Fury in Devon town after businesses and residents were hooked up to the wrong phones numbers after phoneline fault
The fault has left the companies predicting thousands of pounds worth of losses
FURIOUS businesses and residents have been plagued with wrong numbers and cut off Internet connections after a week long BT bungle.
A fault in the underground network has been blamed for creating mass confusion for days on end with phone lines throughout Westward Ho! in Devon.
Businesses owners are furious over the stuff up, which left them without phone and Internet for more than a week.
It is understood the initial fault was caused by water getting into a cable.
Café Italia owner Harriet Wilson said she was furious after being left almost nine days without customers being able to call her shop.
She said sales slumped when her phone line cut out on the Friday night, with many customers thinking the new business was not open: “It’s absolutely outrageous.
“I’m a new business so at the end of July it will be the end of my second year and I’ve lost a lot through this – it dropped about 50 per cent.”
She said her business had been left in the lurch over the weekend with her left for days without being able to get answers.
Ms Wilson said: “We live in a world where everyone works seven days a week so things need to move quickly.
“We live in the 21st century, this shouldn’t happen.”
She said she was planning on seeking compensation for her business.
Furious Rob Braddick, who runs a string of seaside bars, bistros and pubs, said: "One poor Westward Ho! man was getting all our bookings coming in to his house phone for Braddick's Leisure.
"It got so bad he was forced to unplug his landline because he was getting call after call.
"We had the phonelines for The Pier House, The Waterfront and the holiday park all diverting to one mobile."
He said: "We had to take credit card details for The Waterfront at the amusement arcade over the road because they were the only one with a working card machine."
Mr Braddick said his stressed-out staff had been "running around like mad people" until most phonelines were finally reinstated on Sunday.
"It's been beyond belief - I think I'm a little greyer now."
Many businesses impacted by the bungle are now determined to sue for compensation.
The devastating communications breakdown blocked card payments at local businesses as the village's main cash machine also crashed.
Rock Pool Café owner Graham Persson said the café had been plagued by phone connection issues for two to three days.
He said: “Most of the businesses have had problems, we couldn’t use the card machines or take any phone orders.”
He said his business had been lucky to avoid long-term impacts.
He said: “I won’t (look for compensation) because I don’t think it would have impacted me too much.
“But it would have impacted others more.”
Other businesses reported having phone line issues for more than nine days.
Bev Coombes, of top Westward Ho! deli Delica Devon, said it had been an "absolute disaster" after her phone had been down for seven days.
"I had to turn people away if they wanted to pay with a card - and I couldn't take any orders over the phone.
"We've all lost business and will be looking to follow this with a compensation claim," she snapped.
"And this is the best bit.
"I had my line reinstated on Friday at last but when I tried calling it from my mobile on Saturday the shop phone wasn't ringing!
"I got back on to BT and it turned out they had reconnected me to someone else."
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Around 200 customers have been impacted by the fault in the underground network.
It is understood the issue would have impacted customers across all ISPs that offer services in the area, and not just customers of BT.
As well as hassled businesses, angry residents have also been cut off and are now worried about the privacy of any phone messages left for them.
Maggie Durkin said she was "disgusted" at the way hundreds of people had been treated.
She said: "When our phones went back on last Friday afternoon we were all so relieved we did not notice that our number was wrong.
"We have since discovered that we have someone else's number and after making contact through mobiles have found we are not alone.
"In this age of super highway broadband, one would think that communications would become far easier not much worse."
A BT spokesman said: "We would like to apologise to the households and businesses in Westward Ho which have been affected by a fault in the underground network.
"Our engineers have been working as quickly as possible to restore service on what has been an exceptionally complex repair.
"It included replacing several hundred metres of underground cabling and night time working because much of the job involved work at a road junction."
He added: "The majority of customers affected by the problems now have a normal working service again and we expect to have completed the job by the end of Wednesday.
"Due to the complexity of the operation, it is possible that a very small number of customers might experience crossed lines as engineers are carrying out their final checks and tests.
";If any customer continues to experience problems, he or she should report it to their service provider."
The company advised affected customers to discuss the issue of compensation with their service provider.