| reply to porter
Re: Avoid Onebox and j2 at all costs! I have just found that my TollFreeExpress (TFE) account has been taken over (without my knowledge or approval) by OneBox and that they claim that *ONEBOX* now owns my 3 tollfree numbers in that account because OneBox bought TFE.
They say that they will refuse any request to transfer my numbers out to another provider. It doesn't seem to matter to them that I initially transferred in these three numbers into TFE from another provider and clearly own them (per US law).
Also, as found in archive.org, the TFE "Terms of Service" clearly stated under "PORTABILITY of PHONE NUMBERS" that:
"Phone numbers including toll free phone numbers are 'portable' in nature as provided by law and the ownership of the number is registered to the USER. Tollfreeexpress however holds the right to control the number if there is outstanding balance on the account"
see: »web.archive.org/web/200708311115···ent.html
Until the FCC steps in to enforce the law or there is some other compelling resolution, it looks like I'm in for a long fight with OneBox.
sigh. |
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 sreamPremium
join:2002-08-17
Portage, MI | Since they have already stated that they are not going to follow the rules I would preempt them by filing a complaint online with the fcc.
»esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm
»www.fcc.gov/wcb/tapd/888/888faq.html |
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| reply to deliberate
Did you see this? (THEY did the capital letters!)
b. Porting Out
IF YOU "PORTED IN" A TELEPHONE NUMBER IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF SERVICES OR ARE ENTITLED TO "PORT OUT" A ONEBOX NUMBER UNDER LOCAL LAW, YOU MAY "PORT OUT" THAT NUMBER UPON TERMINATION OF YOUR ACCOUNT ONLY IF YOU SATISFY THE FOLLOWING REQUIREMENTS: (i) YOU PROVIDE WRITTEN NOTICE TO THE COMPANY OF YOUR INTENTION TO "PORT OUT" THE TELEPHONE NUMBER ASSOCIATED WITH THE TERMINATED ONEBOX ACCOUNT NO LATER THAN THIRTY (30) DAYS AFTER THE DATE OF TERMINATION OF YOUR ONEBOX ACCOUNT (THE "PORTING NOTICE PERIOD"); (ii) YOUR NEW TELEPHONE CARRIER PROVIDES OUR TELEPHONE CARRIER WITH A DULY EXECUTED PORTING REQUEST PRIOR TO THE EXPIRATION OF THE PORTING NOTICE PERIOD; AND (iii) PRIOR TO THE EXPIRATION OF THE PORTING NOTICE PERIOD, THE COMPANY HAS RECEIVED AN ADMINISTRATION FEE TO COVER ITS COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH PROCESSING THE PORT IN AN AMOUNT OF (A) $40 (OR THE EQUIVALENT IN LOCAL CURRENCY) IF YOU "PORTED IN" THE TELEPHONE NUMBER OR (B) THE LESSER OF $100 (OR THE EQUIVALENT IN LOCAL CURRENCY) OR THE MAXIMUM PERMITTED UNDER LOCAL LAW IF YOU ARE ENTITLED TO "PORT OUT" A ONEBOX NUMBER UNDER LOCAL LAW. YOU HEREBY AUTHORIZE THE COMPANY TO CHARGE YOUR CREDIT CARD IN THE APPLICABLE AMOUNT OR TO OTHERWISE ARRANGE TO MAKE THIS PAYMENT TO THE COMPANY WITHIN THE PORTING NOTICE PERIOD. IF YOU FAIL TO SATISFY THESE REQUIREMENTS, THE TELEPHONE NUMBER YOU "PORTED IN" WILL BECOME THE SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OF THE COMPANY.
»www.onebox.com/terms.asp
It seems to me that if you ported in a number to TFE and then TFE was taken over, that you have rights to that number.
If you are a business, and this is a crucial thing, get a lawyer. You need a shark to fight pit bulls. |
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1 edit | said by Alben Barkley :
Did you see this? Thanks for the link.
This is not about what "should be", it's about what they are actually doing. I'm putting in a transfer request on Monday (to pull to another resporg) even though the OneBox support folks told me they will not honor it and there are lots of nasty posts across the net saying that they don't. Their claim, as epxressed to me, was that because they bought TFE they now own *all* the numbers that came in with TFE.
If the transfer is refused, I will file an FCC complaint. I don't have the budget for a lawyer (few small biz guys really do) but a class action might be very attractive.
"Heavy handed" would seem to be the nicest way to express this so far. Time will tell ... I just hope all the others stories I found so far about OneBox's take-over of TFE are over-stated ...
I could go on about how poorly OneBox has handled my account just in the past month and a half, but why bother ...
Bottom line: I never agreed to any OneBox TOS or anything else from them, at best I've only gotten partial notification on the takeover, and I have been given no options etc. My toll-free numbers have been "captured" and I'm just trying to find my way out of this. |
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| If they charge you credit card after you ported out from them, you can do a charge-back against that charge, as an unauthorized charge. |
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nitzanPremium,VIP
join:2008-02-27
kudos:2 | Then he loses his numbers. Not a good idea unless they're discardable.
I would highly recommend filing a complaint with the FCC, and threaten with legal charges.
For the record- we tried to change RespOrg on a Onebox number a couple of months ago. They rejected it so we NASC'ed the number. These SOBs actually went back and NASC'ed it BACK to Onebox the next day. NASC costs $50+ to do, mind you.
Eventually the customer somehow got them to release his number, but it's ridiculous that in this day and age a company is still allowed to hijack customer numbers without their consent. The FCC should do their job and fine these @#%^#$^ out of business. |
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Reviews:
 ·VoicePulse
| said by nitzan:Then he loses his numbers. Not a good idea unless they're discardable. Not if he does the chargeback after succesfully having ported the number out. |
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nitzanPremium,VIP
join:2008-02-27
kudos:2 | Yes- but he can't port it out. That's the problem.  |
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