Legal Question in Business Law in California

I have run a small and profitable business for the past 12 years. This past December 5th (which is the busiest time of the year since it is also year end for my business cycle), my business telephone lines, fax lines and internet all went down at the same time. Despite a myriad of my calls to the telephone company, they took over a week to come out and inspect the problem. They determined that the phone cable on their telephone pole which is connected to my business, short circuited and needed to be replaced. Yet, they took another week to come out and replace the telephone cable. All calls to my office received the following message,"The number you have dialed is disconnected or no longer in service." As a result of 16 days of downtime, I lost over $10,000 of business from staff payroll to daily operations and new client upcalls. I had no phones, internet or fax. I was forced to use my cell phone, go to Kinko's for my faxes and internet. Therefore, I filed a claim with the telephone company for a credit against my phone bill ($300 monthly) for just $100 per day or $1,600. They said they would investigate my claim with their management, but they told me to pay the $300 monthly bill in the meatime. I told them I would not pay the bill since I did not receive their phone, fax and internet service from which the $300 bill is derived. What are my rights against the telephone company?

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