I joined Virgin Media (VM) in late September 2020 on assurance I would be able to keep my old landline telephone number (my family have had this number for over 20 years). It is very important to my family (especially my elderly mother) to keep this number as it is the only way many friends and family in Bangladesh can contact us.
VM initially had informed me my number was to be ported over from Sky on 12th October 2020. I found this had not happened so called VM on 13th October 2020. VM informed me it had been rescheduled for 15th October 2020 and assured me would be transferred on this date. *Taking VM on its word, I allowed the cooling off period to lapse and thought I did not have to worry about it.
Just over a week later, my mother mentioned she had noticed the phone had still not transferred so I called VM (on 24th October, then 27th and 28th October 2020). The VM staff were trying to be helpful but passed me around quite a few departments and ultimately said they were unsure why porting had not been completed. They said it might be Sky is refusing to release the number, or more likely VM staff had not filled in paperwork correctly. One VM staff mentioned it would now be a priority and trying to schedule for 2nd November 2020. Later VM staff said now scheduled for 12th November 2020.
On calling Sky, they said they were not stopping VM from porting number (nor could they). They confirmed they had received VM’s ‘unsolicited cease’ request on 28th September 2020. They also confirmed VM likely tried porting over number on 15th October 2020 but failed. They suspected this is because VM had not completed forms correctly. Note: as mentioned to VM staff on phone, https://www.syntec.co.uk/who-owns-my-number/ tells me my number is owned by Vodaphone Ltd (C&W) rather than BT, so could be the error VM are making on form.
VM staff said I needed to keep Sky line active (otherwise I would lose my old number). I mentioned to VM staff that I was unable to afford the extra expense of keeping Sky line active (out of contract charge is £43 per month) and pay for VM package out of my annual budget. I asked if I could freeze my VM package (i.e. not use, and so have to pay for, any VM services until porting issue resolved). The VM staff said this would not be possible and I would have to pay a cancellation fee (about £200) if did not continue to pay as contract as now over cooling off period. As I desperately want to keep my old phone number, I am in a frustrating Catch 22 situation. In addition, I have so far spent (mostly in waiting time) around 7 hours on the phone to VM and 2 hours to Sky trying to get this resolved.
Really hoping someone can help to find out 'why did the previous porting attempt failed?', 'what will VM be doing differently on next attempt to solve this?', and 'why there is such a long delay till able to port?'. Thank you.
