Residents of a new housing development in Stonehaven could soon have their phone lines installed – six months after they moved in.
Homes at the town’s St Leonard’s Court, in Bath Street, were due to have working land lines in February, but are still waiting.
Michael Reid and his wife Sue have become increasingly frustrated at the situation, and claim they have been treated with “contempt” as they tried to get answers about when a line would be installed at the 20 flats and townhouses.
Yesterday Mr Reid, 76, said: “We’re six months on and we’re still no further forward. BT are treating us with total contempt and keep telling us different things.
“We’ve had the usual apologies and them acknowledging there is a problem, but then they tell us not to ring them because they can’t give us an update as to when the matter will be resolved.
“They don’t tell us what is going on and are treating us like a load of idiots.”
Sir Robert Smith, MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, has now stepped in to get answers from the company, and will hold a meeting for St Leonard’s Court residents in Stonehaven tomorrow.
As well as writing to BT demanding action, he said the firm needed to consider how it was going to compensate the residents for any online discounts they had missed out on for things like home insurance and bills since they moved in.
But last night, there was a glimmer of hope for the residents – as BT announced work would start next week to finally instal the phone lines.
A spokesman said: “Our original plans for the cable route to the new development could not be executed due to technical difficulties with our existing network. As a result, the whole scheme had to go back to our planners for a complete re-design which required a new underground cable being buried in an alternative route from our street cabinets into the site.
“A temporary traffic restraining order (TTRO) has now been granted and work will start next week to dig and rebuild the underground ducts. The TTRO will allow a road closure to get round the earlier issue of parked cars. Cabling work will be completed as soon as the ducting is replaced.
“We’re sorry it’s taking so long to complete this work but the technical difficulties we encountered meant we had to go back to the drawing board and start the whole planning process over again.”