Phone Mix-Up Had Car Service Owner Fielding Con-Ed Calls
BROOKLYN (1010 WINS) --If you run a business, you usually want your phone to be ringing off the hook. For Jay Celebi — the owner of Blue Car Service in Brooklyn — it was a nightmare.
Blue Car has the same phone number as Con Ed, except Con Ed's area code is 212 and Blue Car's is 718. Celebi says because of a mix-up in Verizon's phone system, he had been fielding calls from Con Ed customers since Monday morning.
"It (was) non-stop ringing, all three lines," Celebis told 1010 WINS. 'Usually,[with] my regular customers, maybe, in one hour I get 20 calls...it [was] 20 calls every minute."
Celebi had been politely redirecting the callers to Con Ed's toll-free number, but that wasn't always easy because some of the calls weren't in English.
"I started learning Spanish, I learned the numbers today," Celebi said. "I had to learn the numbers to explain to them to 'call ocho, cero, cero...and then the 800 number.'"
While, such a mix up would normally spark anger amongst customers already frustrated with some sort of service problem, Celebi said most of the callers took it in stride.
"They understand the situation," he said. "They know it [was] Verizon's problem."
It's not yet clear what caused the mix up, but it happened during work on phone circuits, said Verizon Spokesman John Bonomo.
"Verizon is working closely with both Con Ed and Blue Car Service to monitor any further discrepancies, and we appreciate their patience," said Bonomo.
