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A Michigan man last week opened his front door only to find AT&T’s efforts to install U-verse for a neighbor tore up his front yard and he isn’t even a customer.
Broadband Reports‘ AT&T forum member “riekl” in Macomb discovered AT&T’s service “upgrade” for the neighbors left him with a front yard “downgrade” consisting of a long strip of dead grass, a potentially undermined driveway, and no idea who will pay to repair the damage.
“The only utility easement is a 20 foot strip in my back yard,” he wrote.
AT&T decided running cables well inside the Macomb man’s front yard and beneath his driveway was fine. So was leaving without bothering to repair the damage.
An AT&T ‘Right of Way’ manager was eventually dispatched to the property and quickly conceded AT&T buried its lines well outside of the utility easement. The company is now making arrangements to repair the resident’s lawn.
“He also apologized as their techs are told to always notify the homeowner when crossing property,” said the irked resident.
But the story may not be over. AT&T’s cable is now a permanent feature beneath the non-customer’s front yard, which could create some issues if AT&T assumes it now has an ‘effective’ easement and will be free to repair or replace the cable in the same area at their discretion.
AT&T has a long history of using contractors that do not always favor the correct solution over an expedient one.
But at least they buried the cable this time.
Last fall, a Texas resident arrived home to find AT&T had installed a new line for one of their customers by stringing it across the top of the neighbor’s back lawn, where it remained untouched and unburied for an extended period.
What is the legal ramifications of cutting the line?
That was an interesting question raised in one of the original threads. One reader claimed that in the case of the Texas customer, severing that line would violate state law by cutting the customer off from reaching 911. In Michigan, the resident would be within his rights to demand AT&T remove its incorrectly installed cable and place it where it belongs, but it would only tear up his lawn in two places.
Phone companies can lay a drop line on the surface of the ground, as long as it is on/above the easement.
Phillip writes: “Phone companies can lay a drop line on the surface of the ground, as long as it is on/above the easement”. They might be able to do that on a temporary basis, but not permanently. I don’t claim to be the expert on this, but I think a “temporary drop” left in place indefinitely is a violation of either the National Electric Code or the NESC. This happens more than it should. Some state PUCs have adopted the NEC and NESC for safety purposes and can enforce those requirements against the regulated utilities under their jurisdiction. In such… Read more »
Should be none as the story said, ““The only utility easement is a 20 foot strip in my back yard.” I certainly wouldn’t allow them to keep the cable in the front yard as that would give them the right to return and dig it up again for repairs or run more cables through it. As it stands they’ve done a couple thousands dollars worth of damage, they’ll need to have the driveway examined to determine if what’s been done there if any repairs need to be made under the concrete, and the strip of yard replaced. Plus all that… Read more »
A number of years back, Grandecom.com (yes, that’s “com.com”) installed our cable about an inch under the ground, running diagonally across the yard toward the access box in the neighbor’s back yard. When they reached the fence corner, they ran the cable into the air, through a knothole almost a foot above the ground in the fence, and then left it coiling across the neighbor’s ground before entering the access box there. Customer service acted like there was nothing unusual about it.
Wow… I’m surprised at Grande. I’ve always had good experiences with them. Long ago, when I had a networking complaint that the CSR didn’t understand, they gave me the number to someone in the Network Operations Center. I’d switch back to Grande in an instant if they served my address.