Hey, Verizon Installer Guy Who Installed FiOS At My House Six Months Ago- you left something behind. Specifically, a small piece of wire. Even more specifically, a thick, sharp, 8 inch piece of wire. Don’t worry, though- I found it for you.
Actually, my riding mower’s tire found it.
The sidewall puncture meant that the tire couldn’t be repaired- I had to replace it. And apparently, the tires for my particular model of John Deere mower are pretty damned expensive- getting a new one on the rim cost me $117.00 this morning.
So, you know, you might want to clean up after yourself the next time you install cable at some other customer’s house.
Thank you for recovering our wire. Please send it to our warehouse via overnight FedEx, along with $43.95 to cover your lawnmower’s damage to the wire, $22.50 for the restocking fee, and $50.00 in improper storage penalty. Should we find that the wire has suffered excess oxidation due to being stored in your lawn, there will be an additional $119.50 to cover the cost of deoxidification.
Failure to return our property by this Wednesday may result in escalation of this issue, up to and including legal action.
That six months lag time puts your scenario in limbo. I realize that was winter and this might be the first time to discover the wire. You did not see it either. Your mower found it for you. You may be 100% right in your observation. However, the cable guy usually doesn’t have wire hanging out of his pocket. If it was a big piece of wire, maybe you should have seen it while policing the lawn prior or during cutting. Some kid may have come along and pitched the wire on your property from the street. Maybe someone has a beef with you and threw it there. Finding wire is not difficult.
All I’m saying is coincidence is a possibility. Heck, I could get a truck tire mounted for that amount. I feel your pain. You spend $117 plus time and you are no farther ahead than before you started.
Oh, I know. That’s pretty much why I’m not trying to get Verizon to pay for it. I don’t have proof that it’s their wire.
The evidence, though, is pretty damning- it was a really thick wire which isn’t used anywhere in my yard. I live out in the country with almost no neighbors, so it’s unlikely anyone dropped it there. We’re set back from the road with thick trees, so it couldn’t have come from the road. That part of the yard isn’t used for anything- it’s just a big flat field- except that’s exactly where the utilities like cable and electricity go through the yard to the house. I’ve mowed many times before, and not found it. The wire was small enough that it would’ve been impossible to see, but was still thick enough and strong enough to punch through the tire.
Now that I think about it, though- FiOS is fiber optic. Would they even have run metal wiring to the house? Now that I think about it, probably not. The wire was probably from when the previous owners had traditional cable installed, or maybe even when the power was originally run to the house.
I dunno. I’m gonna blame Verizon anyway. It makes me feel better for having to take two days off last year because the installer screwed up the first time and didn’t check everything before he took off.
When I read those words, a chill ran down my spine, because I was afraid you’d STEPPED on the damn thing. I’m glad that you didn’t. Sucks to have to spend money on a new lawnmower tire, though.
I, too, have had to deal with the aftermath of a visit from one of Verizon’s gorillas.
Some time ago, my wife and I moved into a lovely new apartment. And I mean brand new. Prisine. We were the first occupants. This was new construction.
In the hall closet was a box where the wiring for cable and telephone and lord knows what is located. It’s supposed to give easy access to cable and phone company employees. Very neat.
So we call the phone company to have the phone lines hooked up. The man from Verizon comes. He looks at the box. He tells us he has to install some piece of equipment in the box. We say OK. It’s some kind of black box. He gets out a drill and starts screwing it into the box.
Now, the wall of the hall closet on which the box is installed is, on its other side, one of the kitchen walls. This is obvious. This fact ***cannot ***be missed by anyone walking into the apartment.
We hear his power tool going inside the closet. We assume he knows what he’s doing. We pay insufficient attention. Therefore, we are horrified when we look again and see the pointy ends of four screws, each about six inches long, protruding from our kitchen wall.
I freak out internally, but remain calm externally. I walk over to the closet. I ask the Verizon monkey to put down his tool and come with me. I walk over to the kitchen. I show him the wall with the screws sticking out. He freaks out, says he’ll call his supervisor, and leaves. Doesn’t come back.
We call Verizon. They hem and haw. How do they know their employee did the damage? Can we prove it? Do we have before and after pictures? And what do they expect them to do about it, anyway?
They’ve never fixed the damage (I did). They’ve never compensated us.
This is far worse than mere “sucks”. Verizon has sinned against a man’s Riding Mower. Other attempting to get to second base with his daughter, kicking his dog, or telemarketing during football, there are few greater provocations possible.
The fact that you live out in the country AND have FiOS lowers the rating of this pitting by about a thousand points.
Even if they ran fiber optic cable, they may still have installed a metal tracer wire for locating the line later.
