man-in-the-middle VoIP opportunity

Several months ago (last year?) I got a toll-free number for a friend who was interested in switching to VoIP. (The number spells her name.) She switched to VoIP and in addition to the toll number she got from her new provider I routed calls to the toll-free number to her.

That didn't last long. She kept getting calls from people looking to refill their prescriptions. I stopped forwarding calls to her and routed them to my phone instead. In talking to some of the callers I discovered who they were trying to call. It wasn't a simple dialing mistake. This medical company had printed her/my number on their prescription labels. The difference is that their real number started with "800" and mine had another toll-free prefix.

For months I've been trying to get them to change their labels. I call every so often and I got through to a supervisor a few times. At least twice I was told someone would call to inform me of what they were doing to fix the situation. I never received a call.

Recently after getting some more calls for them I tried a couple more times to get to a supervisor. These times I got blocked when I responded "no" to the question "May I have your birthdate?". The first operator hung up on me at that point and the second one just refused to pass me along to a supervisor.

So...I want this number and I'm tired of this company being so obnoxious. I've been considering different options.

  1. Place an outgoing message that explains the situation and then connect the caller to the company headquarters. Unfortunately I don't know how to directly contact a human there.

  1. Place an outgoing message that says that the ordering system is down and request that callers leave a message with all of their order information. Then I'd contact the company and ask if they'd like the orders I have waiting.

  2. Route the calls somewhere interesting. Lots of possibilities. I wish I knew the mobile phone number for the company's CEO.

  1. Pass the calls along to the correct number but record them. Their line immediately says that the calls may be recorded so it's not like I don't have permission. Perhaps contacting the company with recordings of their customers filling prescriptions would get their attention. Or HIPAA's?

Any thoughts? Keep in mind that the customers are just trying to refill their prescriptions using the phone number provided. I really don't want to make them suffer. I want the company to acknowledge their screwup and fix it.

--kyler

Reply to
Kyler Laird
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THAT's your best suggestion yet: Call the Co. HQ and speak to a lawyer! Be sure to have a sample recording handy!

Are you sayingg that they only printed 7 of 10 digits? It wasn't completely clear to me what their mistake was.

Reply to
Rick Merrill

No, their number is "800-123-4567" and mine is "888-123-4567". They printed "888-123-4567" on their prescription labels.

--kyler

Reply to
Kyler Laird

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