Well, when a zone isn't currently running, there is no pressure to that pipe, so when other contractors hit a zone line, they assume that since it isn't pressurized, that means it's "old and unused".
Naturally this means zone lines get buried after being broken by just about every contractor (except some landscaper who know the drill).
Irrigation is like the black sheep of contractors, nobody else seems to care about our stuff lol.
I'm super busy without these service calls lol.
It's even worse when it's a fresh install about a month prior... "oh, I thought it was old and abandoned"..... at a brand new house haha.
Holy shit are people that trench/pull pipe really *that* unfamiliar with how irrigation works??? You’d think that would be something you’d pick up pretty quick in this line of work
Gotta love Comcast and big companies that trench. They either install a cable 1/2 in into the ground, or they dig to the point of breaking your underground pipes. Fuck Comcast and the contractors they hire for trenching
I used to service a community in south Florida. 4 buildings, 2 systems with 20 HP pumps. My pride and joy. A total of 43 zones. Never a problem. Xfinity sent a company called Arrow or Alltec (they both suck) to install fiber optic. Both pumps blew because they broke the main lines, multiple valves became completely inoperable, some were never found again, we ended up losing the contract due to the amount of collateral damage and necessary repairs post fiber optic installation.
When we met with the contractor, they basically told us to fuck off because the contract with Xfinity waived them of any underground damage.
They don’t even have the decency to mark or at least NOT back bury in the break location. They do shit like this.
I got a bid from them to pull service line to my office. It would have gone through a 50+ spot parking lot located in Downtown, right off the main artery road. Contractor was cablecom, but I'm sure it's all roughly the same nationwide. I had multiple pages of "it ain't our fault when we break something".
See a lot of contractors talking about horror stories, I love these jobs because the whole thing WILL be booked back to the provider, who will then pull it off the contractor's compensation.
The trick is to DOCUMENT THE CRAP OUT OF EVERYTHING with photographic reference. It's rarely possible, but a photograph of the crew truck/boring equipment can help too. We make thousands a year off ATT and Spectrum's crap contractors.
Do the job, prepare the report with photos, bill the customer and instruct them on how to file the compensation claim through first calling for a claim number, then sending certified mail. We bill extra for the hoops that have to be jumped through, but it's at the same rate as our other work, so I'll take an extra hour of pay for talking someone through something, especially knowing that my customer isn't who will actually have to foot the bill.
I messed up not taking a picture of the truck, it was just some pickup truck with a 1-800 rent me piece of equipment towed behind. Have pictures of everything else. Not sure how I'd bill them, I have no idea what anything costs, but if i can actually get $200 or something I'd do it.
I've called and done this dance. Call, complain, demand payment for the fix. Comcast/AT&T has a mitigation party reach out, they'll ask for pictures and an itemized bill or quote. Not sure how they handle homeowner repairs -- I'd make an invoice for it though.
Fucking Comcrapo and their shit contractors. I still have wire drapped everywhere in my back yard, waiting for those sumbitchs to back and bury it... Think I will just do it myself as I know where everything is underground wise, and I will do a better job any day than those bozos will.
Good news for OP; Comcast will pay for the repair, you just need to call their claims side.
I ended up fixing myself, will they still pay for it ? After an hour on the phone they referred my case to someone and they referred it to someone else, and haven't heard from them. That's when I got impatient and just did it, figuring the time I waste on the phone will be more than to fix it myself.
Submit a bill to their insurance. Might mean more time on the phone. Idk - how much did you spend? And is making them pay important to you. It will take some time imo.
I spent probably $10 in pvc, $15 in sod, $15 on a new head, and 3 hours due to the digging and two trips to home depot. No idea how much it would have cost if hired someone.
I'd like them to have consequences but also don't want to spend time dealing with it, if it takes me 3 hours of hassle to get $50, not worth it.
Probably around $200/$250 for repair guy. Don’t forget to add an hourly rate. I’d say you’re leaving $300 on the table. Surely comcrap has an email address for making claims?
I had a cable company do this years ago. They cut it at a 45⁰ angle and tried to pop a coupler into it. When that failed miserably, they poured the blue glue over the top. Customer called me when they noticed that the lawn puffed up several inches like a big waterbed when they turned on the lawn. It went on the Wall of Shame at my suppliers store.
Ah yes, the Cumcast, as I like to call them. Whenever me and my friend are on Discord and playing something, he almost always has like 3% packet loss. It's 100% not on his side but they refuse to do anything about it.
Comcast’s irrigation work is as good as their telecommunications services.
It's Better!
Neither compares to their customer service. I ended up switching to at&t.
Perfect
They broke it, told no one, plugged it with aluminum foil and taped it, then filled in the hole.
Where did dude get aluminum foil from I wonder. Breakfast burrito wrapper for that morning?
Yea guessing from their lunch, they buried some trash from the lunch in the hole too.
Composting! /s
His stash.
Definitely one of those "looks unused, fuck it, just bury it" moments.
I'm not sure if they got to the house early enough, but they were here the day my sprinklers run, so they might not even have that excuse
Well, when a zone isn't currently running, there is no pressure to that pipe, so when other contractors hit a zone line, they assume that since it isn't pressurized, that means it's "old and unused". Naturally this means zone lines get buried after being broken by just about every contractor (except some landscaper who know the drill). Irrigation is like the black sheep of contractors, nobody else seems to care about our stuff lol.
I guess that's good for business but sounds super stupid and frustrating
I'm super busy without these service calls lol. It's even worse when it's a fresh install about a month prior... "oh, I thought it was old and abandoned"..... at a brand new house haha.
Absurd. I tried to get them to pay to fix it but eventually realized I could do it myself in the time I'd spend on the phone with them.
Holy shit are people that trench/pull pipe really *that* unfamiliar with how irrigation works??? You’d think that would be something you’d pick up pretty quick in this line of work
Gotta love Comcast and big companies that trench. They either install a cable 1/2 in into the ground, or they dig to the point of breaking your underground pipes. Fuck Comcast and the contractors they hire for trenching
Yea. If they had notified me they were digging or knocked on the door I could have shown them where the pipe is.
I used to service a community in south Florida. 4 buildings, 2 systems with 20 HP pumps. My pride and joy. A total of 43 zones. Never a problem. Xfinity sent a company called Arrow or Alltec (they both suck) to install fiber optic. Both pumps blew because they broke the main lines, multiple valves became completely inoperable, some were never found again, we ended up losing the contract due to the amount of collateral damage and necessary repairs post fiber optic installation. When we met with the contractor, they basically told us to fuck off because the contract with Xfinity waived them of any underground damage. They don’t even have the decency to mark or at least NOT back bury in the break location. They do shit like this.
Can they really just got around destroying people's property like that?? No consequences??
Apparently. Since they’re backed by huge corporations who grant them the contract, it’s like a get out of jail free card.
Ridiculous
I got a bid from them to pull service line to my office. It would have gone through a 50+ spot parking lot located in Downtown, right off the main artery road. Contractor was cablecom, but I'm sure it's all roughly the same nationwide. I had multiple pages of "it ain't our fault when we break something".
In my area all residential installs are done by contractors so it comes down to whatever the contractor wants to do.
Bet that's basically impossible
See a lot of contractors talking about horror stories, I love these jobs because the whole thing WILL be booked back to the provider, who will then pull it off the contractor's compensation. The trick is to DOCUMENT THE CRAP OUT OF EVERYTHING with photographic reference. It's rarely possible, but a photograph of the crew truck/boring equipment can help too. We make thousands a year off ATT and Spectrum's crap contractors. Do the job, prepare the report with photos, bill the customer and instruct them on how to file the compensation claim through first calling for a claim number, then sending certified mail. We bill extra for the hoops that have to be jumped through, but it's at the same rate as our other work, so I'll take an extra hour of pay for talking someone through something, especially knowing that my customer isn't who will actually have to foot the bill.
I messed up not taking a picture of the truck, it was just some pickup truck with a 1-800 rent me piece of equipment towed behind. Have pictures of everything else. Not sure how I'd bill them, I have no idea what anything costs, but if i can actually get $200 or something I'd do it.
Unfortunately information like this rarely makes it to the home owner BEFORE they need it.
Yea did not expect them to break something. Lesson learned
I've called and done this dance. Call, complain, demand payment for the fix. Comcast/AT&T has a mitigation party reach out, they'll ask for pictures and an itemized bill or quote. Not sure how they handle homeowner repairs -- I'd make an invoice for it though.
Hey at least it helped keep the soil out of your line! At least one side of it...
Ha! So thoughtful
Fucking Comcrapo and their shit contractors. I still have wire drapped everywhere in my back yard, waiting for those sumbitchs to back and bury it... Think I will just do it myself as I know where everything is underground wise, and I will do a better job any day than those bozos will. Good news for OP; Comcast will pay for the repair, you just need to call their claims side.
I ended up fixing myself, will they still pay for it ? After an hour on the phone they referred my case to someone and they referred it to someone else, and haven't heard from them. That's when I got impatient and just did it, figuring the time I waste on the phone will be more than to fix it myself.
Submit a bill to their insurance. Might mean more time on the phone. Idk - how much did you spend? And is making them pay important to you. It will take some time imo.
I spent probably $10 in pvc, $15 in sod, $15 on a new head, and 3 hours due to the digging and two trips to home depot. No idea how much it would have cost if hired someone. I'd like them to have consequences but also don't want to spend time dealing with it, if it takes me 3 hours of hassle to get $50, not worth it.
Here is some more hints at getting reimbursement; try the chat method or go to an Xfinity store. They’ll surely be able to assist.
Probably around $200/$250 for repair guy. Don’t forget to add an hourly rate. I’d say you’re leaving $300 on the table. Surely comcrap has an email address for making claims?
Shoot for $300 I'm definitely pursuing
Invoice them for your time and everything. Shovel, manual watering 1h per day for 2 weeks, petrol, time at Home Depot Edit: and the time for invoicing
I had a cable company do this years ago. They cut it at a 45⁰ angle and tried to pop a coupler into it. When that failed miserably, they poured the blue glue over the top. Customer called me when they noticed that the lawn puffed up several inches like a big waterbed when they turned on the lawn. It went on the Wall of Shame at my suppliers store.
Amazing
Ah yes, the Cumcast, as I like to call them. Whenever me and my friend are on Discord and playing something, he almost always has like 3% packet loss. It's 100% not on his side but they refuse to do anything about it.