Highly irate as no cell phone use

On 13/03/2016 I was travelling and around 9am my phone just went dead - everytime I tried to activate it - it said emergency calls only - no Cell C coverage. Great cause of concern as my family were trying to contact me and were very worried.<br> On 14/03 I called Cell C to ask them what is the problem and they cannot even find me on their database. So I called Altech Autopage customer line and after holding on for 20 minutes I get through to Thiro who advised that Altech has been bought off by all 3 service providers and that the migration to the different networks took place yesterday and that I must just remove my simcard and after 10 minutes everything would be fine. I advised him that I was doing that all morning - he said I should try once more - I have done that and my fone will still not allow me to dial out and is basically out of action. Will Altech re-imburse me for the lost business, inconvenience and terrible service that this is causing me? I would like to resolve this as a matter of URGENCY as I cannot afford to be without a cell phone.