ATLANTA - They may expect Southern charm, but some BellSouth Internet
customers
found the service was a little too friendly when they called a toll-free
number
listed in the phone book.
The number for a phone sex operation was mistakenly printed in most of the 50
million residential phone books the company sent out in the past year.
In previous years, BellSouth's White Pages listed the number for its Internet
services line as 1-800-4DOTNET. In the 2002 books, the company decided to put
the corresponding numerals, but botched one number.
The mistake was caught Feb. 13 when a customer complained, BellSouth
spokesman
David Rogers said this week. Residential phone books sent out since then have
been corrected.
The wrong number was listed in the front customer guide section of the White
Pages, Rogers said. However, the correct number was still under the
appropriate
heading in the business listings, he said.
BellSouth had considered buying the phone sex operation's number to avoid
confusion with its customers, but abandoned that idea, Rogers said.
__________________
The practice of putting women on pedestals began to die out when it was discovered that they could give orders better from there.~ Betty Grable
The company I retired from had a similar experience. On a health care mailing about three years ago, they accidently transposed two numbers in the phone number they posted. It ended up being an adult site.
They sent out a letter of correction and told employees not to call the originally published number "on company phones!" Hundreds of calls had already been posted.
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