THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 30, 1995 TAG: 9508290116
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
The instructions for reaching Beach-Line, the city's pre-recorded telephone information system, seem clear enough.
Right there on page 15 of the blue pages in the new telephone book, under the city of Virginia Beach listings, it says in bold type ``YOU MUST DIAL 427-3580 FIRST THEN ENTER ANY 3-DIGIT CODE''.
Unfortunately, the instructions apparently are not quite clear enough. Especially when the listings jump to page 16 but the instructions aren't repeated.
``We're getting quite a few complaints from citizens in the 427 exchange who are getting our calls,'' said Pam Ford, citizen services coordinator with the city's Public Information Office, ``and we're at a loss as to what to do about it.''
According to Ford, the source of the problem comes, at least in part, from the fact that those who get the listing from the phone book often confuse the system with those used by hospitals. Those wishing to call patient rooms are instructed to dial the exchange prefix, followed by a certain digit, then followed by the patient's three digit room number.
That is not the case with Beach-Line in which the whole seven digit number must be dialed first, followed by the three digit code for the recording the caller wishes to hear.
When the caller misunderstands and dials 427, adds a 3 (the fourth digit of the 427-3580 number) and follows it by the three digit code, what he or she often reaches is a private home.
``At first one family which was getting a lot of calls put a funny message on their answering machine saying that they didn't have anything to do with trash pick-up,'' Ford said.
The novelty of the calls wore off very quickly, however. Since one of the primary reasons for Beach-Line is to give citizens 24-hour access to information, the calls can come at any hour.
``Being woken up at 6 a.m. by someone who wants to know when his trash will be picked up gets old real fast,'' Ford commented sympathetically.
Ford hopes to have a fool-proof system for listing Beach-Line numbers before next year's phone book comes out. In the meantime, she has one word of advice for callers.
``Dial 427-3580 first, then dial the last three digits.'' by CNB