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It’s good to talk but BT delays put halt to calls for Angus firm

Angus Horticulture business calls are being diverted to a mobile phone but there is not always a signal in rural Angus.
Angus Horticulture business calls are being diverted to a mobile phone but there is not always a signal in rural Angus.

An Angus business has been unable to receive incoming calls on its landlines for more than 10 weeks due to a series of failures by BT.

Fertiliser business Angus Horticulture, based near Friockheim, has hit out at the telecoms company over delays fixing a fault with its line, which was first reported to the company on June 1.

Sales director and part owner Stephen Appleton claims it took weeks for a repair to be arranged only for an engineer to realise that more traffic lights were needed before work could be carried out.

“It’s been delay after delay as the fault’s been passed around various departments of the company,” he said.

“An engineer came out and said they needed traffic lights and they’d need to organise permission and this could take three weeks. A month later nothing had happened.

“Then they managed to get lights but then said they needed more lights in more locations so didn’t do the job. The whole process then had to start again.”

Desperate to get the problem fixed, Mr Appleton asked where the traffic lights would be located. BT answered with a plan which showed lights sited in only one location.

“I said you’ve already told me you need lights in one location why are you requesting lights in just one location again? I got a defiant response to that.

“Then the traffic light company arrived on site but there was no BT engineer so they went away again.

“Within the last fortnight it was arranged again and lo and behold the BT engineer again said we need more lights, so now we are waiting for it all to be arranged again.”

Mr Appleton said calls into the office are being diverted to a mobile phone.

The problem was made even worse last week when their mobile phone signal was down for two days.

He added: “It’s very difficult to be aware of what business we are losing. Thankfully it’s not our busier time of year.

“If a customer has rung two or three times and they can’t get through then they will have gone to somewhere else.

“Our customers have been very understanding but it is getting tedious and embarrassing. It makes us look like we’re unprofessional and that we don’t have a decent set-up here.”

A spokesman for BT apologised for the delay in repairing the fault.

He said: “We’re sorry that it’s taken longer than usual to repair the fault. Complex underground engineering work, including the need for temporary traffic lights in multiple locations, has delayed the repair.

“Openreach engineers are returning to the site this week to continue the cable repair work. In the meantime, incoming calls are being diverted to the customer’s mobile.”