Hi,

I got a vmail this morning saying that my skype number is being deallocated. I have it for two years now and given im in business its my main business number , in all my literature , printed ads etc. It to be honest never dawned on me that we would be told you cant have that number any more ...

Heres a letter i sent today to the skype support setup to deal with this problem. No reply as of yet , but am hopeful of something. I get the feeling that i am not the only person effected... Be warned if its for business they day could come . Apparantley its in the TOS, your number is not yours to keep...

Hi,

Thank you for the voicemail reference skypeine . A useless exercise is to tell you how much hassle this will cause us so i hope you can be off assistance to me when i ask for the name of your reseller to that i may actually purchase the number from them and forward it to our new skypein number when we get that. I would then set up call forwarding and start to advertise the new number online and in print. ITs the print that really causes the problems as its got a longer life cycle in the market and this is what i would be looking to cover. One month is not really sufficent for a smooth transition. If you have any practical information and can let me know the best way you see forward i would appreciate it. What is the next step. Can i be assigned a new skypein number asap and forward the old one free of charge to the new one ? I can then start to replace the online literature etc with the new number and minimize loss.

Thanks

Hi,

I got a vmail this morning saying that my skype number is being deallocated. I have it for two years now and given im in business its my main business number , in all my literature , printed ads etc. It to be honest never dawned on me that we would be told you cant have that number any more ...

Heres a letter i sent today to the skype support setup to deal with this problem. No reply as of yet , but am hopeful of something. I get the feeling that i am not the only person effected... Be warned if its for business they day could come . Apparantley its in the TOS, your number is not yours to keep...

Hi,

Thank you for the voicemail reference skypeine . A useless exercise is to tell you how much hassle this will cause us so i hope you can be off assistance to me when i ask for the name of your reseller to that i may actually purchase the number from them and forward it to our new skypein number when we get that. I would then set up call forwarding and start to advertise the new number online and in print. ITs the print that really causes the problems as its got a longer life cycle in the market and this is what i would be looking to cover. One month is not really sufficent for a smooth transition. If you have any practical information and can let me know the best way you see forward i would appreciate it. What is the next step. Can i be assigned a new skypein number asap and forward the old one free of charge to the new one ? I can then start to replace the online literature etc with the new number and minimize loss.

Thanks

I cannot believe this is real, especially by VM.

I think its a scam, please let me check

Thanks

Lamorna can you please send to me your email address in private message.

I will escalate your problem and you will be contacted personally.

Lamorna can you please send to me your email address in private message.

I will escalate your problem and you will be contacted personally.

PM´s with my email sent. Passwords changed on everything to be sure. I was asked to contact the email address sichange @ skype .NET so thats where i sent the email thats above. I dont believe i put any personal data in the mail. I was told i would be given one free year of skypein as " compensation ". And the skype username that left the vmail was sichange_2 or something like that ( i checked it from another location and unusually the new vmails didnt load in my normal location , once id logged in , as id already listened to them ). The person in the vmail did know both the username and the skypein number , if its a scam its a good one.

I have had no reply to the email sent yesterday morning .

I have it to and I do not see how it can be a scam. I got a long voicemail, you have to accept contacts first and I did not accept this one so it looks genuine to me.

Also when you consider how badly us high paying users are treated, it certainly sounds plausible.

Now if you remember those two days a few months ago when we had no service on the 870 and 871 range and Skype did NOTHING (nada, zippity zip, no announcement, no ticket responses, apology anything) and we the users had to trace the problem, we traced the number range to a company called GCI to let them know so they could fix it. I do not have the number anymore but should not be hard to find

Hi,

I

Yes I have now traced the reseller ( alhough it wasnt skype support that gave it to me, they actually told me they " unable to and due to a confidentiality agreement with this company " to tell me .


Its been confirmed and its not a scam altough im starting to think skype isnt the solution for business by a long stretch of the imagination. I notice 0207 numbers are still for sale , i wonder if this is with a new provider. They screwed us right over. Id actually prefer to pay a little more for a " proper " business service. Some would say its not a business level service ( even though skype target market us ) so you got what you deserve in terms of what we paid . I am now going to ensure that the TOS say the number is not ours to keep ( untiill the actual forecast expiry date of my skypein order) and hand it to the bulldogs ( lawyers gotta love having them in the family ). We have so much printed material with this number on it , its not funny , we stand to lose thousands and also have a dip in volume, if sales go south so do jobs .. So a years subscription to skypein doesnt really cut it ..

So Johnny ,, best of luck with it, i know you have a number of lines to worry about and not me with just one.

This post has been edited by lamorna: Fri Nov 16 2007, 19:41

..a years subscription to skypein doesnt really cut it..

Depending on the reason for the withdrawal, you might be able to lease the existing number directly from the provider. This would give you more control over it. You could probably forward it to your new SkypeIn number. Obviously there would be costs involved, but it might be cheaper than reprinting all your marketing material.

Hi,

Yes this is currently what we are trying to do. The company who owns the number tells me that in principle there isnt a problem with this but they are unsure themselves if they can do it but of course while things hang in the balance im still nervous. Its obvious though that a business cant rely on skypein. I would suggest a quick email to the support team , it appears they are still selling numbers which belong to the leasing company via the official website. Its clear from the communications from skype and more from the company that owns the numbers that ALL these numbers will be pulled...

Its not even the reprinting ( although this is itself a large cost ) its the fact that there are over a years worth of advertisments out there with this number on it and should we not get the number , those potential customers will not get through to us. Everything has been designed to get people to call that number.,

I feel silly for having trusted the business to this.

Depending on the reason for the withdrawal, you might be able to lease the existing number directly from the provider. This would give you more control over it. You could probably forward it to your new SkypeIn number. Obviously there would be costs involved, but it might be cheaper than reprinting all your marketing material.

Doesnt matter.

This post has been edited by lamorna: Mon Nov 19 2007, 13:39

Myself and another at our company have received the same voicemail re: a London tel number.

The message was very vague and said a follow-up email would come... well why wouldn't they send at the same time?

Can someone from Skype please verify if this is happening and when?

..
Can someone from Skype please verify if this is happening and when?

The details are vague but it's real,
http://heartbeat.skype.com/2007/11/a_note_...ondonbased.html

The details are vague but it's real,
http://heartbeat.skype.com/2007/11/a_note_...ondonbased.html

Why can't they be less vague and maybe post exactly what is happening!? Why so cryptic?

Why can't they be less vague and maybe post exactly what is happening!? Why so cryptic?

Why so cryptic ? Because skype would have you believe that their reseller pulled the number whereas in reality some skype beancounter decided that they could get the numbers cheaper elsewhere and dont give a toss about their users. Even the mods here thought it was a scam its so outragous . I have a mate who works in the chain of telco companies involved and while there are only a few posting here the number of people effected is actually quite astounding. As for that " reaching out " crap on the blog , if reaching out is leaving a vague voicemail, not responding to emails for days , promising a voucher for another number and then doing nothing ,, i fell well " touched " . Its so bad but yet with a company who doesnt really talk to its clients and then when they do , tell lies , I am of course powerless. The mods here really have a difficult task, i guess people dont pop in here when things are going good.


It seems with skype themselves ( the mods are just volantary ) you really are just a number ...

This post has been edited by lamorna: Wed Nov 21 2007, 13:02

Hi,

I have just received the very same email for my 0207 skypeIn number. So rushed over here to see if it's real or a scam. So it seems it's for real, but I'm suprised there aren't more threads and discussions on this topic.

Like others, I have printed marketing material with this number, which I guess I'm now going to have to sticker over. This problem combined with the way Skype handled the 0207 870... outage earlier this year, means I really have to rethink if Skype is the way forward.

I guess I had got into blind trust, not thinking that the number was rented and could be pulled at any time.

But to give just 1 months notice for this - that is not acceptable.

QUESTION: So which of the SkypeIn numbers are secure? What about my US numbers? Is it just that London is a high demand for numbers area. Should I choose a number from a more provincial town?

a) This is very annoying for us, especially business users
b) The way and time frame of this announcement is very poor
c) Is there no contract that obliges skype to provide the number for the year which has been paid for?

My trust / faith in using skype for my business has been severely rattled. It would be good to hear more from Skype on this, with advice on what we should do to ensure any future number purchases are more secure, or at least last until the paid contract expires.

Arrgghh

Got the same email - what annoys me is the fact that I've just paid to renew the number for another year! (And the payment has been taken for 3 months and 1 year but that's another matter…One which Skype has yet to get back to me on).

So I'm in the same boat - use the number as my main business number, need to reprint literature etc. Just done massive mailout with that number on - NOT HAPPY.

If I've just paid to renew the number for another year, can they take it away from me???

And another question: Roughly how many people will be effected by this? Am I just in unlucky group of a small minority? (judging by the small number of people discussing this here, "yes"). Or is this effecting a large number of people (2,000+)

How many people is this effecting?

I got the same email. When I tried to redeem the voucher, it led me through the process

I chose an 0208 number (0208? who the heck has an 0208 number? Suburban idiots*.)

And then it tried to charge my paypal account! I'd have lost €50 if I hadn't recently changed my credit card number.

So now I don't even know if my new number is active, or whether I'm still stuck with the old one (which now says 140 days)

I thought this was a serious business tool. Now I realise it's just some geeks messing around with computers.



*actually I live in Wimbledon and have one

What a load of crap from a joke of a company. Email every tech news site you can as this is possibly the most stupid thing I have ever heard.

One Months Notice Period - You have got be joking!

What an earth is going on! I have to search the forums for a single link to find out that some members of skype are being treated in an underhandded way. I recieved an email today telling me that I have less than a month to make other arrangements because my 0207 number is going to cease working!

THIS IS UNACCPETABLE BEHAVIOUR from a large corporation. I cannot afford the time let alone the money to change my stationary and marketing material.

IS SKYPE GOING TO COMPENSATE ME and other for the poor service and the cost of having to deal with their incompetience?!?!!?



If I don't get a satisfactory resolution to this, I cannot see how I and others can depend on this company's service. It may cost more, but at least it will be safer to seek an alternative solution.

I will keep you posted if I hear anything.

I got the same email. When I tried to redeem the voucher, it led me through the process

I chose an 0208 number (0208? who the heck has an 0208 number? Suburban idiots*.)

And then it tried to charge my paypal account! I'd have lost €50 if I hadn't recently changed my credit card number.

So now I don't even know if my new number is active, or whether I'm still stuck with the old one (which now says 140 days)

I thought this was a serious business tool. Now I realise it's just some geeks messing around with computers.
*actually I live in Wimbledon and have one

Skype have an incredible approach to business. We and others clearly cannot afford to place any part of their business in SKYPE hands. Something needs to be done about this!!!!!

The word is getting out...

http://gigaom.com/