A Maple Ridge, B.C., businessman is suing a competitor who took over a phone number he had used to advertise his furnace repair business for years.

Jeff Coleman has been in business under the name Coleman Heating and Air Conditioning since 1999.

But he says that when business dropped after the introduction of the HST, he went into receivership and didn't pay his phone bill for two months, causing his phone line to be disconnected.

Coleman claims he called Telus just 20 days later to reactivate the line, only to discover the number was no longer available.

He soon determined a competitor had taken it over and opened up a business with a very similar name — Coolman Heating.

In his $100,000 lawsuit, Coleman claims the operator of that business, Brad Galagan, has since moved the number to another phone company.

Coleman claims Galagan is profiting from his Yellow Pages and internet advertising featuring the phone number and the warranty stickers he's installed on furnaces and air conditioners in about 13,000 Metro Vancouver homes.

Coleman says he pays more than $6,000 a month to advertise in the Yellow Pages.

When CBC News called the phone number, a man who claimed to be a supervisor of Coolman Heating said the owner saw an opportunity and took it, and felt he had done nothing wrong, but was unavailable for further comment.