A family funeral director claims it lost business after BT cut off phone lines for weeks.

Jeanette Carnague, her husband, Kim, and daughter, Victoria, run TA Ellement & Son and E Spark funeral homes, with offices in Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner.

The business has been in existence since 1891 but the family says they almost had to shut up shop after their phone lines were disabled for more than five weeks in 2012 – and they still haven't been compensated.

Mrs Carnague said: “This has been so stressful, we just want to be able to put it behind us.”

She said she approached BT in October 2012 to install phone lines to replace the businesses old system. She claims a salesman promised he could beat the previous supplier on price, on the condition she signed up online.

“After I signed up I saw the price was way higher,” Mrs Carnague said.

“I tried calling to tell the salesman that we would not go for the contract because it was not cheaper than our previous supplier, but I couldn’t get hold of him.”

A few weeks after the original visit, a BT Openreach engineer turned up, unannounced, at the Northwood funeral home in Pinner Road, expecting to fit phone equipment, said Mrs Carnague.

But as none had been delivered, he left.

Later that day, the phone line at the Northwood office went down, and a day later, the office in Bridge Street, Pinner was cut off. Little more than a week after that, the branch in Ruislip High Street suffered the same fate, accordinig to Mrs Carnague.

“We had no phones for our business for five and a half weeks,” she said. “For any business that is unbelievable, but for our business and the service we provide to our families this was devastating.”

So last month, some 17 months after the loss of their lines, Mrs and Mrs Carnague and Victoria protested outside the BT Local Business office in Peterborough Road, Harrow.

The family says that despite settling a bill of £8,500, their business has never been compensated, and that prompted the pavement protest.

“I don’t think its right that they could treat a small business in this way.

“They are a big corporation and they have almost ruined us,” Mrs Carnague said.

BT was asked for a response from getwestlondon.co.uk on Wednesday. We will post it here as soon as we get it.