NY1 For You: Small Manhattan Law Firm Still Waiting For Phone Service Lost To Sandy
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Much has been reported about power loss in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, but a small law firm is Downtown Manhattan has been struggling for weeks without the use of office phones and is trying to conduct business with cellphones. NY1's Susan Jhun filed the following report. Taking calls from clients is central to attorney Laura Rosenberg's work.
"The phone and the fax are our tools of trade. We cannot work without phones and faxes," says Rosenberg.
Yet that is what the small law firm Rosenberg and Rodriguez in Downtown Manhattan has had to do since Sandy hit.
"Everything was down a week after the storm, which I think is reasonable. After about 10 days, we started calling Verizon, asking them questions as to when they expect the service to be restored. They had no answers at first," Rosenberg says.
After repeated requests, Rosenberg got Verizon to forward the firm's main line to her cellphone, a temporary solution that is not working well, since cellphones get poor reception in the building.
Rosenberg says a Verizon representative gave her a restoration date of December 3, then took it back, saying there is now no definite date.
Ironically, other law offices on this floor have working service from Verizon.
"Why can't they put a new line in to forward my lines to that new line and make me at least temporarily operational until they fix the bigger problem? And they have no answers," says Rosenberg.
NY1 called Verizon to try to get some answers and a spokesperson said the company will prioritize the customer’s issue.
In the meantime, Rosenberg hopes she will not be on hold much longer.