"Joey" could not contain his inner shark when he heard National A-1 –- the call center companion to Primetel -- was raided last week, reportedly as a result of Escorts.com, a site, like Craig’s List, that may have been abused by prostitutes under the pretense of running escort services.
Mr. Bill Quimby, in an article naively published by the Philadelphia Inquirer and on Philly.com, promotes Mr. Quimby’s illusion that this prostitution inquiry will somehow affect the toll free industry. In it, he states that, “They’re more mafia-like than any organization I’ve seen or heard,” and -- most strikingly -- accuses Primetel of criminal fraud, “They forge paperwork, yank numbers; they don’t care what other people think about them."
If you’re looking for a “national expert” on how to “forge paperwork, yank numbers,” then Joey “The Shark” Quimby is your man. His lashing out at National A-1 has all the moral authority of Bernie Madoff accusing others of running Ponzi schemes.
Mr. Bill Quimby has over 300 documented "yanks" this year alone, and over 1,000 in recent years. To put this activity into perspective, Mr. Bill Quimby’s “yanked” more than twice as many numbers with than the 5 major carriers combined, in their normal course of business, specifically, AT&T (9), Sprint (31), Verizon (3), Qwest (86), and Global Crossing (3).
While these major carriers manage millions of numbers, Mr. Bill Quimby manages around 30,000, many of which are brazenly for sale as “premium numbers” on his website -- instantly delivered (read that as illegally warehoused). In the same period, Primetel (19) executed about a dozen and a half SMS-10’s, while managing over 2 million numbers.
The toll free oversight committee, SNAC, has called for the investigation of Mr. Bill Quimby and others who abuse the SMS-10 process, and DSMI banned the use of SMS-10’s for number in transitional status, reportedly to block the late-night seizures by Mr. Quimby, almost always on the very night the disconnected numbers would have, otherwise, gone spare. In effect, Mr.Bill Quimby’s “cutting in line” service was depriving the public of any chance at these numbers. His published fees for this “service” were just under $1,000, so it would be reasonable to assume that Mr. Quimby “earned” over a quarter of a million dollars this year alone by allegedly hijacking toll-free numbers in the dark of night.
Mr. Bill Quimby contends that his “cutting in line” service obtains the signatures of the rightful subscribers. Funny, though, that these “old customers,” always seem to sign documents on the day their numbers go spare – hundreds purportedly have – always around 7-9 PM, Eastern. Right!
We don’t buy Mr. Quimby’s contention. After witnessing first hand his late night seizure of 1-800-Go-Power with forged paperwork, we learned for a fact he never contacted the rightful subscriber. There have been many similar reports. If you have a documented incident of fraud to share, please contact us at tollfree@800.net. Remember, the subscribers right of privacy does not extend to 3rd parties commiting wire fraud, so there's no legal requirement to hide forged paperwork.
It is essential to note that Mr. Quimby’s seizures have recently come to a halt because he’s been spooked by the potential of an investigation– not because of this ban on “yanking” numbers in transitional status. More to the point, if he had been legally rescuing numbers for the rightful subscribers, why would he stop? Mr. Bill Quimby could have easily got around the ban by recovering disconnected numbers two days earlier in the cycle, when they are typically in disconnect status, had he really had “old customers” signing legitmate documents. We believe that the true nature of his "cutting in line" service is self-evident.
At any rate, Mr. Bill Quimby's public attacks on Primetel were unwarranted and untruthful, and are especially insidious coming from someone who has made, “yanking” numbers an art form. From our considerable experience, it is uncharacteristic for "Primetel" to "yank" toll free numbers, certainly not without the legal paperwork.
Finally, the Philly.com article also relays a story of a New York businessman, Jan Uzzo, whos number was reported "taken," by Primetel. More likely, it was picked up by Primetel. Usually, numbers are lost after they've been disconnected for non-payment, and drop spare. Sadly, once numbers go spare they are unretrievable, so Uzzo's comments may be a result of misplaced anger. If anyone knows Mr. Uzzo, please encouage him to contact us at TollFree@800.net and we will be glad to run a history on the toll free number in question.