ultracooldave
@verizon.net
| reply to Uno3whO
Re: Can Comcast Dig Up My Yard?
"local office"- They cannot even find the work order for the trench, I think I explained that too, it was not originally meant to go in his yard (he mentioned this too)-this is essentially what happened to me, when the crew arrives at the correct location they found out his house was easier/shorter distance and decided to put it in his yard, sounds crazy but it happens, they knew he signed a cable contract so they had a legal right to put the trench in his yard, or maybe there was a savage dog at the correct location and they did not feel like calling the police to let them in choosing his yard instead.
Going up the chain at Comcast- he will eventually get to their "damage control" dept., since this type of thing is going on regularily they are experienced in doing anything they can for him that does not involve spending money or removing the trench. If the conversation goes on too long he will be transfered to their "expert" in India who will spend all day trying to help him! |
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CableDaddy3
join:2005-03-23
Grayling, MI
2 edits | said by ultracooldave :
when the crew arrives at the correct location they found out his house was easier/shorter distance and decided to put it in his yard, sounds crazy but it happens, they knew he signed a cable contract so they had a legal right to put the trench in his yard, or maybe there was a savage dog at the correct location and they did not feel like calling the police
Yes, bury crews always look for the easiest house to run a drop to. They arrived at his neighbors house and decided it would be easier to run HIS drop to someone elses house! We're not talking a mianline here. This was a drop and they don't route them through other people's yards. If it was in his yard and was a mistake, then it was a mistaken address. It was not the crew looking for a shortcut. That doesn't even make sense in his case. That's like a greyhound bus going from new york to florida and deciding the traffic is to heavy and it would be easier to take the passengers to new jersey, so you drop them off at New Jersey instead.
And really, when I was burying drops I never looked to see if the neighbors signed contracts. Couldn't have cared less. I stayed in the easement and I knew there was nothing that anyone could do. I had a right to dig there. Either the drop was upgraded (which is strange if he isn't an active customer), or it was a mistake. Either way, they will take care of it. They'll come out and water your lawn in the spring, whatever. Also, if it was a mistake, of course it's not going to be on record. It will be on record as the correct one being done. So I would have them check to see if one of your neighbors was schedule to have the work done. |
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Austinloop
join:2001-08-19
Austin, TX
| As always with ultracooldave, it is a conspiracy to do damage to the customer because of a mythical cable contract. I think we are wasting bandwidth trying to reason with this person that it may have been a mistake, not a deep dark evil event by the cable/telephone/electric monster. |
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ultracooldave
@verizon.net
| reply to Uno3whO
cabbledaddy3- 1 year from now, the trench will still be there, he will not be able to get a permit to build over or near it, a lawyer will tell him there is nothing that can be done, he still will not know why the trench was put in his particular yard, who the contractors were or receive any compensation for the extra damages he incurred from the contractors.
He is a customer that Comcast is prepared to loose, although they retain a legal right to use that trench. |
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CableDaddy3
join:2005-03-23
Grayling, MI
1 edit | People can build over drop lines. It just sucks for you if something ever goes wrong with the wire. Nothing is stopping you from doing it. You just can't build in the easement. So, if he's not a customer he has no worries. He can build what he wants and do what he wants. He can tear it out if he wants. He just can't do what he couldn't do before, build in the easement. |
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ultracooldave
@verizon.net
| reply to Uno3whO
there is no "conspiracy" here! Its totally simple, he voluntarily signed a contract and Comcast has a legal right to enforce that contract, if only he could post his original contract everyone could see what this is all about instead of "wishing' how the cable world should be. |
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CableDaddy3
join:2005-03-23
Grayling, MI
1 edit | Get off it. He never had to sign anything. Easement rights are there whether you sign anything or not. If he's not a customer, that line was put in his yard (outside the easement) by an honest mistake. Even if he never had power, gas, water, sewer, phone, cable, whatever; The easement can still be trenched. Just not his yard, it obviously was a MISTAKE, an ACCIDENT, an OOPS, a BOO BOO. The cable company still has no more rights then it had before to go into his yard. NONE. They don't have the right to dig up your yard (outside the easement). There is nothing to upgrade or maintain at the NID on the house if he isn't active. He's not going to come home and have had the cable company upgrade his NID, replace his drop or anything else if he isn't active. Unless there was a mistake. Don't confuse the easement with the rest of his property. And the drop path isn't an easement. |
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ultracooldave
@verizon.net
| reply to Uno3whO
sorry cabbledaddy3, unless there are specific local laws limiting Comcast, in signing that contract he has authorized them to do whatever they like in the way of "upgrades/repairs" anywhere on his property, they don't need his permission and can (and will) call the police to have access to his property and this applies even if he cancels service. And, although he could build over the trench he will never get a legal permit to do so |
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K Patterson
Premium,MVM
join:2006-03-12
Columbus, OH
 ·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to Uno3whO
Seems like there is a lot of confusion here.
If you own your property in its entirety, called "fee simple", then you own the land, the buildings on it, the minerals underneath.
Few of us own our property in that way. When we bought it there were easements in place, building setback lines, etc. Moreover, the property is subject to zoning and building code restrictions.
Let's next distinguish between a person coming on the property without permission, called "trespass". No, folks can't trespass, but there are many exceptions to that rule. A couple of ladies and a dog visited me yesterday, Jehovah's Witnesses. They did not stay long. I could have charged them with trespass, but it would not likely have held up in court. In fact, If I had a big dog that bit someone on my property, I would almost certainly be liable even if they were technically tresspassing. So, meter readers, postment, those cute guys from Utah carrying bibles, they can come on your property and you are ersponsible for their safety while they are o it. Of course, you can put up a fence and no trespassing signs and chase them off.
Now if someone wants to construct something on, under, or over your property, they must have an easement. They get that by asking you for one. If you don't grant one, they have only one recourse, and that is to sue you for an easement of necessity. In all states the state and some of its lesser jurisdictions have the right of "eminent domain". The city, for example, can take your land for a road, but they must pay you fair market value. You can contest the valuation in court, many folks do and many folks win.
When a utility wants to construct a line over or under your property to serve others, they will ask for an easement. That easement will contain terms that allow other utility companies to use the easement.
When you otain utility service, you grant an easement by implication.
No, mo government can grant a utility company an easement on your property. No, it is not covered by the fourth amendment, which deals with criminal not civil law.
Recent experiences I've had:
The city wanted to reline a sewer passing under some properties in the neighborhood. They did not need any surface access. They did not have an easement for the existing line. becuase it had been built by the developer and turned over to the city, the developer having not recorded an easement when he sold the lots decades ago. The city had to seek an easement, and some of the folks from a local community group actually did the negotiation.
AEP wanted to change the way power was delivered to my house and that of a couple of neighbors. They wanted to bring primary to within 20 feet of two homes. Se said no, and they were stuck because, while they had an easement for the pole and the existing line path, they didn't have an easment for the new path. We negotiated a better location for the pole and then granted easements. It turned into a big mess with the phone and cable companies on the pole, ending with me sawwing down a pole and calling AEP to come pick it up. Fun, fun. |
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CableDaddy3
join:2005-03-23
Grayling, MI
| reply to ultracooldave
Wrong. He will get a permit because they don't care if you build over a drop. In every case I've experienced, if you want to build something, the cable company would be more than happy to come out and move their drop. I've moved hundreds of drops so people could build fences, garages, etc. I'm not talking the main line. That's not going to get moved, nor will you get a permit to do it. Drops, no one really cares. Doesn't matter what you say or believe, Comcast doesn't have the right to do any construction outside the easement. Go back and read the definition of the easement and the go read the Cable Act of 1984 and it spells this out. They only way they can do this is if the franchise holder (county, state, township, etc.) rules to move the easement. |
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GreyHound
@aol.com
| reply to CableDaddy3
said by CableDaddy3  :That's like a greyhound bus going from new york to florida and deciding the traffic is to heavy and it would be easier to take the passengers to new jersey, so you drop them off at New Jersey instead. That is not necessarily a good comparison to bolster your position. Have you ever taken a GreyHound bus trip?  |
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CableDaddy3
join:2005-03-23
Grayling, MI
| said by GreyHound :said by CableDaddy3 :That's like a greyhound bus going from new york to florida and deciding the traffic is to heavy and it would be easier to take the passengers to new jersey, so you drop them off at New Jersey instead. That is not necessarily a good comparison to bolster your position. Have you ever taken a GreyHound bus trip? Hehe, not recently.  |
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CableDaddy3
join:2005-03-23
Grayling, MI
| reply to K Patterson
said by K Patterson :AEP wanted to change the way power was delivered to my house and that of a couple of neighbors. They wanted to bring primary to within 20 feet of two homes. Se said no, and they were stuck because, while they had an easement for the pole and the existing line path, they didn't have an easment for the new path. We negotiated a better location for the pole and then granted easements. It turned into a big mess with the phone and cable companies on the pole Confused a bit. Technically cable and phone are supposed to follow power. When you renegotiated the path of power, cable and phone should have been moved with them, correct? Also, if the power company owns the poles and rents them to the other utilities, wouldn't that also force cable to move their lines following because the power co. would have given up the old easement? Not sure I made those questions clear, but hopefully you can do your best to decipher and answer. |
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K Patterson
Premium,MVM
join:2006-03-12
Columbus, OH
·RoadRunner Cable
| You are 100% correct. I left out some detail because my post was getting long.
The problem was one of timing. ABC (now ATT) had a strike deadline approaching. If they didn't do their job proptly I would have been stuck with two poles until the end of the strike and for some time thereafter until they caught up on more important jobs.
My cable company is Time Warner. They were rpompt and efficient. The problem was WOW. I threatened to cut their feeder line if they weren't off the pole by a certain date. I couldn't have gotten away with that, but my bluff worked. They move the last wires, I cut the old pole down, dug out the butt, and left the pieces in the street for AEP to pick up. |
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CableDaddy3
join:2005-03-23
Grayling, MI
| Great. Seems a smaller company, like WOW, is a double edged sword. Many times they will try and solve issues with customers quickly, which is why they get the JD Powers award for customer satisfaction. On the other hand, the stuff like doing a pole transfer doesn't "directly relate to the customer's service" and tends to get pushed behind due to lack of man power. I've seen my share of that as well. I do know, however, that they go to great lengths, usually, to keep someone happy. Whether they are a customer or not. Most of their business is generated by word of mouth. If someone objects to their equipment, they have been known to move it. In your case, they would have eventually moved the pole, but you had to put a deadline on it for them to get right on it. That is something you shouldn't have had to do. When the electric company moved their lines, they would have contacted the other utilities and told them to move theirs. |
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K Patterson
Premium,MVM
join:2006-03-12
Columbus, OH | Agreed - but a further comlication was that AEP, WOW, and TW used subcontractors - two for AEP. |
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ultracooldave
@verizon.net
| reply to Uno3whO
cabbledaddy3, you are right! At least in my area cable has no right to even be on your property, unless you sign a contract giving them that right and more!
In California you cannot get a permit to build over a utility trench or build anything that may obstruct access. I'd be surprised if it wasn't that way everywhere.
If his trench was illegally installed he would have an excellant legal case, truth of the matter-he signed the contract and its there legally. Yes, he could negioate with Comcast and get their permission to move the trench so he could build something and he would pay the full costs of this. It would be entirely up to Comcast, they could legally so no, unless there are local regulations covering this situation |
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CableDaddy3
join:2005-03-23
Grayling, MI
| Accident or not, the drop was illegally installed, true. That doesn't give them the right to go back on the property. They do, however, retain the easement rights. Again, doesn't matter if anything was signed. Easement rights are granted without permission from the landowner, the rest of the property - NO. The drop line from the ped to the house does not require a permit to build over. It's just a fricken drop. He can cut it out himself, if he so desires. He can't, however, touch the mianline. It's not an easement trench, its a 1 - 12 inch cut in the sod and a line put under it. Even if he did sign something, there would be no justification to replace an unactive drop. If the drop needed upgraded they would do it if he chose to subscribe. Not before. We're talking about two different things here. One is easement right of way, and the other is property access via a contract. TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THINGS. If we're talking about the easement, don't bring up the contract. If we're talking about the contract, don't bring up the easement. |
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CableDaddy3
join:2005-03-23
Grayling, MI
| reply to K Patterson
Yeah, contractors can sure slow things down. It would be a lot easier if the companies just did their own work instead of contracting it out. But, it's cheaper to have contractors. It's easier to get rid of contractors when the work is slow vs. in house techs. It would sure make life easier for the customer though. |
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ultracooldave
@verizon.net | reply to Uno3whO
kpatterson, just in case you did not know, cutting off a working utility is a criminal act, whether its there legally or not you will be arrested so you may not be correct in believing in your "bluff" working. |
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