Issue porting number which was ported back to Bell

[sdche]

I recently left my job and was looking to take my number with me. I bought a PM SIM card, ported my number in, paid for my $40/month plan before being told the next day that Bell/The Company were taking the number back. I have had to buy a Bell sim, move my number over from Bell corporate to Bell personal account, and now I can port my number to PM. The PM sim appears to be locked, and I have wasted $40 for a month of usage that I now do not get. 

Can PM unlock my sim so I do not need to purchase another, and will they credit me the $40 as I now do not have access to the number or the sim. 

[esjliv]

@sdche - I may be misunderstanding this situation, but this is how I thought I read this...this is a lengthy one...

1. You ported your Bell number over to Public Mobile and activated a $40 plan.
2. Did you receive a text on the Bell SIM card to approve the port over to Public Mobile?
3. If so, the port would have been complete within a couple hours, and the Bell account closed.

1. Then next day...your company said that this is their number and they want/need it back.
2. Did you then proceed to go through the porting process (or did your company) from Public Mobile to a Bell corporate account?
3. Then approved the port from the Public Mobile SIM via the SMS text over to Bell?
4. If so, this would have closed your Public Mobile account if you ported successfully back out to Bell.

Oh boy, are all those things even possible to accomplish in that short period of time? 😮

• A good scenario here, maybe, would have been...when you originally activated the Public Mobile SIM card, the port from Bell did not complete successfully. What happens when you call the phone number...does it go to the original Bell voicemail?
• And then, a temporary number could be assigned to your account.
• Then, when your company lets you have the number you want, you can then request to port it over.

Not sure if I captured what actually happened or not, but seems mucky and unfortunate.

If the original port over to Public Mobile failed, then see if a CSA can assign a temporary number.

Contact Public Mobile Representatives customer support agents (CSA), by either two methods, found here:

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-help/articles/contact-an-agent

If the port to Public Mobile, then back out to Bell was successful, then that normally closes the Public Mobile account.

Not sure if Public Mobile could revive the account on a good will gesture here, due to circumstances.

But I suppose you could try to submit a ticket with CSA and ask nicely.

[JL9]

Oh wow - yeah so sounds like a different protocol then the typical porting. You should be able to smooth it out may just cost a little more than the typical process

[dabr]

@sdche    Oh dear...that is a mess (expensive one for Bell).  Did you get a response from either CSA's or the porting dept. yet?

[dust2dust]

That is a mess. So can you login to your account here? What does the phone say when you insert the sim?

[sdche]

Apparently I didn’t follow the correct process to “export” the number and it closed a company line instead of just taking the number, which incurred The Company (correct - ex employer) a contract breakage fee of upwards of $700. So not looking to be on the hook for that! 

The whole thing is just a mess…

[dust2dust]

When you say "The Company" do you mean your previous employer? It almost sounds like they yanked the number back by way of porting which would close the new account. That would be pretty brutal and unauthorized of them.

When you put in the sim from here what happens on the phone? Any messages? Can you login to the account you made?

[will13am]

@sdche , this is the number transfer process.  You need to acknowledge the port from the Bell end.  There should be no SIM lock associated with number porting.  

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-help/articles/choose-your-phone-number

[dabr · Accepted solution]

@sdche    You can submit a ticket for customer support via the chatbot here:  https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-help

You can also trying calling the Telus porting number (sending via private message, please check the message box top right) and see if they can help.