Telephone out of order for 7 days!!!

A week ago we went on holiday leaving our receptionist to run the office. We happened to call her shortly after we left, but the telephone was not answered and it just rang & rang. So we called again, still with no answer. So we Whatsapp'ed her and she said she has the phone in front of her, it never rang. After a bit of trial & error we discovered that dhe could phone out on the Telkom line, but when someone phoned the landline it would not ring at all, but if she happened to pick the phone up by chance, she could speak to the person calling. Now we reported this fault immediately via sms and online, then we escalated the fault, then we called the local Telkom office....everyday for 5 days. When we did finally reach someone they said they knew about it but the technicians hadn't had a chance to fix it yet. <br> Yesterday I learned that our neighbours, and several restaurants in the area, have had the same problem for 2 weeks now. We are all trying to run businesses with our Telkom phones, our security entrance works with an intercom system to our landline, so we have no security gate now. Mobile phones don't work in our area, so we have no alternative. <br> Telkom is a joke.