Telephone number porting

[Anonymous User]

I'm far from happy about my new connection to NOW TV. You have lost my original telephone number and given me a new one with absolutely no notice that this would happen! The old number had been in existance for years and so is on my business cards, friends contacts etc etc etc and in one swoop you have lost it.

The person I spoke to on CHAT today was far from helpful and pretty much said I had to reorder the package and hope they could get the old number back but they said it was unlikely.

Not a great start with NOW, is it! Surely you can get the number back or is it quite simply, that you cannot be bothered to attempt to do so????!!!

[Andy]

@Anonymous User Welcome to the community. If you've only spoken to the live chat I'd suggest giving them a call instead, might be easier to talk to them. You can find the telephone number for the Broadband Team by going to your My Account > My Package page

https://account.nowtv.com/my-package

and click the Moving Home section.

However if you've already been allocated a new number I'd guess your old number is back in the pool now, so not sure how good you're chances are. 

[Anonymous User]

Absolutely hopeless. Just called them and they said that numbers cannot be ported over?! They said it would have been in the email that I received from them - IT WASN'T.

Great start to NOW Broadband and Telephone!!!

I shall be leaving ASAP if this is the kind of customer service I can look forward to!

[Anonymous User]

I still fail to see how they cannot port the number over. Surely this can't be happening to everybody?! Surely most people want to keep their current telephone number when moving to NOW?

[Anonymous User]

Did you cancel with your previous provider before you signed up with now tv?

[Anonymous User]

The telephone line was disconnected by the previous owners.

[Anonymous User]

In your original post you say

"The old number had been in existance for years and so is on my business cards, friends contacts etc etc etc and in one swoop you have lost it."

Then you say the telephone line was disconnected by previous owners ?????  Yo say in a comment above that you only had the number a week before reconnecting with NOW hmmmm strange ..sounds like you need to get your story straight. Probably why NoW aren't bothering lol

[Bellringer]

I was asked when applying did I want to keep my landline number.  I replied YES.

No info with connection of BB. Just dialled 17070 and I have  new number. 

Any chance I can get my old number back. 

[gavs82008]

@Bellringer 

Give the broadband team a call to see if it’s possible. 
Number in my signature below.

[chilli2]

[quote]"

I was asked when applying did I want to keep my landline number. I replied YES.

No info with connection of BB. Just dialled 17070 and I have new number.

Any chance I can get my old number back."[/quote]

Did you sign up online, or via the phone?

 I recently moved and kept the landline number, however the online sign up isnt that well laid out or executed , as not only do you have to say Yes to keeping the landline number , you also need to put the landline number into a not all that obvious box amongst all the other stuff on the sign up page .

 It should be made more obvious with  a warning if its not been completed correctly .

So Yes, you need to tick the box AND enter the number

and Yes its rubbish, and people will keep on falling over on this until its fixed.

If you signed up on the phone it could be possible that the agent made the same mistake, as the design is rubbish

[Anonymous User]

This has just happened to me even though I requested to keep my old number, I did not even receive any new number, it only came to light when I made a phone call to someone with caller id whom informed me I had a different number, this was on the second day of going live.  Keep all online transcripts, take your complaint to Ofcom and the relevant ombudsman, these companies need to be held accountable for such poor service.  The hassle of changing numbers is so crazy and it's also things like having to buy new dogs tags, I have a terminally ill mother-in-law all the doctors, carers etc have our old number it absolutley disgusting that this has happened.  Don't listen to what employers of this company tell you, they informed me that a number can only be changed a number of times, absolute rubbish.  I'm taking my complaint all the way, the more people that do, will make these companies start providing a proper decent service that you sign up for.

[Anonymous User]

I had the opposite experience when I switched last month. I asked for my old number to be ported. While waiting for switch-over date, NowTV informed me that there was a problem with the order because my number could not be ported  so it would be changed to ...... the old number. 

@Anonymous User I'm trying to understand the sequence of events. You stated that the previous occupants had disconnected the line.  Does that mean that you switched to Now at the same time that you moved house? If so how was that arranged? It is probably safest to do it sequentially, e.g. change provider, porting the number within the old property, and then moving it to the new. Or stick with the old provider during the move and change provider later. If you disconnect one property with one provider, and then  connect another with a different provider and expect your number to be ported..... Well that is just asking for things to go wrong, and the chances are that your number got put back into the pool. If so time is of the essence - once its be reallocated you won't get it back. Have you tried calling your old number to see if it's back in use?

[Anonymous User]

Hi. The previous occupants had the line disconnected. I then had it reconnected about a week later to go with NOW Broadband. I've tried calling the number and it's a number not recognised message. TBH, it's more that I wasn't told that this would happen that annoys me. 

I was thinking of changing my parents over to NOW Broadband but they have had the same telephone number for over 40 years and so I cannot take the risk that NOW will mess this one up too.

[Anonymous User]

Hi 

I had the same problem, just going through their complaints process and will be taking it up with CISAS, I know I requested to keep the number, they are saying that I did not, not one person has mentioned that a SMS was sent to me containing a new number, I have received no text message at all from NowTV, why would I lie?  If I did I would have asked why was I receiving a new number.  What reasons did they give you greencode1?

It seems strange that I was told by NowTV employee that he could see that no email with the number was sent out, yet at this time why did he not advise that an SMS was sent out?  

How can a consumer prove that I requested and added my number to be ported, and how can I prove that no SMS was ever received, I feel this is where a consumer is let down by the system.  I have even been told that on two occassions I the visitor left the online chat, yet it was their system cutting me off.

I also find it hard to believe, that a company owned by Sky can not retrive a number yet even the smaller companies can, is it because they can not be bothered or will it cost them? 

[Anonymous User]

Exactly the same with us.  We will also be taking it all the way

[Anonymous User]

Is there any way you can get your old number back , i changed and didn't even know they had changed the number , why don't they make you aware of your new number in any communication ? I didn't even know it, really poor .

[Anonymous User]

After looking on the internet this is quite a problem and I really believe that NowTV don’t want you to keep your old number because it’s easier for them to give you an old one , I have been in touch with them today and they insisted that I forgot to tick the box , but did admit they never sent me my new number ?? Why would you not send the new number to a customer it’s all very suspicious, my advice is stay clear of this company spent all day informing banks contacts of my new number after losing my previous number which I had with several suppliers who all managed to keep my number when I moved , it’s not very good at all from NowTV .

[Anonymous User]

I am moving house and am transferring my Now broadband to my new home.   Even though I am not changing my service provider Now still say they cannot port my old number to my new home even though it is only a quarter of a mile away.   Sky, who Now is part of will port numbers.  Is it that they can't be bothered?   They can do it if they want to.  

[Anonymous User]

Just had the same thing happen to me.  I specifically said that I needed to keep my old number when switching from Virgin.  No notification, found out when people said they could not get through to me.  Checked my outgoing number and found it had been changed.  Spoke to the support team on the phone to be told it was too late and the number has been lost!  What can I do in this situation?

[Anonymous User]

Still happening in June 2020. Very unhelpful 'support' so far. Number porting is not rocket science. Awaiting callback.

[Anonymous User]

August 2020 update- after no callback and more calls where reps were unable to help me i have got my old number back with another provider and very happy to have escaped NowTV. They do not have a process for retrieving your old number once they have lost it. You are not told this. They will say all kinds of rubbish. Fact is most numbers revert to BT as range holder for 3 months after you switch providers. I have switched to a firm who were able to restore the number which NowTV had no process for this and were therefore unable to do this.

The technical terminology is fairly straightforward:

The provisioning team in Now TV (who administer new line setups) should be aware of their porting agreement with range holders. These details are lost on the NowTV technical reps, who have in place a 'can't do and don't do' approach to porting. Other providers are not like this! 

So, switch to another provider within the first month and incur no fees. Other providers are easily found and it does't have to be an expensive BT option!

Goodbye Now Tv broadband, goodbye headaches! And hello Old number!!!