Well, I spoke with the foreman this morning. He claims that it couldn't be put in "the beauty box" (his term for what I consider to be the 'right of way') because of gas lines. I told him that it should have been planted 6 feet over, across the property line (and onto the drainage easement) and then it wouldn't be on my property at all. His terse response was "we'll see what we can do". I told him, "you have 48 hours to move it before I do". I think that left him a little stunned, but I wasn't about to argue - just walked away.
haha you tell 'em! I know for sure that I would be annoyed if I came home one day to find that in the middle of my lawn!
I showed these to a coworker and good friend this morning. He called me the not-so-nice version of "wussy" when he saw it was sunken. Maybe I'm making a big deal out of nothing and I should just get over it, but it's just gotten under my skin.
From what I've been reading there seems to be several issues:
- the short notice
- is it truly located properly
- it's a change (not necessarily for the better)...and not many people like that
- it's in your front yard
Regarding your friend & co-worker...depending on how serious or joking he was being...I'm not sure how happy he would be if the situations were reversed!
It would certainly seem worth it to at least make a few phone calls to your local government to see if this work was done legally (placement/location of the unit, proper permits, notice time, etc.).
If they tell you everything was done properly...then at least you can rest easy that you did everything you could do to investigate.
Good luck,
- Nick
__________________
Don't forget to use the reputation system.
CWA, I know how you feel because exactly the same thing happened in our neighborhoud ( and in my front garden ) a couple of years ago.
I started a discussion with the guys putting the boxes in and they showed me a work order indicating thay have to put x boxes a day ( kind of a service level ).
One of the guys said exactly that .... " I'll see what I can do ", actually meaning " there's no way in h3ll I am going to dig up that box and dig another hole somewhere else "
So after a few weeks I gave up and I put a big ' Terracotta ' pot over it with a small tree planted in it. Problem solved.
A few months ago, a worker showed up in the street to inspect some of those boxes .... mine could not be found
Once my wife directed him to it, he couldn't lift the Terracotta pot with the tree in it
Nowadays, I don't bother anymore
I agree with you that they should not be messing around with anyone's property, but I guess things like this just happen ( for the benefit of the community )
Cheers ... McBie
__________________ " Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler. " A. Einstein
Well, I just got off the phone with a representative from the contractor that's doing the work on behalf of Verizon. She seemed friendly enough and told me that someone would give me a call later today to discuss the specifics. I guess we'll see what happens.
Mac Specs: MacBook 2.1 Intel Core 2 Dou ; OS Snow Leopard.. 16G iPod Touch 3.0
Quote:
Originally Posted by cwa107
Well, I just got off the phone with a representative from the contractor that's doing the work on behalf of Verizon. She seemed friendly enough and told me that someone would give me a call later today to discuss the specifics. I guess we'll see what happens.
Good luck with it all mate. Hope you can come to a amicable solution.
In my eye's though , the placement of that box is the weirdest thing i have seen, being it on YOUR property....... I does look unsightly and a accident waiting to happen....
Good luck with it all mate. Hope you can come to a amicable solution.
Well, a Verizon engineer, not affiliated with the contractor is supposed to call me tomorrow. The contractor did nothing today, nor did they bother to call me back. I was advised by a Verizon rep that the ball is now in Verizon's court and they will take care of any repairs separate from the contractor. So, let's see where that gets us.
Quote:
In my eye's though , the placement of that box is the weirdest thing i have seen, being it on YOUR property....... I does look unsightly and a accident waiting to happen....
Trespass and destruction of property ??
Well, in the US, public utilities have what is known as an "easement", which according to the contractor is 10' into the property line from public property. That means they can trespass and even dig should there be a problem or an infrastructure change. I don't believe it gives them the right to install any structure in that property, but we'll see.
My next step, should I receive no satisfaction, will be to file a formal complaint with the Public Utilities Commission, which has sided with me and fined Verizon on my behalf before (that's another story, but an interesting one at that). So, they have been responsive in the past, we'll see what happens this time.
If that doesn't work, I am tempted to file criminal charges for vandalism against the contractor. In my opinion, damaging my landscaping and digging holes without my explicit consent is an act of vandalism. So, this is far from over.
My next step, should I receive no satisfaction, will be to file a formal complaint with the Public Utilities Commission, which has sided with me and fined Verizon on my behalf before (that's another story, but an interesting one at that). So, they have been responsive in the past, we'll see what happens this time.
If that doesn't work, I am tempted to file criminal charges for vandalism against the contractor. In my opinion, damaging my landscaping and digging holes without my explicit consent is an act of vandalism. So, this is far from over.
Good luck buddy...sounds like you've sort of been down this road before!
- Nick
__________________
Don't forget to use the reputation system.
Not saying you are right or wrong, but I will tell you one thing. They could put a huge hole in my roof during a rainstorm if they were giving me FIOS!
Mac Specs: iPod Nano 4gb, 20" 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB of ram, ATI HD 2600 pro
Quote:
Originally Posted by cwa107
I showed these to a coworker and good friend this morning. He called me the not-so-nice version of "wussy" when he saw it was sunken. Maybe I'm making a big deal out of nothing and I should just get over it, but it's just gotten under my skin.
Hmmm maybe move it to your coworkers font yard.
Edit: Just a little offish topic, I have fios at my house, and it freaking rocks. We have the 25Mbps/15Mbps connection here plus T.V and phone, simply outstanding. It is also cheaper than Direct T.V was with verizon dsl together.
Good luck buddy...sounds like you've sort of been down this road before!
- Nick
With the PUC, yes. Long story made short, I had a service problem with Verizon about 2 years ago while my wife was pregnant. They inadvertently disconnected my landline, while attempting a DSL install. Essentially, they disabled the landline at the CO, but insisted that the only way to resolve the problem was by sending a technician to my home. It took well over a week to have the problem corrected, and received an incredible amount of indifferent, rude, and outright nasty responses from their customer service, despite the fact that I advised them that my wife was nearly full term and I needed the line for emergency services.
The PUC found that they were way out of compliance, particularly since they were advised that there was a potential for a medical emergency and fined them an undisclosed amount. At that point, I terminated my home phone with Verizon. The only business I do with them is with Verizon Wireless, which is actually a separate company (a joint venture by Verizon and Vodaphone).
I would have certainly given them another chance had they rolled FIOS out - not so sure about that now. It depends on how this pans out.
Not saying you are right or wrong, but I will tell you one thing. They could put a huge hole in my roof during a rainstorm if they were giving me FIOS!
I would have agreed to an extent, a few months ago. But Comcast bumped my speeds up significantly. I'm now getting about 25Mb/s. I also get High Def, DVR, free HBO (at the moment), phone (with unlimited in-country long distance) and I pay $115/month until April. From what I can tell on Verizon's site, they don't have a package that comes close in terms of service at that price.
Edit: Just a little offish topic, I have fios at my house, and it freaking rocks. We have the 25Mbps/15Mbps connection here plus T.V and phone, simply outstanding. It is also cheaper than Direct T.V was with verizon dsl together.
I'll be interested to see what kinds of promos they offer. Right now, it's not looking comparable to Comcast - at least in this area.
Mac Specs: 20" imac,4GBram,extended keyboard,wireless mouse,19" second monitor
Quote:
Originally Posted by cwa107
Well, a Verizon engineer, not affiliated with the contractor is supposed to call me tomorrow. The contractor did nothing today, nor did they bother to call me back. I was advised by a Verizon rep that the ball is now in Verizon's court and they will take care of any repairs separate from the contractor. So, let's see where that gets us.
Well, in the US, public utilities have what is known as an "easement", which according to the contractor is 10' into the property line from public property. That means they can trespass and even dig should there be a problem or an infrastructure change. I don't believe it gives them the right to install any structure in that property, but we'll see.
My next step, should I receive no satisfaction, will be to file a formal complaint with the Public Utilities Commission, which has sided with me and fined Verizon on my behalf before (that's another story, but an interesting one at that). So, they have been responsive in the past, we'll see what happens this time.
If that doesn't work, I am tempted to file criminal charges for vandalism against the contractor. In my opinion, damaging my landscaping and digging holes without my explicit consent is an act of vandalism. So, this is far from over.
Just to be sure, you might contact your city officials to verify that distance of 10'. I believe it's a pretty standard figure but each city does have the ability to call it's own shots in that regard. I guess I wouldn't take the contractors word on that considering what has transpired up to this point.
Since no one bothered to call you back, I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that someone at Verizon and the contractors place are throwing the hot potato around to see who is going to have to worm their way outta this one!
Good luck with these clowns.
Just to be sure, you might contact your city officials to verify that distance of 10'. I believe it's a pretty standard figure but each city does have the ability to call it's own shots in that regard. I guess I wouldn't take the contractors word on that considering what has transpired up to this point.
Since no one bothered to call you back, I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that someone at Verizon and the contractors place are throwing the hot potato around to see who is going to have to worm their way outta this one!
Good luck with these clowns.
Well, I've already gotten my complaint written up for the PUC in the event that Doug, the engineer from Verizon doesn't call me back or gives me the runaround. I'm going to give them a chance as it's only been a couple of days since the box was put there.
!! Post some pictures of the disassembly...if they don't get the job done!
