IOU’s, PayID, cold hard cash: Business counts cost of outage

It wasn’t just the lost sales. As the Optus outage hit home, hamstrung businesses made the one call they could make without phone or internet: for compensation.

Internet-starved businesses were counting the cost of the Optus outage from the moment they opened their doors on Wednesday, resorting to IOUs, Pay ID and old-school cold hard cash as they tried to stem their losses and continue to do business.

At Parramatta, Badmanner Thymes cafe owner Scott Sang said his business had been completely turned on its head from the outage. All his devices were linked to Optus.

“We’ve lost about $500 in sales so far,” he said. By noon, he said his sales had dropped by 30 per cent.

“Our Menu Log, DoorDash and Uber tablets are not working. No internet. It’s not good at all,” he said.

Mr Sang was worried his Parramatta-based business would suffer long-term from the dramatic loss in sales. He called on the government to support local cafes who had dealt with the blow on Wednesday.

A sign asks customers to pay with cash or bank transfer at takeaway shop Xcelroll in Parramatta, one of countless businesses in Sydney which suffered losses due to the nationwide Optus outage this morning. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

‘That’s money’

“Maybe we could ask the government for help with rent or electricity,” he said.

“Of course (I’m worried). That’s money.”

Scott Sang was forced to go back to cash transactions at his cafe Badmanner Thymes in Parramatta, which he says had lost 30 per cent of its regular daily income by lunchtime. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

Bagel Box Cafe worker Ali Naboulsi was unable to serve customers at Parramatta from 8am after discovering the outage.

“I woke up and checked my phone and it was SOS only, and came here and realised everything was down,” the 18-year-old said.

“I can’t take any Eftpos, any business phone calls, can’t talk to suppliers, can’t organise Uber Eats.”

Mr Naboulsi and his family also operate a limousine hire business in Western Sydney, which was also out of action as a result of the outage.

Ali Naboulsi from Bagel Box cafe in Parramatta. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

“I’m more worried about this (limo hire business),” he said, revealing all his bookings and operations occurred over the phone.

“Two Hummers we have to get this morning.”

His driver Moses Sleiman said he was particularly concerned given the outage comes “at school formal time.”

“We have 14 Hummers and we’ve got work to do,” he said.

Limousine driver Moses Sleiman. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

Other business owners were telling customers who could not use their banking apps on their phones to pay them back once the outage has been resolved.

Restaurants, takeaway shops and cafes were encouraging customers to use PayID to transfer payments for their food and drinks.

Hospitals hurting

Meanwhile, an Australian health provider which oversees 40 NSW-based facilities and hospitals including North Shore, Westmead, Strathfield, St George and private hospitals has been impacted by the outage.

Ramsay Health Australia, which has 73 private hospitals and day surgery units nationwide, urged patients on Wednesday morning to contact its facilities via the online contact form, with phone operations impacted by the Optus shortage.

“Important notice. Ramsay hospital phone services are being impacted by a national outage of Optus telecommunications,” the statement said.

Ramsay Health Australia has 73 private hospitals and day surgery units nationwide.

“At this time, we are unaware how long this outage will continue. If you need to contact your local Ramsay hospital, please direct inquiries via the contact form on the local hospital’s website.”

At 2.20pm on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Ramsay Health confirmed phone lines had been restored.

“Phone lines at all Ramsay hospitals were impacted this morning, however all have now been restored. There were no other impacts and operations continued as normal,” she said.

Call for compensation

The former boss of the consumer watchdog said that customers hit by the massive Optus outage deserved compensation.

Former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Allan Fels slammed the telco for its “very poor” communication about Wednesday’s outage, which he said was Optus’ “second major failing … in a short period of time”.

“The recent data breach means Optus took a very big hit in its public reputation, and this will damage it much more further,” Mr Fels said.

“If there is legal liability they should pay, and in any case, customers who are immediately damaged need compensation,” he said.