Who Owns My Toll Free Number?
Who owns my toll free number? Do you know the answer to this question? When your toll free number is set up, you should be given that information. Sadly, all too often, that is not the case and some companies want you to think that they own your toll free number.
How Toll Free Numbers Are Managed
The Service Management System retains a list of available toll free numbers. Individual RespOrgs (responsible organizations) reserve blocks of toll free numbers. The RespOrgs, acting as toll free number service providers, make these numbers available for customers to buy and use. Customers pay the service providers for monthly service and for other fees including calling minutes charges for every call, from each call’s origination to its destination. The customer decides how the toll free number is used, and the customer has the right to move the number to another service provider at any time.
Why Knowing “Who Owns My Toll Free Number” Is Important
Your control of your toll free number is essential to keeping communication open with your customers. You’ve invested in promoting it, it appears on your marketing material, business cards, and your listing in directories, guides, and reviews online. So, losing control of your toll free number could be a marketing and sales disaster. It is extremely important that your company retains control of your number, even if you decide to switch providers or services. So, when purchasing a toll free number, make sure you’re doing everything in your power to choose a good service provider.
Problems With Toll Free Number Service Provider Companies
Fly-by-night companies will get their customers to ‘RespOrg’ their toll free numbers with them. RespOrg is short for Responsible Organization. Newton’s Telecom Dictionary defines RespOrgs as – “telecommunications providers that have responsibility for obtaining 800 numbers from the Service Management System and building and maintaining customer records.” Once a customer has taken this step the phone company will in essence hold toll free numbers hostage and not let the customer leave and go to another provider.
Smaller companies are often guilty of playing tricks that you will want to be on the lookout for. Some will claim that they don’t charge to release numbers, and that they aren’t holding 800 numbers hostage. Instead, the company simply gets around this claim by owning all customer toll free numbers. They own the toll free number, not you and they don’t plan on selling it or transferring it.
Another trick of the trade is utilizing the ‘look-up’ tool on their site to mine for 800 numbers customers might be interested in. It works like this: you go to phone company A’s website and use the search tool on their site to ‘look-up’ an 800 number to see if it is available. As soon as you do, company A puts a hold on any available toll free number in order to force you to use a more expensive service.
Sometimes, companies will even try to yank away numbers that customers have purchased through them without notifying the customer or by using shady methods such as transferring a customer’s 800 numbers to an employee of their company.
Tips to Ensure That You Own Your Toll Free Number
Toll free numbers attract orders and help you attribute sales to your marketing campaigns.
When you begin to investigate the situations and the toll free number scams that are going on, it can get discouraging. However, you can purchase a toll-free number and be sure that it is yours.
First, when researching for a provider, find a reputable RespOrg to work with. RespOrg is short for Responsible Organization. Newton’s Telecom Dictionary defines RespOrgs as – “telecommunications providers that have responsibility for obtaining 800 numbers from the Service Management System and building and maintaining customer records.”
So make sure you are dealing with a reputable company. A smaller provider that has tons of fine print in its toll free numbers purchase agreement should be approached with caution. Do your research on the RespOrgs out there and find a responsible, respectable one.
Second, don’t be afraid to ask your RespOrg for verification that you own your number. The more you know about who’s managing your toll free service the more control you have should you ever need to make a change.