No Telkom landline for nearly 3 weeks

We reported a fault on our Telkom landline on 12 December 2017 (Telkom fault reference 87AEK121217). The next day we were told that the fault was being allocated to a technician. Now, 18 days later a technician has still not been allocated in spite of many calls to Telkom and the fact that our complaint has been "escalated" (Fault escalation reference: ********** 1). We have had to resort to expensive cellphone services and have missed important contact with family and friends for birthdays, illness, Christmas and now New Year. We are utterly fed up with the lack of response, and refusal of supervisors to follow up, especially after the complaint has been escalated. What makes us even more annoyed is that Telkom has never bothered to contact us to explain the delay.