Dabs.com suffers glitch

Broken cable costs online reseller £300,000 in lost sales

Online reseller Dabs.com is claiming it's business as usual after a fault last week cost the firm over £300,000 in lost sales.

The fault, believed to have been caused by workmen accidentally cutting through Dabs' main communication cable, left the firm with no bandwidth, no web site and no email for most of last weekend. The fault was eventually repaired on Sunday.

David Atherton, managing director of Dabs, said: "We lost £700,000 in total over the weekend, but managed to recoup some of those losses in the following days' sales, leaving us with a final loss of £300,000.

"Luckily the problem was noticed, and we were able to act fast to minimise the damage."

Atherton said the incident has highlighted the importance of having a back-up circuit to prevent a similar incident occurring.

One industry observer said the loss of income would have no serious effect on Dabs. "Following the absorption of Jungle into Argos [CRN, 21 October], a lot of customers will decide to switch allegiance to Dabs. It is in a strong position," the source said.