Comcast Apparently Verifies Next To Nothing Before Digging Up A Yard
from the verification?-why-that-takes-time... dept
Hot on the heals of a tragically botched Comcast installation blowing up a house, killing two people, comes a story from security blogger Mike Rothman, about how some folks at Comcast just showed up at his house the other day preparing to dig up his yard to install a line. There were a few problems with this, starting with the fact that he didn't order (nor want) a line -- and there actually already was a cable line into the house. He investigated the issue and discovered that someone using the name of whoever owned the house two owners prior to him was on the work order. Rothman has a few different theories for what may have happened (some a bit more paranoid than others), but can't make sense of why this would happen. Much scarier, however, is the fact (as he points out) that Comcast did nothing to verify the order before they planned to start digging up someone's yard. They didn't check with the homeowner. They didn't call the person on the work order. They didn't even check to see if there was already a cable line to the house. They just sent a crew out to dig. It seems like this is the sort of thing that shouldn't happen. It's not hard to do some basic checking before ripping up someone's yard, but apparently that's not how things are done.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Verification
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Not suprising
I just the other day was with someone who had called AT&T a few days prior to have their old landline transfered to her new apartment, she was calling AT&T again to see if the transfer had gone through. She was calling from her cell phone and between people barely speaking English (she had to spell out her last name 8 times, and had to say the first letter 6 times) and getting her call transfered to 4 different people there was so much confusion on AT&T's end that they thought she was trying to transfer her cell phone to Nebraska (she is in California)
All she was trying to do was check if her prior request was completed.
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Re: Not suprising
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Homes For Sale
Homes For Sale
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Call ahead???
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Comcast Call Center
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Bastard Comcast Contractors
I was having trouble with my cable and Comcast said they'd "send a crew out." A bunch of dirtbags hauling a trenching machine showed up one morning just as I was leaving for work. I asked them what they were doing and they told me they were going to dig a trench for a new cable.
"Where are you going to put it?" I asked.
"Oh, we're gunna run it right up yer yard there," said one, pointing to the hill in front of my house.
"I've got an irrigation system in my lawn," I told them, not wanting to have the pipes chewed up.
"Hmmm...well we're sure as heck gonna chew 'em up when we put the cable in," the foreman cheerfully told me. "Just take it up with Comcast when we're gone and they'll reimburse you for the damage."
"F*ck no," I yelled. "Get the hell outta here. I'll fix it myself."
Which I did (it was a small break that I fixed with a quick splice), avoiding what would have surely been months of hassle with Comcast.
Unbelievable.
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Re: Bastard Comcast Contractors
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Re: Re: Bastard Comcast Contractors
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Dunno, I rather liked it
You just gotta look on the bright side sometimes.
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My parents had the exact opposite problem
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Cox is no better
It laid there for a couple of months until I got tired of calling and moving it to avoid my mower. I just trenched a groove with a trowel, put in the cable, tossed some topsoil and grass seed over it. No problems in over two years, and they never came back duing that time.
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I know why!!
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Re: I know why!!
I moved residences, and had to cancel my existing account and start a new one. Not only did it take them a month to get my new service started, but to this day, I still get calls from them "confirming my service cancellation" or checking on my "pending service transfer." I have to literally ask them, "where is this coming from... what records are still open about this?"
I find myself simply baffled at the internal miscommunication. The individual customer ends up being the only one who can help the major corporation sort out their own records.
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Better than..
When Comcast came to install, they ran the cable across the yard and informed me that another person would come and bury the line.
Im still waiting..
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I've experienced worse...
Imagine my surprise when I received a call from my wife from a number that I had never seen. A bigger surprise awaited me when I got home that evening. Through a series of conversations (including one with the neighbor that was attempting to call his own wife), I discovered that the good folks at AT&T had switched my line with my neighbor. I'm not one their (AT&T) customers, so they didn't seem to be in any big hurry to get it fixed.
Finally, three days after they initially screwed things up, they managed to get me reconnected to my own phone number. All of this happened without either my neighbor, or me, having any kind of service request to AT&T. Yeah, Comcast screws things up sometimes, but they all do.
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unwanted digging
I ask some questions, and finally figure out that they are Comcast Contractors. It was hard to find out because none of the guys spoke English very well (shocker).
Called that guy's supervisor, and he said "Well, the first 3 feet up to the curb is county property, and we can dig whenever we want." OK- maybe that's true, but how about a courtesy call / letter / ring the doorbell? The other thing that doesn't make sense is that there's nothing wrong with my cable, or anything else.
Comcast is bar none the worst corporation in the U.S.
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Broken Irrigation Pipes
Midlothian Resident.
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Re: Broken Irrigation Pipes
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Re: Broken Irrigation Pipes
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Re: Re: Broken Irrigation Pipes
After they have reconnected the line, water meter up on the street indicates a slow leak between the valve on the street and the main valve of the house.
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Comcast Corporate
515-792-0516
215-665-1700
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unauthorized digging
Where do these idiots come off just diging up my yard???
I so HATE Comcast!
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Me Too
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related to this deal
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Comcast digging up yard without permission
I had them out today to fix the TV and Telephone lines.
I find this orange cable laying in the landscaping. Its cut on both ends hooked to nothing. I ask the Comcast lady what it is. She says its new cable but she has no idea of why it was never completed and she could find no work order for it.
They dug up my yard, cut through the plastic liner in sandbox and home landscaping. Never got permission and left a hazard as the wire is not tapped off, just a bare wire laying against house and bare wire at other end. Plus it looks terrible. I ran it over mowing days prior, it was just laying in yard. Did a number on the blade and mower.
All our power and cable runs overhead not underground. We have two cable wires coming in and they are fine. No idea why they did that. She says they have rights but Im not so sure they can damage things like they did in this case.
A few things to do.
1. Drop comcast then they have ZERO rights to use easement of the power company.
2. Sue them for clean up
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comcast rental fees
they put on my property without asking.The box was installed
in 1989 so the bill I sent them was for total cost of property rental at a rate of 70.00 dollars a month for 24 months.We agreed on 4800.00 dollar settlement.
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Comcast Third Party Contractors
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Most of comcast sub contractors are liars
I want it just put back as promised but after a year of lie on top of lies, I do not trust them as far as I can throw them. I will continue to fight to use my own landscaper and
get the area filled in and then sod put sown like it was before it was dug up...(5 times since Dec 12) I know my own landscaper will bot come out an put in shrubs that are half dead and mulch. But some have gotten help by posting on their facebook page.
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