AN Orange woman, whose family has been left without telephone and internet access for 10 days, says she feels insulted by the treatment she’s received from Telstra management and the member for Calare John Cobb.
Debbie Egli yesterday said she and several other McLachlan Street residents were left technologically stranded after a truck severed an above ground phone line on September 20.
Ms Egli is furious her son, who is in the final stages of HSC preparation, was left without internet access for such a lengthy period of time.
Ms Egli’s son is completing his HSC as part of the e2 program which relies on internet access .
“You try to keep it as stress free as possible for him and when this happens that all just falls apart,” Ms Egli said.
Ten days of frustrating attempts to have the line fixed culminated when Ms Egli was forced to contact the communications ombudsman.
She also contacted the office of federal Member for Calare, John Cobb, some 10 days after the line initially failed in the the hope Mr Cobb may help resolve the ongoing issue.
“I am insulted as a resident and parent on the grounds my federal member hasn’t returned my calls in the exact same way Telstra Countrywide didn’t keep in touch with me throughout this entire thing,” she said.
“It’s insulting to the memory of Peter Andren who worked so hard for this area on this issue. We need someone like him that will step up on these problems and issues, not someone who is silent.”
Telstra Countrywide general manager Chris Taylor yesterday rejected suggestions McLachlan Street residents’ telephone and internet connections were cut off for 10 days.
Mr Taylor said the line was repaired two days after it initially failed, with further repairs completed on September 25.
The Telstra Countrywide GM also rejected rumours the Orange-based maintenance crew had been cut back after Bathurst and Dubbo Telstra employees were forced to travel to Orange to repair the damaged line.
Mr Cobb also responded to the issue and said he would be happy to talk with Ms Egli about her complaint.
“We’re not sure what the issue is, we don’t have a record of the complaint to our office and we have checked with staff,” Mr Cobb said. “Mistakes can happen and she certainly didn’t call on Friday as the CWD first told us and we also don’t have a record of a call on Tuesday.”