Landline port incomplete

[ColinD]

I transferred from TalkTalk to Vodafone on 20 February. Everything appeared to have gone perfectly. However, I discovered people on TalkTalk/Post Office and our son on Three could never reach us.

I have taken this up several times and wondered if anyone knew the magic words I need and who I need to speak to. The staff appear to be trying to help, but nothing is being achieved. I believe it is termed a Split Transfer and was probably caused by TalkTalk, but Ofcom say that Vodafone are responsible for its resolution.

Anyone know how common this is, and how it can be solved?

[ColinD]

Thanks for the offer. Bethany phoned today, so things are still ongoing.

My son phoned again to check the problem is still there-- it is!

Bethany promised to phone back again tomorrow with an update.

Very difficult to know where the right people within Vodafone are and how they tackle problems that are not routine and probably require action outside the company.

However, a phone that can NEVER be reached by some people is not a resolution and I presume not what was promised by OFCOM what encouraging people to switch.

[MarkD]

Hi @ColinD Did Bethany manage to get everything sorted? If you still need a hand, our Social Media team would love to help. Just send us a message using the details provided by @Mark 😊

[ColinD]

Bethany should give me an update today at 13:00.

From elsewhere it looks like a solution is possible.

Not really for me to diagnose but

• the consensus is that Openreach are not the problem
• the voice teams at TalkTalk and Vodafone need to thrash it out between them
• If all this fails .moving to BT may solve the problem as they own the number
• OFCOM do nothing, but promise much
• CISAS are not good at technical issues (I had attempted to find out what had gone wrong from the TalkTalk end) the statement "manual error" was considered sufficient to explain months of frustration. 
• OFCOM say Vodafone as the new provider are responsible for sorting it out

.Let's hope Bethany brings good news.

[ColinD]

Even more line checking going on before phone call from Bethany around 1530.

The reason given to me is (as far as I can understand it is)

• TalkTalk have seized the number and so preventing subscribers to their network calling me
• The Openreach engineer is going to do something at the cabinet on Monday then come to the house
• Vodafone will call on Wednesday to check it has worked

I was unable to speak with anyone who can convince me this is going to work, but at least is action of sorts.

[ColinD]

Openreach engineer arrived Monday 24 August

• Checked line, no problem with line.
• Went to the exchange Switched equipment Vodafone to Vodafone at local exchange/MDF no change with my test case
• Engineer talked to Openreach Porting. Some anomaly but no change with my test case
• Escalation within Openreach

Progress or not progress? Always difficult to know how how the organisations work and it seems very unclear what happens and who is responsible beyond the MDF (where your physical line is patched in what used to be your local exchange).

[ColinD]

Much much later...

Still not resolved. Porting appearts to be much more complex than I thought. But a fault is a fault. Pretending it isn't there is extremely frustrating

Vodafone do not appear to be in control of their subcontractors (i.e. OPENREACH).

Customer illustrates problem. OPENREACH performs test that would not be impacted by problem. Therefore problem does not exist!

Repeatedly looking in the wrong place is not smart and will never resolve the issue.

I assume somebody within Vodafone must understand a complex issue, but how can a customer reach them?

Perhaps I should ask the CEO (again).

Can anyone help?

[Stubbo]

Hey @ColinD 

I understand this has taken much longer than it should have done, thanks a lot for your patience. As @MarkD mentioned, we would need to have a look at your account in order to get to the bottom of this. Could you please give our Social Media team a message, you can find out how to do this here

Let us know how you get on!

[ColinD]

Contact link didn't link.

I have been repeatedly refused access to any person you had the technical expertise to understand and explain the issue.

I have discovered that moving from one provider to another is actually very complicated (Reality of porting).

Essentially the problem started when I moved from TalkTalk to Vodafone on the 20 February. I know that Openreach connected me to Fibre To The Cabinet as my data rate jumped up. Also I started to be billed for calls by Vodafone. However, TalkTalk continued to bill me, claimed they were still providing my service.

• The problem may be unusual, but it is serious and can be demonstrated repeatedly on demand (as was done to the Openreach engineer who was sent to investigate).
• I can make calls and receive calls from many people.  In my opinion this demonstrates it is not a line problem. However, Vodafone have tested it innumerable times and have declared there is no problem with my service because it passes this test.
• The problem manifests itself by people saying I never answer their calls and I have no answer phone. In fact my phone never rings when they call. I have confirmed this with my son using his mobile while sitting in our lounge. I replicated the fault with 3 people as requested by Vodafone. These people have never been able to reach me since I joined Vodafone.
• There have been other cases where institutions have claimed they have phoned me but I have not received anything (I cannot verify whether they made the attempt or not but some have resorted to using my mobile number)
• Vodafone say they have removed the minimum time limit on my contract (so I can move elsewhere presumably BT would find it easier to sort out as they own the number from over 40 years ago) but then say this was an offer subject to me closing the complaint. I will probably do this, but my son has raised the problem with his mobile provider. At the moment they are taking a much more professional approach than either Vodafone or TalkTalk so I will see if they can sort it out.
• Vodafone promised the problem would be taken forward by one person so I would not have to repeat the explanation every time. Unfortunately they have not done so and the complaint handlers have not looked at the case sufficiently to hold a proper conversation. There certainly are a lot of complaints handlers.
• Vodafone appear to be either incapable off admitting they can't solve the problem (which I now know is understandable) or in denial that there are people with similar problems.
• Vodafone argued against a simpler system proposed by Ofcom for dealing with number porting.

[ColinD]

Have spoken to OFCOM yet again and they still say it is for Vodafone to sort out.

I presume they do have people internal to the organisation that can understand these issues (even if they are not in Customer Service or Technical Support).

If they can't be reached by going up, I presume they can be reached by going to the top and coming down.

I note that OFCOM have taken Vodafone out of special measures for their customer service, perhaps they were premature.

This is a hard repeatable fault that appeared on my switching.

I am working my way through the regulations and awaiting my SAR request before going to CISAS with the whole unsatisfactory saga.

I am requesting durable documents, particularly where I have been told different things by different people.

[ColinD]

Vodafone decided to address the problem and misrepresented it as only applying to the three specific numbers they science to provide.

They refused to correspond with me and threatened any Vodafone employee who tried to help me with disciplinary action. I did provide them with evidence that other people on the TalkTalk network could not contact me, but they ignored this and refused my request to escalate the problem.

Their choice was to refer it to CISAS safe in the knowledge that they could limit their loss.

Also they falsified their own records to say that the fault was cleared.

You could not make this up, Their arrogance is only matched by the likes of the Post Office with Horizon, but at least I wasn't likely to end up in prison.

I moved to BT and it was a complete revelation that a fault was taken seriously and seen through to its successful conclusion without any anxiety on my part.

I don't know if this has uncovered a problem that will now be solved for others. I hope so, because the process has been a strain on my health.

I do not believe Vodafone has learnt anything and put great ingenuity and effort in not addressing the problem.