BENDIGO business owner Denis James Jeffrey was delighted yesterday when a representative from Telstra turned up at his Lily Street workshop to connect his phone service.
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After the Bendigo Advertiser reported yesterday that the mechanic had been without a phone for nearly two weeks, his new Telstra phone service is now up and running.
Mr Jeffrey's phone service was disconnected on May 5 because his provider went into administration.
His phone service provider, Conec2, had failed to pay its bills to Telstra for use of its infrastructure and Telstra had been forced to disconnect the service.
Mr Jeffrey's business, Bendigo Brake and Front End Service, was crippled without the use of a phone because customers could not contact him.
On Thursday a Telstra area manager personally visited him to arrange the connection to Telstra.
Mr Jeffrey said he was very happy that everything was now sorted out.
The sudden disconnection inconvenienced thousands of Australians and angry customers have created a facebook page.
The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman has been inundated with complaints and has advised all Conec2 customers to seek new services.
Conec2 was losing $180,000 per month and had failed to pay its bills to suppliers Telstra, AAPT and Vocus.
It is understood that offers of a rescue package to save Conec2 and two other retail brands, One Telecom and One Seniors, were made by several of its creditors during the week, but refused by business owners.
Lawyers for Telstra told the Victorian Supreme Court in early May that it had cut off thousands of landline telephone and some mobile services associated with Conec2.
The disconnection of the One Seniors phone service has also created angry responses from customers.
Country Women's Association Bendigo member Allison Nye said the outage was a nuisance.
"It has affected how we operate as an organisation," Ms Nye said.
- With AFR
