Forum Discussion

Gillyr's avatar
Gillyr
Joining in
19 days ago
Solved

Home phone number not ported over, despite phone calls and chat conversations!

Hi, my dad passed away in October last year. He had been a Virgin customer since before Virgin took it over.  I set my mother up with a new Virgin account, in order that she could get the new customer discount, as dad was paying a fortune. You would think this was a straightforward switch...

After much confusion with the connection dates, which is a saga in itself, the engineer eventually came out to fit all her new equipment on 8th January 2024. he was lovely and set everything up for her. However, he was unable to port her phone number over for her. Although he tried he was told that I had to request this via Customer Services. I did this the same day and was told that it wasn't a problem and would be done within 48-72 hours. Great, I thought!  However, we are now over 2 weeks post that date and my mum is still stuck with a temporary number.

I've chased this up several times via the "Chat" function (it's not always convenient to call, as I work full time and wait times are ridiculously long). Each time I've been on the Chat, I've been told that it's in hand and will definitely switch over.

Yesterday I chased this again and was told that they couldn't port the old number because it was inactive! It is only inactive because Virgin switched it off, with a promise of reinstating it within 72 hours!

What is going on and how can I get this resolved so my mother can have back the phone number she's had for 30 years?!  It's distressing enough dealing with my dad's estate, grieving, and looking after my mother without all this added stress caused by Virgin Media!

 

  • Hi Gillyr

    I'm very sorry to hear about your dad's passing and for the issues you're having with the landline number. We appreciate it must already be a very difficult time for you and your mother.

    Depending on how the new account was set up may depend on whether we'd be able to 'port' the number over. If the account was simply switched into your mother's name, the telephone number should have stayed the same. If you chose to create a new account for your mother, we wouldn't be able to bring the number over.

    I'd really like to help and see what I can do. I've sent you a private message so I can take the details and look into this for you.

  • Just to say - we're all sorted now and Mum has her old phone number back again thanks to Beth!

  • nodrogd's avatar
    nodrogd
    Very Insightful Person

    The number porting facility was created by OFCOM solely for moving a number that a customer has from one telco provider to another when switching. The facility is not & never has been for moving from one account to another.

    Number transfers are allowed if you take over an existing account. But if you close an account & create a new one in a different name, you have no physical right to the number attached to it.

  • Beth

    I'm trying to reply to your last PM, but apparently I've reached the maximum amount of messages I'm allowed to send!

    Do you want to give me a ring? My mobile number is on the account

    • Winelist's avatar
      Winelist
      Tuning in

      The forum team people can’t call you, they are ‘online’ only, alas nobody is going to call you.

      As I understand it, as as Beth eluded to above, despite what you had been told; and this might be down to the people simply not knowing, or possibly deliberate lying to get you off the phone; there simply is no mechanism for VM to transfer (not port, that’s a different thing entirely) an existing number from one VM account  to another.

      Since you set up a new account for your Mum, from their perspective, she is a new customer with no connection whatsoever with your late father’s account.

      I’m sorry but you have been misinformed, the old number is gone and won't be coming back. The ‘temporary number’ isn’t temporary at all, it is now the permanent number.

  • Hi Beth,

    I've replied to your message with the details you requested. 

    We created a new account for my mother, so she could qualify for the new customer offers. However, we were told (and have been told several times since) that she would be able to transfer the phone number over to her new account.

  • Hi Gillyr

    I'm very sorry to hear about your dad's passing and for the issues you're having with the landline number. We appreciate it must already be a very difficult time for you and your mother.

    Depending on how the new account was set up may depend on whether we'd be able to 'port' the number over. If the account was simply switched into your mother's name, the telephone number should have stayed the same. If you chose to create a new account for your mother, we wouldn't be able to bring the number over.

    I'd really like to help and see what I can do. I've sent you a private message so I can take the details and look into this for you.