Two cellphones

For the last two and a half months, I've had to carry around two cellphones. And, not out of choice. Alessandro and I signed new contracts with the mobile telephone company named 3. He was able to keep his old cellphone number that he had with WIND and transfer it to the new telephone. I put in my request at the same time and TIM has not granted me the right to keep my telephone number with my new cellphone provider.

A week or so after Alessandro was able to keep his phone number on his new phone, he called his friend who works at 3 to see what was taking mine so long. They said that TIM has the right to refuse my request to keep my number and use it with a new cellphone provider twice before having to accept it.

After my request was denied twice, I got a phone call from TIM but no one was on the other line when I answered it. A few days later, I received a message on my cellphone stating that my credit was running out. I was debating whether or not to add 10 more Euros while I wait for my number to be placed onto my new cellphone.

I received another SMS from TIM a day later stating that I had been given 30 Euros in credit on my phone. Then, they sent me another message thanking me for accepting their special offer and staying with them.

I was so upset that I called 3 the next morning. I refused to use any of the credits that TIM had given to me for free initially because I didn't want them to think that I had accepted their offer. I talked to a lawyer at 3 and told him everything that happened. He said that they will have to talk to the legal department at TIM. And, that was about a month ago.

At the beginning of this week, I received a call from another woman in 3's legal department asking me if I wanted to no longer move my old telephone number to my new cellphone because TIM said that I accepted their offer and was planning on staying with them.

I think every negative word I know in Italian came spilling out my mouth. But, mostly I said that the people that told her that at TIM are bugiardi (liars) because I never talked to anyone and I never accepted any offer.

The woman said she'd call me back and unfortunately hasn't yet done so. Alessandro called his friend today who works at 3, and he said that he's writing another letter to TIM requesting that I be allowed to keep my old phone number.

So, now I have to drag around two cellphones in my purse everywhere I go because I don't want to give everyone my temporary number because I keep hoping that my old number will be put on my new cellphone. A few of my friends told me to just use the new number, but now that TIM has lied about my wanting to stay with them, I'm more adamant than ever about getting my number from TIM.

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