In the midst of starting a new e-business, we needed to get a toll free telephone number. It’s not hard to get one, just call up whoever your telephony provider is and you can easily get a ‘877’ telephone number in just a few minutes.
But we didn’t want an ‘877’ number, we wanted an 800 number and worse we wanted a specific 800 number.
Your telephone company will tell you that there are no 1-800 numbers available and you may simply settle on the remaining 877 toll free numbers. But 877 says to me that you’re a new company, just starting, we wanted to look a bit more established and professional. It's the little things that matter. So what to do?
Toll free numbers I figured are similar to .com domain names, plenty of cybersquatting. I happened upon the website www.tollfreenumbers.com which purported to say they could help us get not only a 1-800 number but also the specific 1-800 we were looking for, all at a very reasonable price and almost immediately as well.
I was dubious. The website was a messy bunch of text with all kinds of testimonials (real or made up, I had no clue). I even looked at the source html and it was generated by WordPress, a blogging software package (not a good sign). I couldn’t find the company using the Better Business Bureau web site. All kinda of scary. But the text was written in a honest folksy way and having little to lose, I filled out the web form, (they asked me for a shipping address, huh?), I continued despite all this and put in my credit card number and waited. I figured I would get the classic call “yes, we can help you but we need more money/time or no we can’t get you that number, but have another one†or maybe I'd hear nothing and away with my money they would go.
I promptly got an email confirming my order (so far so good). Now what? Less than an hour later, I got an email confirming that had my specific 1-800 number and had activated it (temporarily forwarding to my office line) and enclosing directions on how to “port†the number to the carrier of my choice. I called the number and sure enough, it worked. I was amazed and happy.
Bill Quimby is the owner of www.tollfreenumbers.com and I must say at this point, I’m a satisfied customers. I got the 800 number I wanted in record time and for a reasonable amount of money. So in atypical Kranky fashion, I recommend them.