Exact same experience getting 2nd line into our house here in Freehold, NJ in 1996 when it was still Hell, errrrr. I mean Bell Atlantic.
Took them three tries to get me a working line with the number which they'd told me was assigned ... one time, they even managed to break some local business's service ... I started getting their calls instead of them.
Eventually they managed to make it work correctly.
Wrote a letter to president/CEO of Bell Atlantic at that time (Ray Smith, I think) along with copies to some other executives as well as the NJ PUC describing exactly what had happened. I ended up getting a phone call from some outside plant supervisor who said to call him directly if I ever had any other problems (I doubt he's even there anymore 10 years later) as well as 2 separate form letters from "Ray Smith" which promised me a service credit [they even screwed that up, instead of one month's free local service, I think I got 3 !]
No wonder they call them "Public Futilities".