macy@cwjcc.ins.cwru.edu (01/07/90)
In article <2611@accuvax.nwu.edu>: >X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 7, message 1 of 10 ...discussion of wrong numbers on 800 lines and effects thereof.... >Late word: One of the last callers, after questioning, has informed me >that *my* number is listed as Hilton reservations in their local >phonebook. I'm going to get a copy of that book. If this is true, I am >really going to be unhappy paying $30 because of a Pac*Bell mistake. >And who do we refer *my* old number to, Hilton or me? We had a similar problem which still haunts me to this day...we have had to refer the whole thing to the attorney, in fact. When the OCC's were first starting up 800 numbers, I worked with my local MCI rep and F M Systems was assigned (800) 727-3000... (real close to 723-3000, which we have had for almost 20 years as out local number...a story in itself)...and I was real proud of myself 'cause good 800's are hard to get. Of course no good deed goes unpunished. And almost immediatly we began to get "strange" phone calls. On answering the 800 line, our receptionist would get people (always a male voice) with requests like: "I'd like a blonde" and "I want someone who likes to play..." and worse. This went on for weeks. On most days we would get three to five times as many "odd" calls as legitmate calls. The "odd" callers would be strangely unresponsive and even rude if you asked questions about where they got the number and why they were calling. I contacted MCI and requested assistance in this...they were no help. I called a friend at MCI (informally) and asked him to help...he ran a few checks and told me the calls were from all over the country, but mainly from a few major cities (we have most of our customers in Northern Ohio), so this was a little bit of help. We now knew that we were not being "pranked" by one person. One day my receptionist got one of the callers to give him the number he was calling by acting like an intercept operator (she was getting very tired of this by now, too). Turns out that the number was (800) 727-3300. I called this number and asked a few questions...what I got was basically an answering service that did not want to answer my questions...but the name of the service was Date-Line. Well, I was getting fed up with this, too. So I called the 3300 number back and used my best "intelligent, helpful telephone repairman" personality and then pointedly asked for a supervisor. I was given a local number in the 718 area code as a local business office number for Date-Line. After some further investigation (the details of which I will leave a an excerise for the student) here is what I found: The number (800) 727-3300 (note the one digit difference from (800) 727-3000) was being advertised in "Village Voice" and several "underground" newspapers as Date-Line, a dating service for those with "unusual" requirments. While I did not get into the exact details of the nature and working of Date-Line, I now knew what was happening and why...this was the next best thing to having my number one digit away from a sex line (or kinky pizza shop, I guess) At least I knew why the callers on these wrong numbers acted so strangely. And why they had made several specific suggestions to my receptionist. About this time Ruth, our receptionist, had ceased to see the humor and educational value in all this...probably brought on by the male caller who responded to Ruth's polite greeting with a husky "I'm wearing panty hose..." Ruth's reply was a rather brusque "Well, so am I!" and she slammed down the phone...and screamed. Well, I had talked to MCI about this three or four times. They did not even have the courtesy to suggest changing our number (much less doing anything to Date-Line) until I called to drop the service....All my accounts with them, as matter of fact. I contended they had an obligation to me to assist...they should not assign heavily advertised, much less sexually oriented numbers adjacent to normal businesses. So, two years later, they still contend that I owe them several thousand dollars more than I paid (I paid one-third of the bill, probably much more than my actual business usage). They even agreed to settle with me on that amount at one point, and then sent the account to collection...a year later. Needless to say, they'll have to fight for it, especailly after agreeing to settle. I can tolerate mistakes, but not lies. This is another instance of a larger company using tariffs to shield itself from irresponsible behavior. Pity....until this, I had encouraged my customers to use MCI, because I thought they were more innovative and agressive and more service oriented than their competitors. Well, take note, and beware...we now advise our customers on several points about 800 numbers: - Do not commit to the number until it is installed and you have lived with it for a couple months. This is the only way to prevent this nonsense. - Get a reverse 800 listing from the carrier to see who your 800 neighbors are. I know the company who accidently got the number that was 800 F*CKYOU....I now use a program I wrote check the cute letter combinations that arise. - Place test calls from various cities regularly. Routing problems do occur... - Be prepared to eat wrong number charges. You will get neither credit nor sympathy from your carrier. - Ask for a "tough" number, not an easy one. You will have less problems. - Consider detailed billing service, which gives the oringinating numbers of the callers on the billings. Very helpful for tracking abuse and the marketing types love the demographics they can derive from this. - Always expect the bill to be bigger than you think... usage always rises on 800 numbers. It's the old WATS is free battle... Its a shame I could not post the audio log tapes of some of the calls we got...maybe we should sell them to Playboy Channel for one of their comedy shows. And there is no truth to the rumor that I had this number reassigned to John Higdon's or Dave Lesher's home phones...they are responisible for their own weird calls. :) Macy M. Hallock, Jr. macy@NCoast.ORG uunet!aablue!fmsystm!macy F M Systems, Inc. {uunet!backbone}!cwjcc.cwru.edu!ncoast!fmsystm!macy 150 Highland Drive Voice: +1 216 723-3000 Ext 251 Fax: +1 216 723-3223 Medina, Ohio 44256 USA Cleveland:273-3000 Akron:239-4994 (Dial 251 at tone) (Insert favorite disclaimer here) (What if I gave a .sig and nobody cared?)
John Higdon <john@bovine.ati.com> (01/08/90)
fmsystm!macy@cwjcc.ins.cwru.edu writes: > - Be prepared to eat wrong number charges. You will get > neither credit nor sympathy from your carrier. I feel fortunate in this instance. My AT&T 800 number (which is administered by Pac*Bell) has had it's share of wrong numbers and billing errors. I have had no trouble convincing Pac*Bell reps that I am fully aware of the amount and origin of legitimate traffic on the line and they have not hesitated to remove any and all charges that do not correspond to my known usage. BTW, the 800 number I *really* wanted was an MCI prefix. I gave it up because I wanted AT&T. After reading Macy's narrative, I'm glad I did. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !