We're not that type of resort

[bhskittykatt]

So we recently began issuing gift cards. We're trying to use up our old ones that were leftover from when The Resort closed last year, which have the old and inactive phone number on them.

Yesterday we discovered that the phone number is now active again. Except it's now a phone sex line.

When I left work yesterday, a CW had a rotary tool and was etching the old phone numbers off all the gift cards...

[mhkohne]

So we recently began issuing gift cards. We're trying to use up our old ones that were leftover from when The Resort closed last year, which have the old and inactive phone number on them.

Yesterday we discovered that than phone number is now active again. Except it's now a phone sex line.

When I left work yesterday, a CW had a rotary tool and was etching the old phone numbers off all the gift cards...

OK, so rule for the future - NEVER let an old phone number go. Good to know.

[dalesys]

S... Except it's now a phone sex line.

... Our business is your...

[Mr Hero]

Well, damn, BHS, you just lost a customer by telling me that.

[Javarod]

OK, so rule for the future - NEVER let an old phone number go. Good to know.

Yeah, that's a good rule to go by since they keep reusing them, not that i know why (old reason seemed to be a bit of BS/laziness/stupidity).

[telecom_goddess]

Yeah, that's a good rule to go by since they keep reusing them, not that i know why (old reason seemed to be a bit of BS/laziness/stupidity).

as a rule an old phone number that is released will stay "taken" for a year and then be available for use again. That's true for just about every phone company. They have to be re used because there are a shortage of numbers nationwide. Too many people, too many cell phones, faxes, business lines etc. That's why they issue new area codes sometimes, so they can re use that block of numbers but with a different area code.

[fireheart]

as a rule an old phone number that is released will stay "taken" for a year and then be available for use again. That's true for just about every phone company. They have to be re used because there are a shortage of numbers nationwide. Too many people, too many cell phones, faxes, business lines etc. That's why they issue new area codes sometimes, so they can re use that block of numbers but with a different area code.

Down here each state starts their phone numbers with a particular digit (we're 8-digit). So for instance, my state starts with 8xxx-xxxx, another state starts with 7xxx-xxxx and so on. Lately they've started using 7xxx-xxxx in my state because they've run out of 8xxx-xxxx numbers.

Kinda hard to mistake a number down here for a sex line though: most of them are 1800/1300 numbers.

[bainsidhe]

Our business number is one digit from a sex line. Usually not a problem, but every now and again a customer misdials and when they finally reach us, they inquire about it.

[sms001]

they've started using 7xxx-xxxx in my state

I imagine the NT has a few to spare.

hard to mistake a number down here for a sex line though: most of them are 1800/1300

Businesses don't have 1800 numbers?

[mathnerd]

Some sex lines intentionally use numbers that are one digit off from a major toll free number or uses the same prefix and exchange, but a different toll free area code.

For example, the HR number for a major cororpration is is 800-123-4567, so a sex line uses 888-123-4567 or 800-153-2167.

These companies actually put in a lot of research into common misdialing patterns in order to take advantage of the situation.

[TopEndDave]

I imagine the NT has a few to spare.

No we don't. All NT numbers are 89xx-xxxx and we have the same area code as SA & WA. They different towns usually have the third digit to themselves - 895x-xxxx is Alice Springs, 896x-xxxx is Tennant Creek, 897x-xxxx is Katherine and the rest in Darwin. Recently we have started using 896x-xxxx numbers in Darwin and that has thrown a few people.

[fireheart]

Businesses don't have 1800 numbers?

Not all businesses surprisingly enough. 1800 numbers tend to be reserved for customer care lines or similar (although my work uses 1800 numbers for head office). Most actual business/store numbers tend to be the same as residential numbers.

This occasionally causes issues such as when Streets (icecream manufacturer) put their phone numbers on their display freezers. They got the number wrong and some poor guy got the brunt of the phone calls from said number.

I believe the phone number has since changed.

And I didn't quote TopEndDave's post, but numbers in my state work very much the same way. For instance, my state uses (08) 70xx to 78xx as well as 81xx-88xx. You can even break the numbers down further depending on what suburb/town you live in. My number is somewhat odd though because the first three digits place my number as coming from a town about 20km away.

[Javarod]

Down here each state starts their phone numbers with a particular digit (we're 8-digit). So for instance, my state starts with 8xxx-xxxx, another state starts with 7xxx-xxxx and so on. Lately they've started using 7xxx-xxxx in my state because they've run out of 8xxx-xxxx numbers.

Kinda hard to mistake a number down here for a sex line though: most of them are 1800/1300 numbers.

Here we ran out of numbers because of the way they're given out. Here's a breakdown of American numbers, at least how they used to work:

1 732 918 0423
Country State Town Subscriber

The problem was fax machines, pagers and so on, they ran out of numbers. The solution was to go to ten digit numbers. Not a great solution ifn you ask me, especially since it necessitated the second digit being expanded beyond the original 0 or 1 choice, which caused some serious technical issues. They really should've re-worked the meaning of the digits. The equipment doesn't care about that, but it would help as the current system means numbers are given out in prefix groups, 10,000 numbers. If a company has say 4400 subscribers, you can see how that wastes numbers. My idea:

1 732 91 80 423
Country State Town Provider Subscriber

There, 1000 number blocks, problem mostly solved.

[fireheart]

The problem was fax machines, pagers and so on, they ran out of numbers.

We have two phone numbers reserved for fictitious use in Aussie films/TV (if needed). While faxes still have the 8-digit configuration, mobiles use 10-digits (04xx-xxx-xxx) and pagers previously used 016.

[greensinestro]

Seems like etching the phone number out to begin with would have been a better idea.