Fallen Cable Line in Backyard

[SCNCY]

I need the wisdom of Cyclonefanatic to help me decide how to solve a problem.

I have a house in the southern part of Kansas City. The house is similar to your typical city lot. In my backyard and my neighbor's backyard, there are polls for the utility lines, including power, cable, etc. When I purchased the house in 2016, there were three cable lines, one for google fiber, one for AT&T, and another for what I believe is Spectrum. In January, we had a heavy snowfall (wet/damp snow) which caused one of my trees to fall and take down the cable lines with it. Along with the cable lines, the facia and gutters where the cables were attached came down too. These cables were then laying in my backyard touching the ground and have no identification on who they belong to, but I have an idea of which companies based on the service in my area.

So, I called google fiber, which I am a current customer of, and they came and fixed the fallen cable and attached it back to my house. I called AT&T, which I am not a customer of, and they removed the wire and their equipment. I called Spectrum several times, which again, I am not a customer of, to come and fix it, but they have failed to follow through.

The question is, what are my next steps? With spring here, my tenant (I rent the house) will soon be having to mow the grass, but there is still this obstacle in the way. Spectrum has been unresponsive after several attempts. Do I continue to call their customer service line? Is there a city service I can call? Do I just cut the cable and tie it around my fence in the backyard?

Thanks for the help!

 

[MeanDean]

As long as you know it's just cable and not high voltage, I'd just cut it and throw it away. If they come back in the future just say it got hit by the lawn mower and was removed for safety reasons.

But honestly, I doubt anyone will ever worry about it.

 

[SCNCY]

As long as you know it's just cable and not high voltage, I'd just cut it and throw it away. If they come back in the future just say it got hit by the lawn mower and was removed for safety reasons.

But honestly, I doubt anyone will ever worry about it.

I want this to be the last option, but I am getting pretty close to it.

 

[ISUAlum2002]

I would maybe send them a certified letter and outline the situation, give them the dates you spoke to their customer service reps (and names, if you happen to have them), and give them a modest deadline to come out and remedy the issue. Throw in there that you have already contacted a couple of other entities and they came over to fix the issue with their lines. Give them the dates on those, if you have them. Let them know that you'll have to remove the line yourself by that deadline because the line is a hazard and an obstacle. See if they take action.

A sticking point here is that it was your tree that did the damage. They may not be very happy with you if you then damage their property following that. However, if you can show proof of your attempts to communicate with them to get the issue corrected, I doubt you would be in too deep of water if you took action yourself at some point.

There's also always the chance that this isn't Spectrum's line anyway. Not sure what you do then if you snip the line and a different provider comes knocking at your door asking you WTF you were doing.

 

[SCNCY]

Unfortunately I didn't track my calls. I'll give them another call tomorrow, but it'll probably end up me cutting the cable.

Also, nothing of theirs got damaged. They just need to reattach the cable back to my house.

 

[IceCyIce]

If you cut it they will be out in a couple days, problem solved.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

I'm a Spectrum customer in Shawnee and they have been decent for the most part, but they are pretty lackadaisical with their lines. They fixed a neighbor's line by coming into my yard and ended up leaving a cable lying on top of the grass across my yard for about two weeks .

After three calls they came out and did a half-ass job and destroyed my lawn. Last summer, the same thing happened and i ended up burying the line myself so at least my lawn didn't take another hit.

I would advise not cutting the line as you will end up paying for the repairs once an outage happens and someone complains. You won't be able to hide what you did and, regardless of your situation, you'll be knowingly damaging property that doesn't belong to you.

I'd make calls and take down names and times. As them what to do to escalate the situation if nothing gets done, that way you can get an idea on future steps to take. You could also take pictures and put them on their Facebook page or some social media site to give them bad press. Say you're worried about kids playing around the wires, etc.

Also, you may double check with Comcast as another possible option as they are also pretty prevalent down here.

 

[DarkStar]

Someone in the city government tracks who owns the utility lines. It might be worth a call to the city manager's office to find out who owns the line and what to do if they will not come out and repair it. If is not their office they should be able to point you in the right direction.

Contact the City Manager

City Manager: Troy Schulte, 816-1408

P.s. he is an ISU alum...

 

[SCNCY]

Someone in the city government tracks who owns the utility lines. It might be worth a call to the city manager's office to find out who owns the line and what to do if they will not come out and repair it. If is not their office they should be able to point you in the right direction.

Contact the City Manager

City Manager: Troy Schulte, 816-1408

P.s. he is an ISU alum...

Is that contact for Kcmo?

Sorry, clicked on the link and saw @kcmo.

 

[DarkStar]

Is that contact for Kcmo?

Sorry, clicked on the link and saw @kcmo.

Yes, here is their url.
http://kcmo.gov/citymanagersoffice/

They may not do it (track utility lines) but they should be able to point you in the right direction (to who actually does track utility lines) ...