Have you asked "what would happen if"?

Or how about order just on the phone number?

OpenReach CEO. Why not tell him what a shower he runs?

[email protected]

I don't believe that Openreach are responsible for my sister's predicament, but thanks anyway.

In reply to a post by hk11:

Have you asked "what would happen if"?

Or how about order just on the phone number?

Every provider I speak to (or deal with online) tells me there's no BT line for that phone number, that's part of the problem. When we delve further and they do an address search, the phone number is shown as active at the house down the road.

I've asked "what would happen if" lots of times - a new number at my sister's house would involve extra payment upfront as already stated, and no-one (quite understandably) is willing to take on the existing number, because it's shown as belonging to someone else's property.

In reply to a post by chipperson:

Every provider I speak to (or deal with online) tells me there's no BT line for that phone number,

So who does the number belong to?

In reply to a post by chipperson:

it's shown as belonging to someone else's property.

Can they order for your sister then?

That can happen if the number has come from a pool of numbers that was never a BT block, e.g. are from a LLU provider, so the other providers don't recognise the number, but a migration and number port should be possible.

Or last BT record was at the previous address and Fuel or their provider never updated the records, Fuel are the people can verify your identity and access to the number thus are the ones who should be resolving the database issue. The fact they did things like refer you to Ofcom incorrectly suggests they have no clue and you should submit a complaint to Ofcom about actions that are impeding a migration.

You're quite right about the LLU. If only the address was her own she could have migrated and ported the number without any trouble.

I submitted a formal complaint to Ofcom yesterday, and once sister has migrated I'll be seeking compensation from Fuel.

Hi, I'm back, with a quick post to say that this affair is now sorted.

Fuel Broadband got Openreach to update the address on my sister's line, and she migrated from them in November last year. I went to the Ombudsman, and got a letter of apology and £60 a few weeks ago. Better than nothing, I suppose. The apology might as well have been written in crayon, apparently "mistakes are unavoidable". The payment was even late due to the relevant person being on holiday. But hey ho, 60 quid is 60 quid.

As everyone but Fuel Broadband knew, it's not the end user's job to deal with Openreach. Even a director at Fuel got it wrong (wish I'd asked which director it was). So the company were "doing [me] a favour" to quote one rude woman I spoke to. I did ask for copies of the Ofcom guidance which Fuel referred to as saying it was my job, but I never got it. Surprising, I know.

Coupled with general bad customer service, missing callbacks etc, data protection issues (random mobile numbers being added to sister's file), I'm very glad it's done and dusted.

Thanks to MrSaffron, Ignitionnet, and Apprentice for the good advice.