can't activate my credit card with vonage service

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 07, 2005 Posts: 3

Hi,
I searched the forums and didn't find the answer. Maybe I didn't put in the right words. Anyways, I applied for a credit card(amazon) and received my cards in the mail the other day. I called into the credit card company and put in my account info. A pre-recorded message says "Please call from your home phone" and hangs up. What's the deal? When I call my cell from my vonage it displays the right caller id. Is anyone else having a problem like this? Help.
Thanks,
Gav

Posts: 73 · Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2005 4:24 pm Post subject:

I assume that you're trying to activate your credit card now that you've received it? I would start by calling the bank that issued the card (number should be on the back of the card...not the number you're calling to activate the card) and see what they have to say. Maybe they're having some kind of problem with their activation system? If they're not having problems with their activation system, then maybe your caller ID info is not getting properly passed off to the number you're calling to activate the card. This would be an issue you'd have to take up with Vonage to see what's happening. Even though it's showing up properly when you call your cell phone, sometimes caller ID info shows up differently depending on who you're calling. When I call places from my cell phone, some places it shows up as "Wireless Caller" and some places it shows up as "Raleigh NC". When I call from my Vonage line, some places it shows up as "Vonage Holdings" and some places my phone number shows up in place of the name. Maybe your phone number isn't getting sent properly to the number you're calling to activate your card. Name shouldn't matter on caller ID when calling to activate a credit card...just number. Another possibility could be that when you were filling out your application for the card you accidentally put in a wrong phone number (even 1 number wrong would mess things up)...or when your credit card account was created the phone number got messed up in transfer from the application to the actual account.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 07, 2005 Posts: 3

Yes, I'm just trying to activate my card that I received. I think I read somewhere on the forum that when you make an 800 call sometimes your caller id wasn't passed through. I'm thinking this is the case? Anyways, I'll try to call the bank first and vonage second. I can never seem to get through tech support with vonage anyways.
thanks

Posts: 176 · Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2005 5:22 pm Post subject:

When you call an 800 number the number that shows up is usually a 973 Vonage number. Happens when I call my wife at work. At first she asked, "Where the heck are you?" Then we realized what info was being sent.

Someone with more knowledge of ANI and numbers will chime in and explain it better, I'm sure.

Posts: 126 · Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 1:17 am Post subject:

SuperDave wrote:

When you call an 800 number the number that shows up is usually a 973 Vonage number. Happens when I call my wife at work. At first she asked, "Where the heck are you?" Then we realized what info was being sent.

Someone with more knowledge of ANI and numbers will chime in and explain it better, I'm sure.

Hmmm.... Ive tried several 800 numbers and they all show my number. I dont know what name they show, due to the nature of the phone itself, but it does indeed show the number, and my number always shows up. Is that just the luck of the draw?

Posts: 3198 · Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 8:28 am Post subject:

this is because that number, and I think all cc activation numbers, work off of the ANI, which is different from caller id. your ani will show 973 as dave said. there is apparently no way around this.

Posts: 215 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Nov 24, 2004 Posts: 215

There is only 1 RTP relay in the whole country that connect 800-xxx-xxxx calls. And this is in Newark New Jersey. So when you call any 800 number they think you are in NJ.

This is why numbers like 1-800-PIZZAHUT will not work, because it is supposed to connect you to your local pizza hut, however it thinks you are in Newark New Jersey.

Posts: 70 · Full Forum Member Joined: Jun 17, 2004 Posts: 70

Weird. I just activated my US Bank debit card last night from home over my Vonage line without any problems at all. I called their 800 number on our Spokane phone that has a Seattle number as the primary.... so the caller ID on our phone shows a Seattle #, our old # before we moved east. So even though the caller ID is way off, I still didn't have a problem.

Posts: 3198 · Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 2:07 pm Post subject:

spokane and seattle are both washington aren't they? what do you mean by moving east? is this a different number than you signed up for the card with?
and does US Bank have a number verification system? maybe not all companies employ this security method.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 07, 2005 Posts: 3

Hey, what makes you so special that it works for you? haha. Well at least I know its the service and there is nothing wrong with mine. Maybe its something they'll put on their "to do" list.