Porting number, customer service is a nightmare

I ordered the Pixel 7 free promotion that was advertised as free if a number was ported within a month from another provider. I wanted to port from OOMA a VoIP phone provider. I had good service from OOMA and I never had an issue; the basic cost of service was about $6 a month that included unlimited calls. When Xfinity had a special offer of a free phone with a number port, I thought it would be wonderful since the phone would work in a power outage or if the internet went down. The phone number I had with OOMA was a phone number I have had for over 40 years and it is associated with every online account I have ever created; thus, I needed that phone number ported and not a new phone number.

 It has been a nightmare with xfinity customer service. On May 12, the day I received the phone, I used the online tool to request a port from OOMA to Xfinity Mobile. Granted, before I signed up for the promotion, I confirmed with a customer service representative that porting from OOMA was possible. The first request was on a Friday June 12th, the day I received the phone. Over that weekend, I received several emails from Xfinity to activate the phone. I have spent over 9 hours on the phone with Xfinity customer service. Each time I call, a different customer service rep answers the call and I have to explain again what has happened and what the previous customer service rep has done. The number was finally ported on June 15. Now I am being charged for the phone; I did everything I could to have the number ported within the 30 days. The Pixel 7 is an expensive phone and I would never have bought such an expensive phone; but a free one with a number port, I would accept and continue to use Xfinity mobile services. If I wanted a Pixel 7 phone, I would have purchased a less expensive unlocked one to use with Xfinity mobile and would have received a $100 credit for bringing my own phone!

I made phone calls to Xfinity Mobile Customer Care on May 13, May16, May 22, May 24, May 25, June 1,  June 7, June 9, June 12, June 14, and June 19.  On several of those days, I made more than 1 phone call. I anticipate I will make many more calls to get this resolved. 

On the initial attempt, I made a port request online on the Xfinity mobile site for a port request from OOMA, but it was rejected several days later all the while the web site told me not to call as it takes several days. On the first rejection, somehow, OOMA’s corporate address was in the field that should have been my address; that was not done by me.

I called Xfinity mobile numerous times trying to port the number. Most of the time, the repressive would put the same information over and over again and the port would be rejected. I know this because for each attempt, I would get an email. This happened on several of my phone calls. Each and every representative I talked to, I would have to tell them OOMA does not use a pin and “0000” or “1234” should be used in that field and I would also have to explain that my account number was my phone number with a 1 in front of my number. On my account under the Pixel 7 phone, it would tell me to call Xfinity for assistance in porting the number. 

On June 1st, after several failed attempts by the customer service representative to port the number, he had a brand new number activated on my phone and I should turn on my phone. I told him I did not want to as this was not the number that I wanted on my phone. He said it was OK and he would continue to troubleshoot the porting issues from OOMA to Xfinity.  After speaking with him, I checked my account everyday and under the Pixel 7, the number listed with the Pixel 7 was the number I was trying to port and it said “ Your device is activating as we speak. We’ll let you know when you are good to go”. I checked the site everyday and everyday it had the number I wanted and said activation was in process. 

On June 7th, I called regarding the status of my port and to express concerns that I needed the number ported by June 12th so that I could receive the promotion and that my phone had an active number on it that I never requested.  She stated that an error message from the port request indicated that a second name needed to be entered. I assured her that I was the person associated with the OOMA account.  Apparently, that error message had been there at least from June 1st.  She did something online. After the call ended with the representative I noticed she did something and now the number the Representative activated on June 1st was now associated with my phone in my account, it no longer showed the phone was in process of activating: on the billing area, it no longer showed a monthly credit for the phone.

By June 9th, I was in full panic that my number had not been ported and that I would be charged for a phone I could not afford. I talked to someone and he said the port had been accepted and it should be active the first of the week. Apparently, he just put my name in the field that was looking for a second account name. I talked to him regarding the free phone promotion and the fact the phone number will not be ported within 30 days. He stated that the records showed that I had tried to port the number and the promotion should be honored. I did call OOMA on June 9th and was told that they did have a port request and the request should be complete on June 14th (after my deadline). Still very upset that I may be charged for the phone, I called Xfinity again on June 9th, she said the promotion would be over by the time the port was complete and I would be charged for the phone.  I did not know who to believe by this time.

On June 12th, OOMA stated the port was in process. On June 14th OOMA stated the number was ready to be ported to Xfinity.  I called Xfinity to complete the port. But again. The customer service representative was insisting I call OOMA to get a pin……..again I explained several times that OOMA doesn’t use pins and to try “0000” or “1234”. It worked and the phone number I wanted all along was now active on the Pixel 7.  Through this whole ordeal, I have had much better and quicker customer service from OOMA than I had from Xfinity Mobile. 

On June 19th, I called again as billing showed a charge of $24.99 with no credit  on my monthly statement that is due in July. I explained to the customer service rep that I had made numerous calls to Xfinity trying to have the number ported and I should not be penalized because I did everything I could to have the number ported. She listened carefully and tried numerous times to contact someone within Xfinity mobile with authority to help me…..she was unable to get a response.   Now instead of $6 a month for my number from OOMA, I am now charged $24.99 a month with Xfinity. I was trying to lower my bill, not increase it. 

Twice, Xfinity reps said they would personally call me back the next day with a solution. One rep promised me an email the next day.     I never received the call back or a followup email.

I called OOMA several times stating the problem Xfinity mobile was having porting the number. OOMA would reply with an email. “If Xfinity still gets an error, have them reach out to their Local Exchange Carrier (LEC) and its processing vendor, Syniverse, at [Edited: "Personal Information"] to check on the port request as the latter may have a pre-validation rejection hence the port order isn't getting to our local carrier. We have not received a port out request for the phone number so this error is coming from Syniverse.  Syniverse will be able to tell XFinity what they need to correct on the port request.” I gave this information several times to Xfinity representatives and none of the representatives would confirm that a call was ever made to Syniverse regarding my porting issues and what was needed to resolve it.  A couple of Xfinity reps did call OOMA and included me in the call. OOMA continued to state they do not have a port request  and that Syniverse needed to be contacted by Xfinity mobile. 

I never want to hear “Thank you so much, I am here for you”, another time in my life. Those are just words…… nothing was getting done. Why doesn’t Xfinity mobile have a database of troubleshooting tips and resolutions sorted by other mobile providers so that Xfinity mobile representatives can efficiently assist customers with porting issues. It seems that the Xfinity representatives just have basic troubleshooting skills and each one tried the same thing. I would ask to speak to the customer representative that I had just spoken to and I was informed that was not possible and I needed to speak to the customer representative I was speaking to currently. I pleaded that I did not want to go through the whole troubleshooting process again; I asked if a message could be sent for the previous representative to call me and I was again told that was not possible.  Why do the customer service reps give you their name if you can not follow up with them with the issue they are working on?  I also asked for an email showing that I was trying to port the number so that I would not be charged for a phone; I was told they could not send emails.