Why do Sky try to retain your business when you've asked to leave?

[AngryScots]

I have moved my broadband and phone from Sky to Plusnet and Sky have put my number in double quarantine for a month so i cannot get my own home phone number. All they are doing is making me dislike them more than i already do and ensuring that i will not return to them. Why can't they accept that people will move away if they double their monthly charges with no warning and why can they not release numbers as soon as you move to a competitor?

[Mark39]

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@AngryScots wrote:

I have moved my broadband and phone from Sky to Plusnet and Sky have put my number in double quarantine for a month so i cannot get my own home phone number. 

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I don't know what that means.

Your number is ported on the date your service is activated by the new provider.

[AngryScots]

Apparently not, sky have my home number on quarantine until the 6th September when everything went live with my new provider on the 5th August. Underhand tactics used by sky to try and keep customers, but that's not happening. I will not return to sky. 

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[Mark39]

Never heard of numbers being kept in quarantine. It isn't something that I've seen reported on the forum before, so it's highly unlikely to be a policy decision of any kind. Sky have no need to keep customers - a customer who leaves will soon be replaced by a customer joining, such is the turnover between service providers.

There's more behind this than you've posted.

[Daniel0210]

@AngryScots 

I too have never heard of putting numbers into quarantine double or otherwise. 

[AngryScots]

So can someone explain why the number is locked to sky and I have to put up with a temporary number for almost a month? I've never had any issues moving from any other provider. And yet sky still continues to contact me to advise its not to late to change my mind. Its just large corporations thinking they can do what they want.

[AngryScots]

We it must be something between the providers.  I've never been late with payment of bills and also sent the equipment back to sky as soon as my services changed over.

[Mark39]

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@AngryScots wrote:

So can someone explain why the number is locked to sky and I have to put up with a temporary number for almost a month? 

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Not without the background detail and history.

[AngryScots]

@Mark39 ,

Contract ended with sky in June, no notification until the money was taken out my bank, double than what our deal was, called to ask why the payment doubled and they told me I was at the end of my contract.  Went on uswitch and best deal was with plusnet  so signed up on 22nd July, broadband and line went live on 5th August with a different phone number. Spoke to plusnet they advised they had to wait for sky to release my number, still waiting to this day and plusnet advised the number has a hold on it by sky which will not be released until the 6th September.  I don't know what else I can say on it but that's all I know.

[Mark39]

When you switch to another provider, it's their responsibility to transfer (port) your number from your current provider. Reading between the lines, it sounds like Plusnet failed or were unable to do that when you signed up to switch from Sky.

The,switching process is regulated by OFCOM and Sky can't just refuse to allow your number to be ported. There may be technical reasons, however why it wasn't possible for Plusnet to do so. In any event, as Plusnet failed to port your number, Sky will have returned it to the pool of unused numbers when your switch .to Plusnet was completed on 5 August.

I suspect what you're referring to as a quarantine period is actually the length of time a number returned to the pool of unused numbers must remain dormant before being reused. That's to reduce the number of calls a new holder of the number may receive that were intended for the previous holder. After the 'quarantine' period, Plusnet might be able to retrieve your old number from the pool and allocate it back to your line. I believe BT (and therefore Plusnet) have the ability to do that, though Sky can't).

It has absolutely nothing to do with Sky trying to keep your business.