Edgewater mechanic's 800 number now a phone sex line

But in 2008, Verizon accidentally put 1-866-4PATRIOT on the open market and let it be sold to a phone sex company.

According to county Circuit Court documents, callers stopped hearing the specials at Patriot Auto Services that September and started hearing about erotic chat services.

"I was panicked," said Noyes, who is in the process of settling the dispute for $25,000. "I've had people come in and throw the kitchen magnets on my counter and say, 'What is this? Is this a joke?' "

A trial was scheduled Friday in Annapolis, but in light of the pending settlement, the hearing was postponed until April 14. Judd Legum, an attorney hired by Noyes, plans to drop the lawsuit before then - after his client receives his money.

"You would hope with any luck at all it would be forwarded to a hardware store ... but no such luck," said Bill Jackson, an attorney for Verizon.

He explained the number was "mistakenly canceled" and the phone company is trying to make amends with the settlement.

According to court documents, Noyes wasn't interested in money when the 800 number debacle started to unfold 14 months ago. The lawsuit, which eventually sought $500,000 in damages from Verizon, started off as a legal maneuver to force the phone company to give him back his phone number.

Noyes first contracted with Verizon in October 2003 to use the 800 number and have callers forwarded to his regular business line.

He said he wanted to "brand" his business at 115 West Central Ave., and have people remember his number. Specifically, he noted how most of his friends know the number for Empire Carpet off the top of their heads.

"1-800-588-2300, Empire Today," he said.

Everything went fine with Noyes' number until April 23, 2008. Unknown to him, that was when Verizon shut down the line and released it to the general market.

In August 2008, Primetel Communications Inc., a Philadelphia-based phone sex operator, purchased the number. And in September, the company started using it to promote erotic chat lines.

Noyes said he didn't know there was a problem with the number until Nov. 17, 2008, when one of his employees ran into one of their customers at a youth sporting event. Noyes had paid his bill in full until that point, he said.

Callers to the service station's 800 number were getting a generic message at that point directing them to call another toll-free number to "talk to fun people," according to court documents.

Those who called the second number then heard a message that began, "Hey there sexy guy."

Noyes almost immediately hired an attorney, who quickly secured a temporary restraining order against Verizon. A judge ordered the phone company to start forwarding callers away from the sex line and back to Patriot Auto Services.

The victory was shortlived, though. Verizon responded that it no longer owned the phone number and was unable to comply with the retraining order.

When it became clear Noyes wasn't going to be able to get his 800 number back, he sued Verizon for breach of contract. In April, he filed a complaint seeking $500,000.

Though Noyes said he had never heard of something like this happening before, he was not the first person to lose an 800 number to a phone-sex operator. He joins the Cook County Jail in Chicago, the New York City Fire Department, and a Michigan funeral home, according to published reports.

Noyes said he decided to settle his lawsuit for $25,000 rather than risk a trial.

"I'm not really happy with (the settlement), but ... a judge isn't going to give an award based on hurt feelings," he said.

Noyes said that though he spent more than $30,000 over the years promoting his 800 number, Verizon's actions did not put him out of business.

"We all have lives we have to get on living," he said.

For Noyes, that probably won't mean another 800 number, though.

"I'm afraid to do anything with any phone company," he said.