JOHN and Pat Wilson were baffled when people kept phoning and asking for Basil.
The couple's home in Longstomps Avenue was one of more than 500 properties in the Old Moulsham and Moulsham Lodge area of Chelmsford whose phones were cut off because of an attempted cable theft just over three weeks ago.
But when some of the phone lines were fixed on November 2, the Wilsons were reconnected to the wrong house.
"It is an absolute shambles to be honest," said Mr Wilson, 83.
"We know these mistakes have been happening on Galleywood Road, St Vincent's Road and Gloucester Avenue, where everyone seems to have got someone else's phone calls.
"They were supposed to have been back working on November 2, but anyone who rings our house gets a family further down the road on the opposite side.
"I have had to divert all incoming calls to my mobile phone, but that costs more money and I want compensation for that.
"Any time you try and get in touch with BT all you get is a call centre in India, who even greeted my wife as Mrs Law.
"When I spoke to them they said everything was repaired but it was not."
The couple, whose phones were fully restored last Thursday, believe that hundreds of homes in the area must have been affected by the attempted theft.
Thieves had tried to cut the cables to sell them for their high scrap metal value, but an alarm system alerted BT and the police before they were able to remove them.
BT has spent weeks trying to fix the cables.
But Mrs Wilson, 81, said: "It has actually been quite nice.
"We have met people we've never met before.
"I had four voice messages for people down the road, so I actually met them and all their friends.
"But isn't it ridiculous. We get a lot of calls, that's the problem, because I work for a few voluntary organisations, like the local talking newspaper, where we send audio tapes of the Essex Chronicle to over 100 people who struggle with their eyesight."
Married mother-of-one Carole Houston of Linden Close relies on her phones and internet because she is a self-employed.
Her phone lines are still not working.
The 45-year-old said: "I have to keep ringing BT, which is one of the most frustrating things because they haven't told us anything.
"On the day it happened they told us it would be fixed the next day. Then they gave us another date, then again and again.
"The customer service has been awful."
