Friday, 18. May 2012
In the last week of January, our area had a minor "ice storm." It was enough to cause limbs to drop here and there, some power lines, etc., but not a huge or memorable amount of damage.
However, my phone line was pulled down by the weight of either the ice, or a sagging limb, or the combination of both.
When it "fell," it pulled down with it the CATV wire feed, and popped two mounts on a pipe running from the foundation to the roof for Radon Mitigation.
The true damage is to the siding. Thanks to this, there are about eight quarter-sized holes in the vinyl siding, and two 8′+ sections of corner trim (also vinyl) are half-heartedly attached to the house.
I had scheduled to have my phone service disconnected in favor of going "all-cable," and this was to take place the following week.
I called the phone company, and ultimately got the [verbal] answer from "someone" on the other end of the line: "get an estimate and call us back… the supervisor will then decide if we will take care of it."
It took two weeks to iron out scheduling for people to come, and ultimately my homeowner’s insurer sent an adjuster and opened a claim just in case I needed it.
The damage totals $650, deductible is $500. This is a no-brainer to me: don’t make the claim and pay out of pocket to avoid the possible increase in premiums. (I am set on this, so this is not part of the question just background. While the claim is probably able to be subrogated (sp?) through the utility company, by the insurer, the time, hassle, and potential for further damage from the loose stuff on the house isn’t worth the trouble.)
The CATV guy came out and put their wire up.
The phone company did not hear me completely, and so sent a tech for a trouble call, who simply re-attached the phone line, and stuffed it behind the corner trim, which was ultimately responsible for the problem I’m having with it fitting flush now. (I can see the plywood between the siding end and trim.)
The Radon people guarantee their work for life, so getting the to fasten the pipe back up is no trouble.
I don’t do vinyl siding, or I’d have already done the repair.
My issue is that the phone line was NEVER installed properly. The wire runs through hazards in the back yard, was attached to the house in a half-a__ed manner, and ran up the side of the house- black wire on light cream colored siding- in an obtrusive way with far more holes than were necessary to begin with.
So I have a gripe: the phone line installation was poor to begin with, and, so when it failed it caused all sorts of other havoc.
I have always heard that the utility company is responsible TO their "box." For electric, it is the meter. For phone and cable, it is the "network box" mounted to the house. Water is not this way because it costs so much for the connect.
Any phone people out there? Who is ultimately responsible? The unmentioned party here is whoever is/may be responsible for the actual "transmission lines." I say this because electric companies are separated this way now- you can pay towards the people who maintain the infrastructure, and towards the actual generation. I wonder, since I was repeatedly told to call this third party, if the "wires" are under constant control from one company, and the carriers just hop on and off of it. If THIS is the case, how do I go about opening / filing a claim with the "carrier" when I never paid them directly for the service?
Sorry for the long-winded question, just wanted to make sure all bases were covered.
Thanks for taking the time to read this; and for any help you all can give!
Welcome to being a home owner. That is a long question, justifiably so, however the answers that I would provide are about 4 times longer than that And your not getting that today. I suggest that you try to find a local handyman, siding contractor, maintenance guy, preferably over age 50 and run all of this past him. It may take several of these guys to get what you need, but give it try