talk talk stole number

hi all. asking on behalf of my neighbour who is moving to another house within the same exchange area and hoped to keep her number, which she has had for 20 odd years and uses for her business but the person who is buying her house has been in touch with talk talk and has "stolen " the old number and now TT wont release it back to the original customer.
this means my neighbour will now have to have new business cards etc printed and will risk her long standing customers going elsewhere if they cant get through on the old number.
this doesnt seem right to me. can the forumites suggest a remedy?

forgot to add this phone line is also her BB

Edited by threelegs (Wed 03-Mar-21 19:45:14)

The simple answer is that the directory number doesn’t ‘belong’ to neighbour.

but she didnt authorise TT to take it and give it to the new owner

Has she moved? Has she TT she is cancelling or just moving.

And also a solicitors letter to the purchasers solicitor to confirm "that for avoidance of doubt, the sale contract does not include the transfer of any rights to phone or broadband".

Then also inform TT that she is planning to transfer her service and contract to the new property on a specific date.

If she has moved she could ask the new owner if they would be kind enough to let her keep the number.

I note you say moving, so it hasn't happened yet? have they exchanged contracts yet? if not then its still her number and she can try one or both of the following

1) Do a VOIP transfer to say Sipgate (knowing that it would cease the line/broadband)
2) Speaking to her conveyancing solicitor to see what they can do from their side if the first option fails.

Edited by deleted (Wed 03-Mar-21 22:24:46)

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

The simple answer is that the directory number doesn’t ‘belong’ to neighbour.

A little harsh considering OP was looking for ways to help their neighbour.

Edited by deleted (Wed 03-Mar-21 22:31:10)

Don't forget there are differing rules for residential and business. The OP mentioned business cards, stationary &c, so that suggest a business and as such there is some protection.

In reply to a post by threelegs:

but she didnt authorise TT to take it and give it to the new owner

None of this makes much sense - why would the new owner want the previous owners actual landline number - a number associated with what presumably is associated with a 20+ year old business at that...?

Again TT can't just give away the number, unless of course the neighbour has cancelled the service or it was novated to the purchaser (perhaps by mistake)

Why doesn't the neighbour call up the purchaser (or get their conveyancing solicitor to get in touch with the other side) to clarify that the number isn't part of the deal and neighbour wants to retain it?

This might simply be a lack of procedure.

Some years ago, I knew someone who worked for Talktalk - quite senior actually. Obviously his phone and broadband was on Talktalk. He was moving house within the same exchange area, and for various reasons needed to keep his old phone number.

However, Talktalk simply did not have a business process to enable this. Presumably, house moves within same exchange area were not common enough to warrant the development cost. If he had moved house while still on Talktalk, he would have lost his old number and got a new one allocated.

The end result? He had to transfer his line to BT first, move to the new house (taking number with him), wait 12 months, and then transfer back to Talktalk.

He was lucky enough to have researched and planned all this before the move. If the OP's move has already taken place, it's probably too late to recover the number now.

That's not what their FAQ on house moves within the same exchange area says....

https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Articles/Home-mo...

"Keeping your phone number?

Yes, if you’re moving within the same telephone exchange area then it may be possible to take your current phone number. You may not be able to transfer your number if you are moving outside of your local exchange area. If you move to another exchange, you’ll be given a new number. We'll let you know if you can keep your number when you book your move with us."

That's good then. Things have obviously moved on - the experience I reported was quite a few years ago.

The moral then is, make sure you get any such assurances in writing.

Stole..... Bit strong.

Best to use a mobile number as a move to a different area would cause a different number anyway.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

That's good then. Things have obviously moved on - the experience I reported was quite a few years ago.

The moral then is, make sure you get any such assurances in writing.

Yes with respect to the OP the story is all hearsay. Perhaps only has a version of actual events, unless he is privy to all the details of his neighbours property sale/purchase agreement and his neighbours conversation/correspondence with Talktalk. Without knowledge of who / what was requested of Talktalk or indeed what was agreed as part of the purchase/sale agreement of the property....tis difficult to draw a conclusion of events or for that matter try and help.

Taktalk claim its technically possible to keep the phone number in a property move in the same change area, presumably as long as you make that clear and get it confirmed in writing.

Quite how another third party - albeit the purchaser of the property - can assume the number without the original subscriber giving it up first through cancellation is a bit of a mystery (to me anyway). Devil is in the detail.