Rain washes customers away

Black Sheep Jewellery Owner Lynn Simpson has had to turn away customers due to her EFTPOS being down right before Easter weekend. She said this was a recurring problem whenever it rained.

The phone line or the internet connection is forever going down every time it rains.Lynn Simpson, Masterton businesswoman Masterton businesswoman Lynn Simpson would be an unlikely convert to rain dancing.

In fact, Mrs Simpson dreads rainy days which have triggered Eftpos and telephone problems for the past three years in her shop Black Sheep Jewellery on Queen Street.

One of these rainy days was last Thursday when Mrs Simpson spent all morning ringing Spark to try to get her Eftpos back online.

"The phone line or the internet connection is forever going down every time it rains," she said.

"[Thursday], we're out of action and it's been going on for three years. I ring them constantly and we only ever get sticking plasters from Chorus to fix the problem.

"They tell me there's a problem with the connection further up the line but they never ever sorted it, and I'm really over being fobbed off."

Mrs Simpson said she was upset that she was losing business every time her Eftpos was down and said she "shouldn't have to be constantly chasing for a solution".

"It's just not acceptable in this day and age," she said.

"I have to say the guys at Spark here in Wairarapa have been very supportive and whenever I go around there with a problem they try to get onto it as soon as they can to support me.

"But, at the end of the day, I can't keep doing this every single time it rains. It's like, oh gosh it's a storm today, it's going to be terrible at work."

Mrs Simpson was hoping that the problem would be fixed for Easter Saturday which is always a busy day.

"One of the owners of Spark has seen the temporary repair that Chorus did last time and he said he can't believe his eyes.

"He sent photos to the Chorus guys and have asked them to urgently get on to it."

The Eftpos was working again after 2pm on Thursday "and that's only because it stopped raining and dried up", Mrs Simpson said.

Her fervent hope was that Easter remain dry -- which it did.