As most of you know, HJMT, my firm, is moving to 145 Pinelawn Road, Suite 300 South in Melville in two weeks. Melville is on the border of Nassau and Suffolk, closer to Suffolk so the area code is different than Nassau.
One of the women from my office called Cablevision and requested that we keep the same number that we have had for the past seven years. She spoke with them three times and every time she spoke with them they informed her that we can keep our 516 number. Even one of my vice president’s called to make sure that the information was correct. Everyone told them that we could keep our number.
A day before they were to come to install the lines, we got a call from cable telling us that our number has been changed and there is nothing they can do about it.
“Hilary,” One of my staff members said, “I think you should get on the phone with them.”
I got on the phone and told them I was very disappointed. I didn’t like the number they gave us because it wasn’t easy to remember and it wasn’t the number that they originally promised us.
The other problem was that they could not even put a recorded message on the existing number saying that our number had been changed.
They gave us a series of numbers. I wasn’t happy but they told me there was nothing else they could do. I wrote the numbers down and sent an email to all my clients and friends telling them the new number.
Today was installation day. The cable guy told us that our numbers were totally different than the numbers we previously received. I was on the phone with Cablevision for more than an hour yesterday and I thought everything was set.
The guy was very nice and helpful. He really offered us good customer service but it was out of his hands about the numbers. He was actually at our new offices from 8 am until noon fixing the lines. His name, Danny Mendolia, telephone senior field service technician, reassured us that everything would work out okay. I was impressed with his kindness and professionalism.
We spoke with Cablevision while Danny was doing the installation. They told us to call Verizon or Vonage to keep our existing number and either forward the calls or put a message on the phone telling folks our new number. We ended up going with Vonage. But the whole experience has been very frustrating!
If you can own the number on your cell phone and transfer it to different carriers, then why can’t you do the same for a business or home???
Getting close to putting this situation behind us!