Tracfone Lost family telephone number of over 55 years
I found out today that I lost a family telephone number I had ported from ATT to Tracfone.
History: Last October, I ported my landline telephone number, a number which had belonged to my family for over 60 years. I initially used Net10. I had no problem here with the service, even though it is a company under Tracfone. In August of this year, I ported this same number over to Tracfone because my phone usage changed and I it was cheaper with a triple minute phone than net10 provided.
I noticed yesterday that I missed 2 calls that are fowarded from my Google Telephone Number. I checked my google account and had the number checked. It seemed to have changed from ATT to Tmobile. I reset the phone and preceeded as if nothing else was wrong.
Today, I thought I would check to see if it worked to receive a call. I used my neighbors phone and found the number was for some reason set for outgoing calls only.
I went home and attemped to make a call: I got a recording that the service was suspended and offered me an option to reactive the phone. I had service on this Tracfone of over 1500 minutes and good until October 2014.
I called Tracphone and was fowarded to a manager. The manager said my number "Expired". She could not, or would not explain how an active number could just "Expire" for no reason.
I explained in a very stern fashion this phone is used for family emergencies and clients. I help an elderly neighbor and he would call my google voice number, which would foward to my cellphone. Lucky I had an extra active cellphone on my Google Voice account I can use for now
I was told they will preserve my account minutes of over 1500 minutes and my time, but only offered me 10 days for all the inconvenience this has caused.
The manager said she will send me a new sim card, then I can activate a new number as my old number is gone and cannot be retrieved.
I know that once my minutes are gone, I will wipe my hands of Tracfone for good.
The number lost belonged to my Aunt and Uncle at my address from the time they first got phone service back in the early 40's. Back then, the number only had 5 numbers.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Douglas Clark
Knoxville,Tennessee,
Sorry for confusion
#3Author of original report
Thu, September 19, 2013
First, I normally review my posting, but was very upset about this situation as it had just happened. I realize I made a mistake about the age. Those facts aside, A telephone number was lost my Tracfone or by ?. The origional number was assigned to my Aunt and Uncle at this address I curently reside in the early 40's. Sometime in the 60's the 5 didget telephone number changed to a 7 didget telephone number. So due to this situation, the age covers anywhere from the 1940's to the 1960's
Google voice allows you to assign several telephone's to one number. Once you set up the numbers within google voice, any time someone calls the google voice number it rings any or all of the telephone numbers you have assinged.
The number I lost was ported from ATT to a Cellphone and listed on Google Voice account. The Google Voice number has been set up as my primary VOIP home telephone number with the help of a device I purchased online. This has worked perfectly for my home phone.
Nitpicks aside, Tracfone, or some other enitity yanked my number off and now I have a phone with no service that worked 3 days ago. When the elderly neighbor calls my Google voice number, it rings my home phone and my cellphone. Because Tracfone or someone took my number when he called me when I was away from home, my home phone rings, but not my cellphone. On top of that, I take him to the Dr and this phone is used in case of an emergency while we are out. For atleast 3 days I have not had cellphone service. Due to the few or no calls I get each day, it took me some time to realize the cellphone was not working.
Robert
Irvine,California,
A little confused as to the actual RipOff..
#3Consumer Comment
Thu, September 19, 2013
First of all the age of this number seems to get older as you write your "RipOff". In the title it started at 55 Years, in the first couple of sentences it was 60 years, and by the end (if you do the math from the early 40's) you are approaching or over 70 years.
Next, even though your FAMILY number has been in use for years, you only use it Emergencies and Clients.
But then we get to your Elderly Neighbor, she doesn't even call that number she calls your Google Voice Number that forwards to ANY phone(which just happen to be the old number). So as near as I can see even though you had the number..the useage of it was minimal and easily changed.
As to how the phone number got lost. You really didn't explain how that happened. But one thing you did say was that you "reset" the phone. Just how did you reset it? Depending on what you did this "reset" may have been the actual thing that killed your number.