Washington's Stuart Brown claims his business took a tumble when he was left hanging on for more than two weeks before he could start using his new mobile phone.
Stuart, 41, who is the owner of My Pets Direct, on Crowther Industrial Estate in the town, reckons he lost around £7,500 while he waited for O2 to get him up and running, as most of his business is conducted via his phone.
And he says he even had to pay staff from his own account as he was not able to authorise the payroll and risked being late with his quarterly VAT return and company accounts, as he had no access to his bank account without the two-step authentication linked to the missing phone number.
