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.
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Verification
Doesn't Comcast also have to verif the order with the city before they start any major construction or excavation project? For some reason they may or may not have checked with the city (who would have noticed that the propery owner was in fact NOT the person on the work order.... Cities want to yank their tax from the proper people....)
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I live in New York State and if and if anyone dose any digging for any reason they must first notify the Elwctric and Gas Co.,Phone,and Cable companys so they can mark out where if any of their lines are laying in that area underground.
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I used to work for them, and the sad is that they will do just about anything to get money out of people. I have alot of examples but one is the best. i called an order in and there was a lte fee i was told next time call the boss and he will put it in without using the office phone because they are recorded. ie:change the name kon the account so the order goes through ih yeah and he had to change the social security number also a big nono in america!
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From my experience, comcast workers will refuse to make a hole to route cable w/o explicit permission from a landlord, if they are installing cable at an apartment. This is a strange case, but probably not typical.
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Not suprising
Comcast outsources their call center to places that barely speak English and it isn't at all surprising that this could have happened. What most likely happened is that the person had cable at their old address years ago then needed to have a new line put in at their new place and so Comcast botches it by pulling up old records.
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
Not surprising in the least, actually. I worked for the contracting company that handles (or handled, it has been a few years) AT&T/Comcast in Toledo OH. They closed down our call center, which was earning them in the neighborhood of 4 TIMES projections and moved all the jobs to India. Supervisors and up could keep their jobs... if they agreed to move to India.
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Call ahead???
Excuse me, but if an order was placed to have a line repaired or replaced, the either one of two things happened. First, Comcast is required to have you sign a form to consent the digging of the yard UNLESS it's a feeder cable, not a drop. If it's a feeder line, then the right of way access has been granted already by the city for the cable provider to dig. If it's a drop they were digging for, then someone screwed up, and will likely be fired for not getting the signature. The guy either was an existing customer, and was having trouble, or had a feeder running thru his yard that needed repaired, or was visited by someone who didn't follow procedure. A company as large as Comcast (the largest in the US), will unfortunately be in the news all over because everyone knows who they are, and they are in just about every state in the US. The policies are in place, the employee just needs to follow the rules.
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Comcast Call Center
The call center is not in another country. I have called them on several occasions. I am in Harrisburg, PA and my calls are usually routed to a place in DE. I usually ask where the caller is.
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Bastard Comcast Contractors
I had a similar thing happen to me.
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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Dunno, I rather liked it
They dug up a trench in my backyard when I got the drop replaced (old one didn't have a strong enough signal to get the internet), and I saw it as an opportunity to get some free work done. I had them remove the unused planter at the back of the yard for me and it was all free :)
You just gotta look on the bright side sometimes.
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My parents had the exact opposite problem
When the cable line to my parents house went bad (it was 20 years old and got messed up somehow) it took Comcast almost 2 years of constant calls to bury the thing. It wasn't until my parents threatened to cancel and get DirectTV (which they should have just done) that they finally sent someone out to bury the cable.
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Cox is no better
Cox came out 2 years ago and ran their trencher around the trees in my front yard, minding where the painted markers indicated other buried utilities. Then they made their final turn, decided they had worked themselves into a corner and quit, after 2 hours and pulling up the cable buried so far.
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!!
Cause Comcast sucks! Outragous prices, ricidulous service, rude salespeople, and I even used to work for them!!
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Re: I know why!!
I have to agree that Comcast is now, in general, lousy. Hilarious that a company in the business of communication can suck so horribly at it.
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..
I moved 3 years ago and when I bought my house, the previous owners dog had dug up the cable.
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...
A couple of months ago, AT&T was digging in one of my neighbors' yard. Either by accident, or perhaps on purpose, they cut one of the lines in the area where they were digging.
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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Re: Bastard Comcast Contractors
your full of it . contractors are responisable to fix what they mess up or break befor they leave. I am a contractor and never had a problem however i dont use a machine i do it by hand. I want to leave and have them happy that i did not tear up there lawn and i know that there is others out there that care about peoples propety....
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unwanted digging
I woke up this morning to 6 guys digging a 4 foot trench in my front yard. There vans had no company markings, none of the guys were wearing any company insignia. We had received no phone calls, letters, or anything to let us know that anyone would be digging. None of the 6 guys rang the doorbell to announce their arrival, NOTHING.
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
Comcast guys dug up my yard a month ago, to put in cable for a neighbour of mine. In the process, they dug into my irrigation pipes and damaged a pipe really bad.. I called Comcast and reported a damage the same week! and been calling every week since then, to hear a different tones of "someone will call you" every time! The sod that they dug up and put back is now dead, due to lack of water.. Still waiting.. COMCAST, when are you going to call me!
Midlothian Resident.
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Re: Re: Bastard Comcast Contractors
Shawn you mabe one of the few. You should be working for comcast it self and get the benefits. We need men like you who take pride in their work.
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Re: Broken Irrigation Pipes
Have you contacted Comcast Corporate office regarding your damage?
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Comcast is a joke. I was a contactor and i took pride in my work never had a customer complaint, never damaged property, nothing people always called in to give me good marks about my installs and usually when i would go and fix somethings that the idiot that was there before me didnt do right. The bottem line is that it all starts at the installation, I would especially on an install try to replace anything that might cause my customer problems in the future. So if your getting cable or internet, and the tech just goes on the pole to hook you up and then just comes in just throws in a modem or box then be prepared to have problems. Usually a typical contractor tech will do the bare minimum to make the equipment work. If I were you I would request an in-house tech, they dont get nearly as much work and will do a better quality job.
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Comcast Corporate
You can call our corporate offices about this issue
515-792-0516
215-665-1700
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unauthorized digging
I live in a townhuse community. My neighbors decided to get Comcast cable (we have satellite...nothing to do with comcast). They sent a guy out who instead of digging to the end of my neighbors yard and making a 90 degree angle to where the utilities have a right away to be run, he just dug diagonally through the middle of my yard. My husband and I work from home. There was never a knock n the door aswking for permission for him to do this. He just decided to take the eary way out. Now I am fighting with Comcast to get it out of my yard, because it is right through the place where we are planning to plant trees in the spring.
Where do these idiots come off just diging up my yard???
I so HATE Comcast!
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