Fixed Line Means Fixed Address

Those who know what I do, probably also know that I am looking at data quality, its technology, its market, its usage, etc. And so I can't help it but notice those situations when data quality has gone wrong. Particularly when it involves me personally. The latest screw-up is from my telecoms provider...

We have a regular ISDN (that is, a now called "Universal") connection in the house. It contains three numbers, home, fax, and office. My daughter, who's at the age of "telephonitis syndrome", has her own phone in her room and so we don't have to pick up all her calls, I wanted a fourth number that I assign to her room in the PBX, and have her friends call the new number. So far so good.

I call the telecoms operator and order a new number. No big deal, as an ISDN line can carry 10 numbers. The lady asks for my customer number, full name, and birth date, to verify it's me. I'm told they will assign a new number, probably quite different from the ones I have and send me a confirmation with the date by which it becomes active. Or so they thought....

A week later. Nothing. Three weeks later. Nothing. Over a month later I get a letter from the telecoms company stating that their original confirmation letter has been returned to them because it was undeliverable. Huh? First I thought, they sent a simple confirmation by registered mail and I wasn't at home? That wasn't the case. The problem was, that the telecom company sent the letter to my old address. My old address that I had left more than 5 years ago! And I definitely don't have a telephone number in someone else's house. The operator knows where I'm living, as my current address is where their own fixed line ends, which they should know. And that's the same address, to which they send the bill every month. Hellooooo!

Looks like poor telecoms company have a bit of a data issue, because their records between order management, billing, CRM, and probably another dozen applications simply don't match up. Oh well, another story for the next data quality presentation.