BT dispute and fire leaves Thai massage parlour on the brink

Somwang Khanajan, owner of Beautiful Massage on Commercial Road, has been left fighting for her business after the telecoms company changed the parlour's landline, resulting in her losing £18,000 in lost custom in five weeks, she claimed.

The mum of two who has lived in the UK for 14 years said the trouble has left her “crying on the phone”.

She said: “They have never given me an explanation as to why they changed my number. I was so stressed because customers were not coming. I couldn’t eat anything because I was so stressed.”

It comes after the massage parlour was ‘ruined’ in a tumble dryer fire in December last year, costing the businesswoman between £13,000 and £15,000.

BT has apologised for the issues and Somwang was offered three months’ worth of free landline costs.

Beautiful Massage, on Commercial Road (Image: Newsquest)READ MORE: Thai massage parlour owner says business is 'ruined' after tumble dryer blaze

In April last year, the businesswoman first noticed the issues when customers would ask why no one was picking up the phone.

After calling her mobile from the business’s landline she realised the number had changed without her knowledge.

“I have always used my landline for advertising my business. I had never asked them to change it”, the Thai mum told the Echo.

She tried calling BT but was told someone would call her later.

The ordeal went on for another five and half weeks which resulted in a significant drop in clientele – going from eight to ten customers a day, to around three.

The line was finally restored at the end of May – five weeks later- but Somwang estimates to have lost £18,000 and when she asked BT for compensation, at first, she was offered £25 and then £150.

She said: “I shouted down the phone because I couldn’t believe they wanted to give me only £25 for what I had lost."

The disagreement went on until September, when Somwang, in a bid to try to get talks about compensation started again, cancelled her direct debit with the firm – and had her landline cut off again.

She called BT again and explained the ordeal and that she was looking for compensation.

Her old number was eventually returned but the businesswoman is still unhappy at the way she was dealt with.

She said: “BT is a big company, and they don’t realise the impact this has on a small business like us.”

To make things worse, in December last year, a tumble dryer fire on December 28 left the business with extensive damage.

Fire at Beautiful Massage parlour in Commercial Road, Southampton (Image: Matt Davey)

Somwang said: “After these phone issues, the fire, and the costs to bring my business back I think I have spent more than £50,000. I have had to borrow money from friends to carry on the business.”

A spokesperson for BT said: “We're very sorry for the problems Beautiful Massage has experienced with their phone service.

“There have been a number of reported faults with the line and there was a need to temporarily renumber the service last summer to get it restored.

"This process took approximately one month before the original number was then restored.

“We apologised to the customer for this and, to recognise the problems and inconvenience caused, offered them three months’ worth of line rental, in accordance with BT's compensation scheme. This was credited to the customer's account last year.”