Brazen thieves have cost a Plumpton business dozens of customers and tens of thousands of dollars of lost trade.
Avanti restaurant manager Joseph Brancaleone said the restaurant was one of more than 120 Rockbank and Plumpton premises left without phone services when thieves vandalised copper cables at the Rockbank telephone exchange.
Thieves took copper cables, estimated to cost $15,000, from a nearby factory then tried to steal the cables from the exchange.
The exchange cables were damaged and 128 customers were unable to make or receive calls from their landlines on July 22 and 23.
“The problem we encountered was that not only were our phones down but our internet was also down,” Mr Brancaleone told Star Weekly. “And to make the matters worse, the worst thing to happen to a business, the Eftpos machines were down . . . and 95 per cent of our business transactions are through credit cards.”
Mr Brancaleone said he had “the headache of all headaches” trying to run a business without a phone line as most potential customers phoned the Avanti before going there. He said many customers who had already made reservations refused to go when they heard the Eftpos machines were down.
“With the cost of everything skyrocketing and business taking a downturn, we didn’t need this,” he said. “We don’t even know where to start or who to ask for compensation because I can’t prove what I lost.”
Police sergeant Chris Jackman told Star Weekly offenders take copper cables to scrap metal yards and exchange them for cash.
“Police are following up several closed-circuit TV cameras in the area.”
A Telstra spokesman confirmed the incident and apologised to customers who had lost the use of their phone lines for two days.
“Replacement cables had to be sourced and installed and technicians worked as quickly as possible to restore services on July 24,” he said.
A week after the incident, Mr Brancaleone said he was still having trouble with his phone lines.
