Red Cross Gets Squatter's Number

Acting on an emergency request from the American Red Cross, the FCC on Friday handed over control of the toll-free number 1-800-RED-CROSS to the nonprofit group, unceremoniously plucking it from the hands of corporate digit-squatters who'd been hoping for a six-figure payday.

"They weren't going to give it to us, and they were going to charge us ridiculous amounts of money to use it," says Chuck Connor, senior vice president of communication and marketing for the American Red Cross. "They were talking about the kinds of money that changed hands for 1-800-FLOWERS, which is ridiculous."

Hurricane Katrina propelled the Red Cross into its largest U.S. relief effort in history, mobilizing more than 10,000 staffers and volunteers to distribute food and clothing to victims, while housing 142,000 evacuees in more than 485 shelters.

Public support for the effort has been so great that the organization is warning on its website that callers in some areas may get intermittent busy signals when dialing the donation and volunteer line, 1-800-HELP-NOW (1-800-435-7669).

But would-be contributors will experience something more puzzling if they try to reach the organization through the most obvious, though wrong, phone number. Calls from Wired News to 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767) were answered Tuesday by a cheery male voice announcing, "Thank you for calling 800-Ideas.com Inc. of San Diego, California. We offer telecommunications service to the business community."

The upbeat recording refers callers to the company's main number, then hangs up.

According to Connor, "somebody was asleep at the switch" at the Red Cross when vanity 800 numbers became available decades ago, allowing the number to fall into the hands of squatters.

But Steve Parker, chairman of 800-Ideas.com, claims he acquired the phone number after founding a company called Red Arms, which by pure coincidence happens to share the same alphanumeric phone-pad translation as the Red Cross.

When he realized the situation, he began charging local Red Cross chapters a small per-minute fee to get the calls originating from their nearby calling area, he says.

"We make our living off of phone numbers that spell words," says Parker. "We've created companies like 1-800-FLY-CHEAP. We actually pioneered shared usage."

By Parker's estimate, he had about half a dozen of the more than 1,000 Red Cross chapters signed up for the service, when Connor demanded that he turn over the number to the national office.

Parker claims that during emergencies he voluntarily routes calls from 1-800-RED-CROSS to local Red Cross offices nationwide, and asked for his costs to be reimbursed as a condition of handing in the number. "The only thing that we would ever want from the American Red Cross is what it costs to maintain (the number) for 15 or 20 years," he says, estimating the amount in "the low six figures."

Connor says 800-Ideas.com wanted an exorbitant sum for the phone number.

The Red Cross finally asked the FCC to intervene last Friday in the wake of Katrina. The commission ruled the same day, noting its longstanding policies "against warehousing, hoarding and brokering of toll-free numbers" and the importance of the Red Cross' work.

The FCC order transfers 800-RED-CROSS to the organization for one year. It's not clear when the switch will occur, and calls late Tuesday continued to reach the 800-Ideas.com recording.

Connor expressed gratitude for the FCC's quick decision.

"We're a nonprofit organization," he says. "We're not going to be paying seven figure sums to some West Coast boiler-room operation for a number we should have had in the first place."