Virgin Media Community

[carolinek]

I was told my old landline number would be transferred within 10 days of joining Virgin. Nothing happened and I have tried numerous calls during which no-one can ever help - and often the call is over 30 mins. There is no way to email for help. I am surprised and disappointed this wasn't a smooth process. Please can you help as I have a hearing impairment and need my landline.

[Chris_W1]

Hi carolinek, thanks for the message. I am sorry to hear about the issues with the number port, can you confirm when you requested the port and confirm if the number is still active with the old supplier - a number would need to be active for a number port to be successful. ^Chris 

[carolinek]

I tried to ring the telephone number that I had previously which was supposed to transfer and it says the number isn't recognised. I don't know what else to do. Its very disappointing and should be fixed immediately please.

[Ashleigh_C]

I'm so sorry to hear that this has happened @carolinek! 

I order for the number to be ported across, we need to make sure that it is still active with the old provider. 

Are you able to call your former provider and ask them if the number is still active? 

Thank you.

[carolinek]

I agreed my contract with Virgin over the telephone and part of the package was that I would be able to transfer my old landline number, "no problem", on 16th April 2022. This never happened and I seem to have been assigned a new number. Please can you fix it as I work full time and cannot face more phone calls with Virgin agents who do not ever understand the issue, or are able to help.

[carolinek]

So I need to phone my previous provider and ask if the number is active. I see. Really smooth process this. And me making more phone calls. Not impressed but I can see that I will have to do this.

[Zach_R]

Hi @carolinek,

I appreciate that the situation is inconvenient and irritating, and I do apologise. However, as my colleagues have advised, in order to port a number to our network it would need to currently be active with your previous provider. We then send the request to them and they would then release it to us.

Please let us know how you get on with your conversation with them.

Thanks,
 

[carolinek]

I phoned my previous provider Plusnet who said that my old telephone number is still allocated but my account with them is closed. I closed my account with them on the last day of March 2022. Their agent said that Virgin should honour their commitment to transfer this old number and contact them to arrange this asap as the number will not stay allocated to me indefinitely - in fact usually its a 14 day period. Please therefore contact Plusnet and sort it out. It is not for me to chase them up further and there is nothing they can do. Virgin must do the number import as agreed.

[Ryan_N]

I can understand the frustration caused here but regardless of what the Plusnet agent has advised and what they think we should do - we can only advise and do of what we know how to and that is for the number to be active on the account - to port, both Operators  require certain technical details that are available when the number is active and we use this information and other details for security when porting across networks.

We advise that where a customer wants to port, they should always contact the new Provider and we will initiate the port request and cancel the telephone line on your behalf. Once the number has fully ported to us, you may contact the old provider to check and cancel any remaining services you may have with them. For more information, please see the Cease and Provide section following this Ofcom link - https://www.ofcom.org.uk/advice-for-businesses/switching/switching-landline

Cheers, 

Ryan.

[carolinek]

So - just to clarify - you are telling me I should have contacted you "the new provider" to ask for a transfer of my old number which I did when I signed up with Virgin  on the phone. Please check the telephone call which you should be able to do easily.  I did ask for my number to be transferred and the agent agreed that the number would be transferred on 17th March 2022. The Plusnet account was scheduled to then terminate on the last day of March 2022. I don't understand why this is difficult to understand as I have explained the issue clearly. I believe you failed to make the necessary arrangements and do not have the capacity to do this now and are choosing to assign the blame to me. If this is the case then it is a shockingly bad and underhand service.