Unacceptable port in time

[speedingcheetah]

What a miserable experience trying to switch to Visible.

In my 25yrs or so of having a cell phone, and porting my number all over the place from carrier to carrier, NEVER, EVER, has it taken more than a few minutes for the port to happen.

Even from MVNO's (excluding VOIP based ones).

First i am told 4 to 24hrs...then when it did not happen, I am told, wait another 24 - 48hrs.

Couple hours after i started the port request via the chat, my ported number appeared in the my account profile and in the app, but the sim card sill worked on the old Visible assigned number.

I have literally had ports from VZW, to TM, Sprint, to TM , att, etc and back and forth over the years, by phone, in store, and most recent via app, and the port happens in minutes, if not immediately. Only time it took a few hours was when i mistyped the pin code and it was blocked, but took a 2 min call into support to fix that and it went.

I realize cell companies reps are trained to say ports take X to X time, as that has to be that way of a blanket statement to cover their liability and to give a buffer in case something goes wrong or customer error. But i know for a fact, having worked in the telecom industry, the port process is 99.9% automated thing now, only human interaction with it is the initial input request.   There is no valid reason to have it not trigger until 48hrs later.

Hopefully, Visible gets their digital cogs in check and my port happens sometime before I end up moving to Mars.

[speedingcheetah · Accepted solution]

For those reading this later on.  There finally has been a solution, no thanks to the people here or Visible support. But thanks to a random person on Redit.

The failure and fault lies with BOTH companies, TM and Visible.

Given wrong info by both companies.

First,  Visible gave me number to call TM prepaid to get account info.

TM agent stated account number is 1+phone number(this matches up with the many recent articles i find via google and from other cell companies port in documentations) 

I gave the info to Visible agent via chat, told would take 4 hrs.

Multiple chat and agents stated days later, still in progress, no errors info correct, just wait 24 - 48hrs.

Per a Redit user, i went to vzw.com/port  and there one can check status of port in to VZW/Visible and it gave an message that said account number does not match carrier records. After a call to TM again, this time got post paid rep, they said go into the online account portal and a certain page is the pre paid account number, it is not the phone number, they changed that not to long ago. 

I inputted the account number into the VZW page and submitted it, and the port happened a few minutes later. (ha see i was right!) I got email from Visible saying port done and email from TM saying my account canceled.  

So, Visible failed to give me correct time frame info, failed to provide correct status of port, and failed to notify me of an issue with it. And TM gave me incorrect info for account number in the first place...so yea. 

Either way, my point stands. Ports do NOT take 48hrs....it sakes a few minutes...when u have the correct info.

All this for $25 a month service...hope its worth it. 

[leowerp]

Lucky you,! I have been waiting for 5 days already and they still say they need 48 hours more. This is so frustrating with this company. What bothers me the most, is that this looks like a recurrent problem and they still have it over, and over, and over. What a poorly managed customer service and quality 

[jmo2021]

Wonderful, is this what I am to expect now too?  I am at hour 36, using the link above, I can see my number is in the verizon system but not tied to my visible account.   I wonder if I can go to a verizon store and just sign up with them.. I don't even care about the money at this point.  I am getting emails from my bank that my number is being removed due to it being disconnected.. Not to mention the medical issues this has caused for my wife.

[twobargers]

I've already canceled my service, but this is the only place I could find to share my woes.  I'm retiring from a very large company that has provided Verizon wireless service for me for many years.  When I worked with the IT team to prepare to port my number to Visible, they were clear on one point: "they will ask for your account number and PIN.  For security reasons we don't give our account number to departing employees, but Verizon has coded your number to "auto port" and you just use your phone number as the account and the last four digits of the number as your PIN".  

So, when I tried to complete the porting process in the app, it was rejected for "incorrect account number".  I was prepared for this and quickly got a chat agent aboard, explaining what Verizon had told me (through our IT team). After some back and forth, the agent told me the case had been "elevated" and I would receive an email within four hours with further instructions.

No email ever came.  However, the next day I checked the app and it indicated the transfer was in process, so I assumed we were good.  After another day, the app changed to show the number I was porting as my profile number and my "new" number.  Problem: the phone wasn't aware of the change and still used the number Visible assigned me.

So I contacted a chat agent again.  The agent told me two different versions:  the app has an error so ignore it.  When I asked for clarification, he said the app was correct and I should restart my phone.  So I restarted the phone with no change.  Then I got a different agent, who said the first agent was mistaken.  The "porting team" had cancelled my transfer request because I never provided a correct account number. Since I never received the first promised email I probably shouldn't have expected an email letting me know they had cancelled the port request, but I was ticked anyway.  Again, back and forth with the agent who treated me as if I hadn't already gone through all this multiple times before, and they ended the discussion by telling me to take it up with Verizon customer service.  

Now here's the thing - Visible may be right that they can't accept the phone number as an account number for porting (although that's how every other departing employee from my company has successfully transferred their numbers). It was the total lack of communication, compounded by conflicting information on the app and through different agents, that convinced me I'd better run before this got serious. At least right now I can still use my Verizon sim.

[WyzZero]

May have been about a year ago, but 

1) He complained about a statement of 4-24 hours and said he was told 24 - 48 hrs, like that is any better.

2) While it might not be exactly 99.9% automated, it is a figure of speech. Having done a few ports myself and doing one in a store with the sales rep, most of the info is entered through a computer or automated phone call, then suddenly your phone starts connecting. The longest was doing it at Xfinity, they had a lot of trouble connecting the phones, but left the store after closing and was done still by morning (rare, odd situation that the technician was baffled by at the time).

Anyhow, as I typed this, I finally started moving up in their chat queue, so hoping I have a better porting experience *crosses fingers*

[Splash4175]

I’m on day 14 waiting on porting , the chat people told me to use a different email address , then said had it fixed , then next chat person told me something different , and on and on . Still running on old service sim and getting charged by visible . I now have 2 phone numbers and 2 emails in my phone ! When I went to sign up I explained my dad was 95 , in hospice and would have to expedite my porting , last time with another company it took about 45 min . 3 days later I cancelled and what a nightmare! I tried to explain what happened and now have 47 hours of chat , and 14 days of waiting. Hope it’s worth it! 

[Splash4175]

They ported mine in on Dec 7th and still not done . I get promises from every live chat person I talk to now been 54 hours of life chat . That was when they ported in not when I signed up . It all happened because my 95 year old father is very I’ll and I only had their assigned number , which all the care givers and family didn’t have , it had been 3 days and hadn’t been ported , so I had to cancel, omg , that wasn’t thing to do. Then I tried to start process over telling them what happened , I now have 2phone nos and 2 emails , they wanted a different one from the original one , 2 cell companies , which visible keeps on charging my acct . Promises from every live chat person, how can it be that dang difficult ? 

[Marcobnan]

the same thing is now happening with me. I am porting in my number from T-Mobile to visible. For more than 3 days I am fighting with them to port in my number. My port in number appears on the profile, but the MDN is a different number and every day they tell me wait 24 hours or 48 hours which is a suspicious thing I start to doubt that Visible company is not trustworthy and I made a big fault to switch to it. 

[Viscomsite]

If port does not immediately succeed without the need for "tech" you be real lucky not to loose your. Very very poor on visible side of things. Got email that number was transferred and tech support says it active on a reseller and not available. Small chace of success in round 3 support.