Ex-Directory

[thugulike]

My telephone number has been ex-directory for over 30 years. I had a surprise call on my landline on Saturday (the number is never given out) and when I asked where he'd got the number from he said it was available from BT online. I have tried to ring them today to have it removed but Connor in Dublin hung up on me. Cheers for that. I no longer use BT for my landline. Does anyone know how I can get the number removed from the public list please? It was made ex-directory on police advice.

[Prudie]

Have you checked yourself whether your number is showing on BT's online directory? If so I'd persist with contacting them. If it's not then the caller wasn't being truthful.

[thugulike]

yes I've checked and it's there. But they won't stay on the phone. They ask for an account number and hang up as soon as they realise I'm no longer a customer

[bhg481]

Which company are you with for your telephone? It is they who will have sent your number to BT and they who you have to contact to get them to stop publishing it.

[dannyk13]

If you have ever posted your number on line for any purpose the scammers will manage to get hold of it.

[Flonska]

"Ex directory" is as it is suggested - the number is not included in the phone directory.

However, these days, many cold call/sales calls are made using a computer program which dials one number after another in sequence.

If your number is within the range of numbers in a particular dialling sequence you are likely to receive a 'phone call whether you are "ex directory" or not.

[dannyk13]

I am also ex directory and my number is not shown on the BT on line directory. I do get scam calls so the scammers must have obtained my number elsewhere, probably as I suggested above.

[ubasses]

thugulike has checked the Bt directory and found his number listed. bhg has given the correct answer, it must be sorted out through the new provider.
That doesn't mean that the spammer got his number from there, but will have checked to make sure it was.

[Buenchico]

All UK directory enquiry services (whether that be the BT Phone Book or companies like 118 118) use the OSIS database, which collates data from all landline providers and it's only those providers who can authorises changes to that database.

By default all subscribers numbers are included in the database. While you were with BT your number was withheld from the database (because you'd instructed them to do so) but when you switched to your new provider you failed to tell them to withhold your number, so the default situation (where your number is automatically included in the database) applied from that date.

So it's not BT you need to be contacting. It's your current landline provider, as they're the only people who're allowed to change the database.

[thugulike]

Thanks for your answers. I have now contacted Utility Warehouse and they are removing the number via BT.

[thugulike]

It wasn't a spammer who got through but a neighbour. I have call guardian so I rarely get any calls at all on my landline, I only have it for broadband. My landline number has never been used anywhere that's why I was so surprised when the phone rang. And I'm not a bloke BTW

[douglas9401]

Ok ma'am, got your number now.

[diddlydo]

Slightly off on a tangent.....we're ex-directory (BT) and have registered with telephone preference service. We still got loads of Asian-sounding random phone calls until I reported one via the BT blocking number (1572) - since then nothing! Hooray!