Legitimate phone numbers being blocked

[FedUpBoston]

Hello, in the hope of avoiding the dreaded call to Verizon, perhaps members can give advice.

Randomly, we discover that Verizon has, without our knowledge or permission or any action on our part, blocked the number of a person we have phone calls with. Then some amount of frustration and time delay later, I find out Verizon's unforced error and UNblock that number.

AFAIK Dig Voice is not sophisticated enough to perform the audio version of a Captcha to screen for robocalls, and there is no notification when a new number has been blocked.

Thanks for any suggestion how to get Verizon to stop this, or to be notified when they cause unnecessary harm.

[dexman]

I'm a bit unclear about the blocking of the telephone number in question.  Is the telephone number being added to the included block list by itself?

With Verizon Digital Voice, a subscriber can block calls from people who try to hide their telephone number by pressing *67. There is also a small list of telephone numbers that can be added to stop calls from ringing in. There is (or was) a way to add more blocking capabilities by signing up for nomorerobo. 

[FedUpBoston]

Thanks for responding. These numbers are being blocked spontaneously, without any action on my part. I do not use *67 and in any event, the number in question belongs to a person we know well.

I do on occasion block spam numbers (mostly an exercise in futility) via verizon website or android app.

Don't have much hope, but wouldn't it be sound business practice for verizon to log every single addition and deletion to the customers blocked list?

[dexman]

Hi again,

*67 would be used by the caller to prevent their telephone number from appearing on your telephone's display. Just wondering, was your telephone number ported to Verizon from another carrier (Comcast, RCN/Astound...)?

Porting telephone numbers from one carrier to another has been around for a while, but mishaps can and sometimes do happen. Unfortunately, to properly troubleshoot such problems requires getting people who normally do not directly interact with customers involved. 😐

[FedUpBoston]

We've been verizon customers back to when it was NYNEX, so no.

[jeffs1351]

I recently had the same thing happen to me, except it was my own cellphone being blocked. Verizon couldn't figure out what was causing it, and TMobile confirmed it was on the Verizon side. My cell number was not listed on any of the blocked lists... When calling the house number from my cell it immediately went to a recording saying that the house number was not accepting calls. Finally fixed it by logging in to Verizon.com/myVerizon, selecting my cell number from the call logs, selecting block, then go back and select unblock, and now everything works again.

[FedUpBoston]

We are unfortunately well aware of the method for Verizon customers to remove a legitimate # from the blocked list.

What is lacking from V. is (1) any concern at all for customers and (2) the skill / talent to use common-sense logic, such as: if you placed a call to a number, V should never automatically block it. (Ditto BTW for Verizon's AOL email)

[FedUpBoston]

Final post in this thread (you hope).

Just to rub salt in the wound, after I reminded myself that the near-useless My Verizon app does NOT support un-blocking, I found that, on the V website, the listing of blocked calls so helpfully shows 000-000-0000 for each incoming number. That's a new "feature" since the last time I had to undo V's screwup. Example shown here.

Customer chat accomplished its purpose, which is simply to frustrate the customer. That's 45 minutes of my life I will not get back. And of course, since V is beholden to no one, they do not allow copying the chat window, in order to avoid embarrassment.

[dexman]

I have vague memories of a situation where calls were coming in from overseas. The calling telephone numbers were missing digits, so Verizon's filter didn't catch them, and they rang through with the word "Unavailable" for both the name and originating telephone number.  🤔