Hey, you kids . . . outta my yard!
Me and the Mrs. moved into our house in September. We started construction several months before that. We called the local cable company (Charter) two months prior to inform them that we’d be moving in September and we’re interested in purchasing cable TV and internet. No problem, they say assuring us they’d have it in by September. We even had our house wired for it with convenient little hookups outside for them.
We were the first to move into the new subdivision. It comes moving time and we call Charter who informs us that there are no cable lines ran to our subdivision. I speak with the builder and he informs me that cable, telephone, and electric had all been notified back when the land was developed and that electric and telephone came out and ran their cables. But not Charter. Me and the Mrs. got satellite TV instead, which is definitely better than cable since it now has local channels. The picture is better and it’s just more convenient.
Now that there are about 20 homes in the subdivision (of which about 14 are sold and lived in), here comes Charter. Back when the land was being developed they could have installed cable which would have been convenient for us homeowners and cheaper for them. Now, they’re installing cable because more people are there. Each home has a ten foot easement on sides facing the roads for these companies to install their pipes and cables and such. All the homes had sod placed in the yard. Here comes Charter with their diggers. They dug trenches in several yards, which leaves a mess and ruins your sod. The knocked out my telephone line. I was lucky, they didn’t have to dig a trench in my yard because the dirt was soft and they could drill under my yard. This exercise is costing them more money than if they’d done it at the start, as the other trenches were already in place.
The real kicker (mind you I was upset at them taking out my telephone line) is that they left a digger parked in a neighbor’s yard for days. This, of course, killed sections of her grass.
In addition, the homes already in the subdivision all have satellite television because cable wasn’t available when they moved in. So, in addition to extra cost because of the time involved in using the drilling machine and replacing telephone lines and sod, they are not getting revenue from the people already living there who opted for satellite because cable wasn’t available.
Charter has had some financial problems recently and I think I see why.
July 30th, 2003 at 3:52 pm
What an awful company! My boyfriend recently cut down a bush in my yard without so much as asking permission first. I was furious about it, but would be even more so at a company who damaged my yard!! In my opinion, unless you’re authorized to do so, or there’s a safety issue (i.e. trimming trees around power lines), you just don’t change a property that isn’t your own.
July 30th, 2003 at 5:42 pm
While building a house next door, they cut my cable and phone lines when digging the gas and water lines.
The cable guys came and ran a cable across my yard. The phone guys came and buried a new phone line. The cable guys came back to bury their line and cut the phone line again.
A few weeks later, they were digging a driveway for another house down the street and cut the cable lines for the entire street.
It’s a never ending cycle as long as there is a backhoe within sight of your house.
July 31st, 2003 at 12:29 am
First of all, a ten-foot easement is offensive! Second, I despise government-sponsored monopolies.
And you are right – satellite beats cable. TiVo for DirecTV rocks.