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I think Comcast sells your phone number.

by KimW
18 replies
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To save money I recently switched my phone service from Vonage to comcast.They told me they could not transfer my old phone number,though they never gave me a real reason why not.
Within two days of them installing their phone service, I started getting unsolicited calls to my house. And I am talking 5-10 a day,not just one or two randoms calls. And the kicker is they are asking for me by name.
I had my other number for years and never got the number of calls I am getting now.
Anyone else experience this?
  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    OH, they ALL sell your number to a degree. I believe there ARE various restrictions on number transfer, like prefix, whether it is pic locked, etc... But they SHOULD have told you why.

    I forget the period, but there IS a law stating that a period of time must elapse before they reuse a number. Of course, THAT doesn't explain why they asked for YOU.

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author Alan Petersen
      I agree with Steve, I think all companies sell telephone numbers. They do have opt-out lists but you have to ask.

      You should register your number in the national "do not call list":

      https://www.donotcall.gov/

      FYI:

      How do I place myself on Comcast’s “do not call” and “do not mail” lists? You may contact Comcast at 1-800-COMCAST to ask us to put your name on our internal company “do not call” and “do not mail” lists so that you do not receive marketing or promotional telephone calls or postal mail from us or made at our request. You also have the right to prohibit or limit disclosure of your personally identifiable information for “mailing list” or other purposes as described above in this notice by contacting us at 1-800-COMCAST.
      Comcast’s use of your account information for marketing and promotional activities is also subject to your right to limit or restrict us from making those offers as described above in “How do I give or withhold my approval for Comcast to use CPNI to market additional products and services to me?” in this notice.
      http://www.comcast.com/Corporate/Cus...erPrivacy.html
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  • Profile picture of the author Roaddog
    5-10 a day Kim? Get the phone number of the vice president of Comcast and call him every night at dinner.
    If they are asking by name, someone definitely sold your number.
    Thanks for telling me, there's a company I will never do business with.

    Use that number for the do not call registry....unless you like telemarketers of course...

    It does work. I have been using it for a couple of years....I believe it's 2 weeks to a month for it to kick in, but it does work.

    My kid built a cross and put no solicitors on it, with rocks formed like a small grave out front, laughed my ass off. I had nothing to do with it. We were getting them everyday...haven't seen one since he put it up...lol
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  • Profile picture of the author KimW
    Yep, I definitely use the national DNC list.
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  • Profile picture of the author David Ogden
    Alan I love the video,
    I don't have a problem with telemarketers as such because they a real people trying to do their job but what really gets on my wick is the mindless people who use dialing machines with recorded messages, there should be a law against this. The messages are similar to spam email promising you will earn thousands each month and none of the people who use these recorded messages know anything about the business and are not making money.
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    • Profile picture of the author WiiLoveSuccess
      I worked for a company years ago (I think it was in the early 1990's) that was using the automated phone messages and had to stop because a law was passed (in the USA) that made it illegal. Has that law since been rescinded or are the phone police just sleeping? I wish I knew the answer to that question and wish I knew the website or phone number to report abusers if there is still the law on the books.

      Ray Delworth
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  • Profile picture of the author gudrunsmith
    Yes, that time you could save money to switch services, but today you only hear " I can show you how fast you can get a Millionaire without doing something, we do the work for you!"

    The worse is that today they don't make the call anymore, they have a recording and than they want you to press the key to talk to them! Hey who wants something from me????? Yes, when you see it this way, they only will speak with serious people and don't need to hear the "NO's", that's one way to see it. But again, when someone wants something from me they have to talk to me!
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  • Profile picture of the author David Ogden
    Ray,

    I did register my USA number on a do not call list, cannot remember how and also reported one number for redialing 9 times in the space of 15 minutes. I received a snail mail letter to say an investigation was started but have since moved house so do not know the final outcome
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  • Profile picture of the author waterotter
    Kim, when you do get a call, get the name of the person who's calling, the company name and phone number. Also take note of the date and time. Register the info here:

    https://complaints.donotcall.gov/com...k.aspx?panel=2
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  • Profile picture of the author KimW
    Jody. the problem is as the previous posters have noted,its a machine calling the majority of the time. But I will use your suggestion for when real people actua;;y call.
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  • Profile picture of the author waterotter
    Kim I get that here in Canada also. I wait until the machine is finished - during the last sentence, they will tell me to press 3 or some number and a representative will be with me momentarily.

    That's when I nail them.:p
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  • Profile picture of the author waterotter
    Another tip - if anyone has call display, just grab the number if it's available then do a reverse look-up on the net. Quite often you will get the name of the company.

    Go file another complaint!
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  • Profile picture of the author Bruce NewMedia
    I happen to think the issue specifically with Comcast is real and becoming a pain. I am getting flooded with calls now, and the only thing I can point to is switching to Comcast.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alan Petersen
      I haven't had a land line in over five years since all I have is a cell phone, I don't give it out. Most companies will move on when you tell them you won't give them your cell phone number.

      When I signed up for Comcast (cable and Internet) and they asked for a phone number I told them it's my cell number so not to use it for marketing and they haven't in about 3 months now. Zero calls. So if you ask them right off the bat they seem to honor the request or maybe I just got lucky.

      Of course, I have to thank this person called Rene who gave my phone number to Phoenix University (I'm assuming they messed up, I don't know anyone with that name so not sure why they gave them my #).

      They called me NON STOP for a month. Every time a different sales rep... oops, I mean "academic adviser". You tell one to not call but another one calls. It died down but today sure ****, a call from University of Phoenix.

      Either things have changed since I went to college in the late 80's or these online colleges take anyone with a credit card.

      Kim, at this point, since it's a new number, I would ask them to change it and tell them the reason why and for them not to sell your new number.
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    I was getting calls from telemarketers for awhile and found out it was my bank that gave the company the info. They claimed the company was on contract to them. I threw a fit that that branch manager is going to remember the rest of her life. I always try to track down where they got the number from. I want to know who is giving my info and exactly what info they gave out. One of these days I am going to want to move. I always have my address left out of a phone book - it's really not safe for women to put their addresses out for any low life scum to have handy. If any company sells my address and I find out about it - they are going to pay for me to move. LOL. I'm tired of people getting paid for MY info. I should get the money for my own info, not someone else. It's BS. Complete and total BS.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alan Petersen
      Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

      I was getting calls from telemarketers for awhile and found out it was my bank that gave the company the info. They claimed the company was on contract to them. I threw a fit that that branch manager is going to remember the rest of her life. I always try to track down where they got the number from. I want to know who is giving my info and exactly what info they gave out. One of these days I am going to want to move. I always have my address left out of a phone book - it's really not safe for women to put their addresses out for any low life scum to have handy. If any company sells my address and I find out about it - they are going to pay for me to move. LOL. I'm tired of people getting paid for MY info. I should get the money for my own info, not someone else. It's BS. Complete and total BS.
      I just moved and I'm buried in junk mail. Marketers trolling state property records which are public!
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  • Profile picture of the author KimW
    Alan, that is another source of irritation. Both when I filed my bankruptcy due to my health situation,and after it was discharged by the courts, I started to receive and still do to this day,all these offers from people who want me to reestablish my credit.

    Another note about the phone calls. Even if you have called ID/display,there are many companies that somehow use false numbers in the display. I don't know how tyhey do it,but if you dial it after disconnecting the call you will get a "this number is no longer in service" message.
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