MJB8949@ritvax.bitnet (Nutsy Fagen) (02/22/90)
Several months ago, I ordered an MCI calling card in relation to a frequent-flyer promotion. Since I am a college student, I wanted a calling card ONLY, preferably with no link to my parent's real phone. (Like my imaginary 677-xxx-xxxx ATT calling card). This simple request, however, blew away at least three MCI operators, as well as got me bounced around several times before I gave in and relinquished my parent's number 'for reference purposes only'. When the card came, sure enough, it was my home phone number with a PIN thrown on. It also had my name spelled wrong :) A quick call to MCI corrected the name problem, although I neglected to mention that I wanted an imaginary card. However, when my new cards came, one was based on the real number, and the other was completely new, based (I assume) on an imaginary 335-458-xxxx number. An interesting note is that my home phone number is 315-458-yyyy. Further, I called MCI back and requested they cancel the 'real number' based card (based on recent horror stories of them automatically switching unsuspecting victims over). I will be sure to have my father check his next few bills, just to be safe. Mike
dattier@chinet.chi.il.us (David Tamkin) (02/24/90)
Nutsy Fagen wrote in TELECOM Digest, Volume 10, Issue 122: | When the card came, sure enough, it was my home phone number with a | PIN thrown on. It also had my name spelled wrong :) When I ordered a card from MCI, they miraculously got my name right (the fruit list helps) but also based the card number on my home number. It was 1989, for Cthulhu's sake, and it hadn't occurred to me that any carrier would still be doing such a stupid thing. I phoned back and ordered what U S Sprint had once called "a scrambled PIN." | However, when my new | cards came, one was based on the real number, and the other was | completely new, based (I assume) on an imaginary 335-458-xxxx number. | An interesting note is that my home phone number is 315-458-yyyy. A *very* interesting note! My home number is in area code 312, and the scrambled number MCI sent me begins 332 plus my home prefix! David Tamkin PO Box 813 Rosemont IL 60018-0813 708-518-6769 312-693-0591 dattier@chinet.chi.il.us BIX: dattier GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN CIS: 73720,1570
gutierre@nsipo.arc.nasa.gov (Robert Gutierrez) (02/26/90)
MJB8949@ritvax.bitnet (Nutsy Fagen) writes: > Several months ago, I ordered an MCI calling card in relation to a > frequent-flyer promotion. Since I am a college student, I wanted a > calling card ONLY, preferably with no link to my parent's real phone. > (Like my imaginary 677-xxx-xxxx ATT calling card). > This simple request, however, blew away at least three MCI operators, > as well as got me bounced around several times before I gave in and > relinquished my parent's number 'for reference purposes only'. This type of account with MCI is called a "Stand Alone Card Account", which might help anybody else who gets one from MCI in the future. The problem is they need to verify anybody who gets one. MCI use to set up such accounts about 2-3 years ago to just *anybody* who called in, and usually took about 30 seconds of typing into the computer to do. Needless to say, this was found out in the 'phraker' community, and after they took a good 3 month beating, went to verification. The last time I was at Customer Service, the verification was either a phone in your name (verified by CNA) or a relative's phone in their name. Also, no P.O. box only accounts allowed, you had to provide a street address. > When the card came, sure enough, it was my home phone number with a > PIN thrown on. It also had my name spelled wrong :) Looks like you didn't have your own phone # to provide them, and MCI's computer (called OCIS [pronounced OH-sys] - "On Line Information System", a CICS application running under MVS) needs a phone number to attach to an account. No way to open an account in OCIS unless a phone number is typed in. Also, OCIS *always* assigns the phone number as the first card, but uses the XXX-NXX-XXXX-???? combo for subsequent cards. Also, a lot of CSR's get mixed up when you ask for additional cards, since you can type in the number of duplicates for an existing card or a number of new cards. (Somebody typed in 10 new cards and 10 copies once, and the customer got a box of 100 MCI cards one day....). > A quick call to MCI corrected the name problem, although I neglected > to mention that I wanted an imaginary card. However, when my new > cards came, one was based on the real number, and the other was > completely new, based (I assume) on an imaginary 335-458-xxxx number. > An interesting note is that my home phone number is 315-458-yyyy. There is a phone number in San Luis Obispo (California) that is an OPX (Off Premise eXtension) for the Army, which had over 100 accounts based on that phone number. How far off was the OPX.....try Guam! > I will be sure to have my father check his next few bills, just to be safe. Depends how new the CSR is. Usually he/she has only been there about a week or so. P.S.: Don't call on Holloween to Customer Service in California and expect an answer fast.......The office is in San Francisco, and you all know Holloween is a National Holiday in San Francisco. Especially in MCI's Customer Service center there........ Robert Gutierrez NASA Science Internet Network Operations Moffett Feild, California. ".....and you know the public's perception of the phone company.... We're the most hated people around." Pat Harrington, "The Presidents Analyst"