MARLOW Bottom residents have been left fuming after being unable to use their telephones for up to three weeks.

They claim that BT has not taken their complaints seriously.

It has been alleged by residents that up to 300 phones were completely out of use for several days, and that others were intermittently affected for up to three weeks.

A BT spokesman disagreed. He said: "There is a cable which needs to be replaced as we upgrade our system across the country.

"It affects about 200 homes and they are all now working. If they did lose service it would have only been for two days at the most."

A resident, Mike Williams, said many people in the village were either affected or knew someone who was affected, yet when some individuals complained to BT, they were told that they were the only customer to have a problem.

One disgruntled villager was annoyed to be told by BT that he could check the progress of the repairs via the internet, since this is completely impossible without the fully functioning phone line needed to get on line.

Mr Williams, chairman of Marlow Bottom Residents Association, is disappointed with the way BT has handled the matter.

He said: "BT do not appear to have managed this inconvenience very well, information was not made available to customers, and it seems that our complaints have not been taken seriously."

The BT spokesman said a temporary repair is currently in place.

The company has given assurances that homes will not be affected when the full repair is carried out in the next few weeks.