Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!decwrl!hayes.ims.alaska.edu!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: IZZYAS1@oac.ucla.edu (Andy Jacobson) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Wrong Number Suggestions Needed Message-ID: <14527@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 9 Nov 90 10:42:00 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 83 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 804, Message 6 of 9 In TELECOM Digest V10 #796: Bob Yazz writes: >A new prefix had opened up in San Diego, and I got the number xyz-y000 >(that's XYZ Y-thousand). Early that Autumn, Neiman-Marcus >(Needless-Markup to those who know them) opened up shop. They got >xyz-y100 (XYZ Y-one-hundred) and I started getting their calls on my >answering machine. >The next day at work (How did they get my work number?) I received a >call from an AT&T Longlines Division Account Manager who was most >eager to "help solve Our problem". She told me that Neiman-Marcus's > She also wanted me to change my number. I did >NOT want that. Neiman's claimed they had already printed up too many >I finally changed (for free) my number to abc-1200. Everyone was very >very gracious. The VP was so apologetic about "all this Hey, don't do it. If you give up a phone number, next they'll want to build their store on your house just because their customers drive by your corner. (Ok, ok, I wont flame.) But I would never give up a phone number, especially a good one like that Let me tell you how I deal with a similar situation. My number is 213-X9Y-X000 in west L.A.. The Shadydump hotel in Marina Del Ray has listed 213-X0Y-X000. Because their customers are ignorant of NXX's having 1 or 0 as second digit (they must still be living back in the days when area codes were .... well ... you know ... area codes), they're somehow convinced that they wrote down a "9", when it really is "0". I really can't otherwise see how they could convert zero into a nine. Well, I really enjoy making reservations for them at $99.99 a night single occupancy. Then there was the woman who before even saying hello at 4:45AM announced that she was calling from West Germany (Aaaah, now a chance for the LD carrier to gouge away.my revenge ) -and wanted to conf-- ... I told her in no uncertain terms that she had the wrong number and summarily hung up on her. Well, she called back_twice_ (Hey, its her deutschmark!) The second time I told her in even less uncertain terms. The third time I just answered politely with the name of the hotel, and put her on hold. Four or five minutes later her patience timed out. She tried back again (brilliant!) This time she got the ring"XXXXXhotelholdplease" softclick response. Another four minutes of that winking LED, that got rid of her good! Let's see, that's about four 'first minutes', and eight additional from FRG, and its the middle of the afternoon there. My opinion is : F***em! If Neiman Markup, or Snears has dumb customers, take their orders! Take their credit card numbers! Tell them what the prices are. Tell them where the store is located! When they wind up at the city dump, they have no one to blame but themselves. You have every right to give 'em grief. The stores have ___NO___ right to even suggest that you change your number. Remember, their stock is trading on the AMEX, not yours. You're trying to live your life. Make the most of it. If the stupid customers ever get to the store, let'em beat up the manager. If it's in their business interest to not lose customers, and not tie up management, they'll make the effort to straighten people out. Then again, maybe the store would be willing to pay you a fat monthly fee to redirect their lost sheep. You might just let them know what their options are. Another point raised was: >The Directory Assistance voice computer didn't say Y-one-hundred, it >said Y-one-oh-oh. I don't know how 411 gives it, but it seems that the bell system intercept can say things like "XY hundred" and "X thousand." The GTE one here does not. [Moderator's Note: We had a series of messages on this some time back, with people who received the wrong number calls deliberatly giving phalse and misleading information to the caller. Some people thought it was very unethical to deliberatly give phalse information to the person who dialed a wrong number. But still, it can be a nuisance when there are a lot of calls like that. My new technique is to let them hang up, then punch *69 and call them back, advising them to take care in the future with their dialing. That really freaks them out since they wonder how I could possibly have known their number! PAT]