Optus gives away family's phone number

Anybody can make a mistake but getting the arrogant b*stards to acknowledge their mistakes is the hard part. That people have to go to the media to get any attention is a disgrace. It once took me a year, innumerable emails and phone calls plus the assistance of the TIO before I got them to fess up that their system was at fault for the difficulties I was having

A FAMILY that had the same contact details for 15 years are angry their phone number was given to a family in the next suburb.

Ruth and Bob Pye had been Optus customers for 15 years before they decided to switch to Telstra around 18 months ago.

They opted to keep the same phone number, which was important for Mr Pye's work as a bricklayer contractor.

But they were unaware their number had been duplicated until about eight weeks ago, when they began receiving calls for someone named David.

"And my daughter kept ringing me on the home number, but the call was going through to a young family with children," Ms Pye said.

"Eventually I called our home number myself from a mobile, and got on to a man named David. I asked him what his phone number was -- and he gave me our number."

The other family -- who lived in Frankston North -- were with Optus, she said. Ms Pye said she contacted Telstra and Optus, but both companies initially refused to believe that two addresses would have been allocated the same number.

"What got up my nose is that there has been no apology or anything. This has been going on for two months and we have no idea how much business my husband has lost because of this," Ms Pye said.

A spokeswoman for Optus said yesterday the number had been incorrectly allocated to a new customer after Mr and Ms Pye moved their business to Telstra. "Optus apologises for any inconvenience," she said.

A Telstra spokesman said problems with the Pyes' phone line had been resolved.


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