I forgot my mobile phone number at KwikFit!

It’s a whole annoyance, managing your car maintenance.

I just don’t want to be troubled with it. I don’t want to have to think about it all.

So when I noticed the left rear tyre kept on going flat, I decided I better do something about it. What a total arse.

I went to KiwkFit — the well known chain of mechanics. Sure enough they determined there was a tiny hole in the tyre. They ordered a new one and it arrived within an hour whilst I sat in the reception doing email. This was all good.

The problem came when I had to settle up. I didn’t have a KwikFit account so the chap asked me a few details — name, address and whatnot. I duly provided them.

When the chap asked for my mobile number, I gave it to him too.

It was only when I looked at the invoice an hour later that I realised I’d given him the wrong mobile number. I got the last three digits wrong.

Wrong!

I normally try and avoid rattling the digits off like some well known nursery rhyme so the other person doesn’t need to parse the melody to actually get the numbers. I try and say the number calmly and in an easy to digest format. There’s a friend of mine who regularly intersperses zeros and “ohs” which can get quite complicated. (“Oh-seven-zero-seven-oh…”)

In this case, standing in KiwkFit, I didn’t blank out. I just gave the wrong digits. I couldn’t have cared less. I didn’t notice. I think I said 140 instead of 104.

Normally I’m good at catching mistakes like this.

I just said it incorrectly.

Is this user error? Definitely.

It’s also a reflection of the changing times. How many people do I actually *give* my mobile number to, nowadays? Hardly anyone. It’s either on my email or it’s on a business card or, actually, it’s right here on Mobile Industry Review in the contact us section.

I’d be very interested to find out how many people actually call my mobile by entering the number and how many have it in some sort of address book system.

But those kind of analytics simply aren’t available. Or, if they were easily available, you can guarantee our silly mobile operators wouldn’t bother making them available.

It got me thinking though.

Why can’t I buy number variations from my mobile operator?

My number is: 07769 658 104. Here’s my question to Vodafone (who currently control that on my behalf): Is there anybody using 07769 658 140? No? Good. Sell it to me. Sell me a redirect for £12 per year.

Too complicated? Probably. Too silly? Maybe. Are there simply too many folk actually using these number ranges for this to ever work?