Request old number back, how hard can that be!!

Question

I placed an order online for both infinity 2 and Telephone on the 23rd of September, however other than an order reference sent on email there was no further contact from BT, so I decided to call and find out when I was likely to have my service transferred from my previous ISP to BT only to be told my order was pending within the system and a new order had to be placed.
I then placed the order with a sales representative that was only concerned about making the sale and gave me inaccurate information in relation to requesting my old number back from my previous ISP, as I was informed I could only make the request for my old number once my telephone and normal broadband was switched to BT.
I was given a date for the transfer of my service on the 7th of october, whereby we didn't then have and telephone or broadband facilities from 0:00am on the 6th of October till 20:00pm on the 8th, therefore the very next day I requested my old number back and attempted to order BT infinity 2 online.
apparently BT systems don't allow two orders to be placed at the same time so both orders somehow got cancelled, therefore I called customer services to order infinity 2 once again only to be told 4 days later that this order had also been cancelled.
Someone then called with an Indian accent that I had a job understanding (does BT vet these call centres to ensure the staff that work there are intelligible ? ) stating that both by telephone and infinity orders had again been cancelled and I had to choose/prioritise what I wanted to be done first; such as infinity or my old number back, I naturally asked to have my old number back as my wife runs a beauty salon business from home that she has already lost custom; due to two new numbers already being issued to us.
A new order was placed to request my old number back on the 16th of October to which I was told I had to wait eleven days for this to complete and then I could order infinity.
I decided to call again this morning (23rd october) to request an update only to be told again by someone with an Indian accent (constantly asking him to repeat what he had said!! ) that they could not find my order again and informed me that they he had placed the order once again to which I have to wait five days, whereby he would call me back to pursue with my infinity order..
How hard can it be to transfer my services to BT, my previous ISP completed the transfer on the date I was given, yet I'm still waiting for BT to have my number transferred from BT wholesale unbelievable!!
I've even looked at my online bill and most of the charges I have incurred are from trying to sort out this mess by calling customers services in Falkirk that I am reluctant to pay as both my infinity and telephone orders are cancelled not from my doing but an ordering system that has numerous flaws built within in it, I'm annoyed with the whole process and wish I had stayed with my previous ISP, so can someone help me escalate this or guide me in the right direction to sort this issue out by somehow getting my old number back?? (30 day limit before my number is issued to someone else)   
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Answer 1

After finally speaking with someone that first of all I could understand from Falkirk (not somewhere in Asia) and knew what they were doing, a test was done by placing a request for my number there an then to see what error message would display, then an only then did the representative know what type of request/form needed to be made.
After seven days a mobile text was received stating that I had finally retrieved my old number back, although what I would advise everyone when switching to BT from a previous ISP and placing an order over the phone; make sure the request to transfer your old number is part of that initial order and don't let the sales department give you any inaccurate jargon/information to finalise that sale, customer services are apparently the only ones that can request your old number back as part of that order.
Even though I have finally retrieved my old number back I am still now waiting for that number to be assigned to my broadband line as I still cannot upgrade to infinity with my broadband currently assigned to the number I was initially given when I switched to BT, therefore the system wont allow me to upgrade until the system recognises my details.
Good Luck to anyone that encounters the same problems that I have, as its now been 5 weeks since my first order for BT for infinity, hopefully I will be able to place an order sometime today when both my telephone line and broadband are synced to the same telephone number.