Our Phone number very similar to Courts, can we change our number

[Aeschylus]

Hi

We have been having an ongoing problem for about 1 year, our phone number is very similar to the courts fines line, we get on average about 8 -10 calls a day coming to our phone, and also many more messages where people leave all their credit card details etc on our message service..

I have aske the people who called and they have said the print is poor on their fine letters and it looks like a 0 when it should be a 8.

I have spoken to the court they were not bothered and said it was up to the people calling to ensure they are calling the correct number.

Will Sky change our phone number?

[Scubbie]

Having a telephone number similar to someone else's has always been a problem for some people. It may be a taxi firm, fast food delivery outlet or a large local firm. Whether or not the number was printed correctly, some people just press the wrong number on the dial. So sadly what you are describing is not new.

Normally Sky will insist on have a police report when you have a history of nuisance calls. However I would suggest that in this case you will not get such a report.

Personally if I were in your situation I would call Sky and explain the situation and ask them to arrange for your telephone number to be changed to a more suitable one which is not going to result in a lot of wrong calls.

If the first level of support cannot deal with you, ask if you can be passed to a manager who can at least hear you out. If that doesn't work, there is Sky's Customer Service department. If this fails, we can provide details on how to get hold of the Executive support team.

[fuzzy logic]

Don't they have any legal duty to use a typeface large enough for older and disabled people with poorer eyesight to be able to read it. If it was me, I'd be tempted to contact my local newspaper about their cavalier attitude to people's personal details and credit card numbers.

I was recently bombarded with calls about paint after a stupid company used my phone number on Google Maps and some other website directory, and many years ago it appeared on a large advertising hoarding advertising new homes!

[Scubbie]

Sadly this is a common issue and an old one too.

Whilst some people may blame poor print, etc., there are others who just dial the wrong number. There are many options to help people, but I do not think that it is appropriate for me to comment in this individual case as there will be many who have dialled the wrong number (around 10 per day).

[FelixTCat]

Some years ago we had a number which was one different from a glazing company and received lots of calls intended for them. We called BT to see if anything could be done and they offered to issue us a new number free of charge, which we accepted. Sky may be prepared to do the same.

[guinness1]

What i did was tell sky that i was getting silent calls day and night and they changed the number free of charge.