Frustrated residents of a Fife village are hoping a long-running phone farce will come to an end this weekend.
Communications giant BT have pledged engineers will work “throughout the night if necessary” to repair faults to landlines and broadband connections that have affected 10 homes in St Michaels for more than three months.
The problems have been ongoing since November 22 last year, despite workmen from Openreach, a division of BT, being sent out on numerous occasions.
When initially contacted by The Courier in January, BT apologised to the customers affected and said the problem would be fixed by the end of the month.
Five weeks later, however, many disappointed residents are still without landlines or broadband.
One of the affected customers, Jim Sneddon, said: “For over three months now we have had one excuse after the other, resulting in unfulfilled promises.
“For a communications company their performance leaves a lot to be desired and I find it very difficult to believe anything they say.”
Another resident, Kate Skillen said she was also unhappy and out of pocket as a result of losing her phone line for such a lengthy period.
“The cost to me in losing my landline is now well over £200, most of which is the cost of my incoming calls being diverted to my mobile phone,” she told The Courier.
“In addition, updates from BT on the progress, or rather the lack of progress, have also been spurious and often out of date.”
A spokesman for BT said engineers had encountered difficulties due to an access problem on the site as a result of contractors resurfacing the road, but these issues had now been resolved.
“We’ll be starting work early and finishing late and we’ll work throughout the night if necessary.
“Our engineers have also surveyed the site to see if it was suitable for an overground cable along the grass verge, but unfortunately this is not possible as there are a number of brick and tarmac entrances to properties along the road.
“Once again, we would like to apologise to everyone affected by this break in service.”