really wanted a sale even if it was free.  I politely told him that I would wait for the resolution of my support tickets and thanked him for his time and hung up.   If I am going to get something that is “free”, it is free.   Not nickel and dime you.

I called the Sprint Wireline Fraud Management Department and of course, left a voice mail on their answering machine.   I am sure that I will get a call back.

I called the FCC Slamming (http://www.fcc.gov/slamming/) phone number.   But, the number would not go through.   Maybe my cell phone?   Maybe the number has been disconnected?

Sprint called me back and told me that even though it is on the Sprint network, the number belongs to Time Warner.

Called Time Warner and they are looking into how they were able to get the phone number.   The person that I talked to said that they shouldn’t have had access to the phone number until today.

The Time Warner person called me back and basically they requested the phone number from Vonage (because Time Warner had a new customer) and Vonage did approve (or did not deny) the number transfer.   What they should have done was deny the transfer because the number was already in service.

Finally recieved an email from Vonage:

From:    portout@vonage.com
Sent:    Tuesday, March 01, 2011 3:26 PM
To:    {my email address}
Subject:    [vonage.com #*****095] Regarding the recent transfer of 414-***-****

Dear Jeff Tangen,

In regards to the telephone number 414-***-****, our investigation found that we did receive a valid
request to transfer the number to another phone company. We honored the request because we are
obligated to do so.

If you have additional questions or if you wish to transfer your phone number back to Vonage and would
like assistance, please let us know and we will be happy to assist you.

Sincerely,
David
Vonage Port Out Department

Well, that is interesting.   They honored the phone number transfer request because they were obligated to do so.

Another flurry of phone calls to Sprint and Vonage.   Anything taken care of?

Well… with Vonage, I am suppose to receive an email from the phone number transfer department about my phone number being “slammed”.

Not much today, again.   Attempted to call Sprint Wireless and they said that they didn’t have my phone number.   Have to wait for tomorrow to call Sprint.

Vonage did tell me the person who the person was who has my phone number now.   I am sure that was something that they probably should not have done.

Not much on the Vonage issue today.

I did go my bank and canceled my debit card so that Vonage can not attempt any payments from that card going forward.

Recieved this email on Friday.

From:    The Vonage Team <donotreply@vonage.com>
Sent:    Friday, February 25, 2011 1:30 PM
To:   {my email address}
Subject:    Cancellation Confirmation

Vonage Account Number: {my account number}

Vonage Number(s): {my home phone number}

Cancellation Confirmation Number: {cancellation confirmation number}

Dear Jeff Tangen,

To view important information in Spanish regarding your Vonage account, please visit
http://espanol.vonage.com/emails/c. Para ver informacisn importante en espaqol sobre tu cuenta de
Vonage, visita el enlace anterior.

We’ve transferred your phone number(s) referenced above to another phone service provider as
requested.

Here are a few more important details to keep in mind:

o  Your cancellation is effective February 25, 2011.
You will no longer be able to make or receive calls using your Vonage service.
This includes 911 calls; please remember in the event of an emergency,
911 dialing from your Vonage phone will no longer work and you will not be
able to make a 911 call unless you have another form of telephone service.
o  You’ll continue to have access to the account details in your online account
for 90 days from February 25, 2011.

Charges for any overages, payphone calls to Vonage toll free numbers, and out of plan international calls
or any other features and services outside your plan are separately emailed, billed and charged to your
payment method within seven (7) days after cancellation.

Isn’t this a nice email.  Of course, let’s make this crystal clear.   I never canceled my Vonage service.   Let’s make something else clear.  I never authorized a transfer of my phone number to Sprint.

So, I called Vonage again and got another support case opened up.   The support case number is *****095.  This person was going to escalate this to a manager and I would be contacted in 24 to 48 hours.

Well… I decided to call Vonage again in the evening and basically gave the person both of the ticket numbers and that person was reading off the script.   I went off on her and ended up with her supervisor.  After I made it clear to the supervisor on what was going on, the supervisor told me that the “off line group” (or something like that) had to do research on this issue and that I would hear something back in 3-5 business days.

3-5 business days?  Are they serious?   I could not have my home phone number for at least 8 days.   Really.   8 days.

The email talks about charging my card for any outstanding charges.  So, tomorrow, I am off to the bank (or call them) and authorize them to deny any Vonage payment attempts.

For a little bit of history, I had my home phone number ported over from Time Warner to Vonage.

From:    donotreply@vonage.com
Sent:    Monday, September 27, 2010 1:16 PM
To:   {my email address}
Subject:    {my home phone number} Is Now Your Vonage Phone Number

Congratulations!  Your existing phone number {my home phone number} has been transferred to Vonage, the
award winning Internet phone company.

As you can see, the phone number was successfully ported over… so I thought…

On Thursday night, I made my normal phone calls – to my kids and to Lisa.   When I talked to Lisa, she said that the caller ID came up as someone else, not my name.   Upon further review, it was some Michelle something er nuther…  My mom ended up attempting to call me around the same time and talked to Michelle and she told my mom that she just got the phone number the day before.

Called Vonage and opened up a support ticket with them.   The support ticket number is *****443.   The person that I talked to said that the port may not have came over successful.   With some initial troubleshooting on his end, he found out that the phone number was now on Sprint.   He said that he would have to escalate it to an engineer and someone would be getting a hold of me in 24 to 48 hours.