What to do now

[churchmouse]

OK where to start.
The house CKW and I currently live in is next to our other property we moved into in May of 81. A friend lived in our current house at that time.
In all those years there was never an issue with the sewer. Ever. We bought this house in 04 as we could not get the kids to move so we did. Hilarious right. So was born the compound.
A few years back we had a main line blockage and called the Roto people out. They fought with it for a while and got it freed up and running. Nothing came out on the snake. There are no trees close enough to impact the main line.
About 4 months ago we had another blockage. It was cleared out easily and there were a couple of baby wipes pulled out. Everyone knows better.
Yesterday here we go again so we Called Roto Rooter to get it cleared and run the camera. What they found was a bit disconcerting.
A few years back some contractors ran Fiber Optics all the way down our street using the boring machines. Turns out they bored right through our field tile main drain and ran not 1 but 2 cables right through the middle of it. WTAF.

So now I am on the warpath but have no idea where to start and who to contact to find out who these idiots were and how to get them to get this fixed. We are in Marion co. just north of the Motor Speedway. It's an Indy address.
Short of getting a lawyer which may have to happen anyway how do I hold those moron's feet to the fire.
Need some guidance.

 

[armalitesheepdog]

I would check with other homeowners on the street and see if they also have issues. Power in numbers. I would start there. There's always the mayors action hotline....well never mind on that. This ain't funny. I would call a lawyer

 

[deo62]

Get a backhoe, dig it up, cut it and wait for the owners of the fiber to show up

 

[Expat]

I would call the city engineering dept. a locate should have been done and it might be on them.

 

[Shadow01]

Getting the responsible utility to pay will be difficult. First they will lay it on the contractor and then you will find the contractor out of business or under new “management “. Second they will put it on you to prove when and by whom the damage was done. No pictures or video of the incident, no money. If they do anything they will send you to a company called sedgewick and they make their money by denying claims. Best thing is to roto root through the cable and deny, deny, deny. The responsible party will show up scratching their head. I say this as a 31 year communication employee. You can’t be responsible for cable wrongfully placed inside your sewer pipe. Play dumb…. When approached, ask if they are taking responsibility for your sewer damage, because you were unaware that they placed cable in your pipe.

 

[AndreusMaximus]

Getting the responsible utility to pay will be difficult. First they will lay it on the contractor and then you will find the contractor out of business or under new “management “. Second they will put it on you to prove when and by whom the damage was done. No pictures or video of the incident, no money. If they do anything they will send you to a company called sedgewick and they make their money by denying claims. Best thing is to roto root through the cable and deny, deny, deny. The responsible party will show up scratching their head. I say this as a 31 year communication employee. You can’t be responsible for cable wrongfully placed inside your sewer pipe. Play dumb…. When approached, ask if they are taking responsibility for your sewer damage, because you were unaware that they placed cable in your pipe.

But what if that cuts off his own internet, though? How will he know what to do next if he can't get on INGO to check our advice...

 

[churchmouse]

I would call the city engineering dept. a locate should have been done and it might be on them.

There were location paint lines and multicolored flags everywhere in my bottom yard so oh yes its on them.

 

[churchmouse]

Getting the responsible utility to pay will be difficult. First they will lay it on the contractor and then you will find the contractor out of business or under new “management “. Second they will put it on you to prove when and by whom the damage was done. No pictures or video of the incident, no money. If they do anything they will send you to a company called sedgewick and they make their money by denying claims. Best thing is to roto root through the cable and deny, deny, deny. The responsible party will show up scratching their head. I say this as a 31 year communication employee. You can’t be responsible for cable wrongfully placed inside your sewer pipe. Play dumb…. When approached, ask if they are taking responsibility for your sewer damage, because you were unaware that they placed cable in your pipe.

We have pictures and videos of the cables clearly running through the pipe.

 

[churchmouse]

I would check with other homeowners on the street and see if they also have issues. Power in numbers. I would start there. There's always the mayors action hotline....well never mind on that. This ain't funny. I would call a lawyer

No one else is having any issues. Just us.

 

[BigRed]

This happens more often than people think...and it is a PITA.




I hope it goes well. If not, SSS is always an option.

 

[Shadow01]

We have pictures and videos of the cables clearly running through the pipe.

But not the actual ”act”. Believe me, they play as dumb as they can.

the other dilemma is that ownership can’t be verified until it is removed from the pipe. It won’t have a name on it. Cutting it will be what determines ownership. They will show up once it’s cut.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

But not the actual ”act”. Believe me, they play as dumb as they can.

Yeah, how do we know CM didn't build his sewer pipe around the cables??

 

[Shadow01]

I deal mainly with farmers that have field tile cut by the local telco. I know how this goes. I retired from one major provider and took a second career with another. They play the same games.
rent a bore cutter the size of your pipe and let it fly. Play dumb when someone shows up at the street scratching his head. When they start to open up the ground remind them of your existing sewer pipe and that you will be watching tomake sure they don’t damage it. They will find the remnants of a cable through the pipe. Ask them if they always place their cables in private sewer pipes. Ask them how they will repair your now known damaged sewer pipe. Ask names numbers and managers names and numbers. make this about the damage they caused while digging.

 

[Leadeye]

What a mess, I would gather all the drain cleaning bills as a start.

 

[Jaybird1980]

There were location paint lines and multicolored flags everywhere in my bottom yard so oh yes its on them.

The drain wouldn't have shown up on the locate. Contacting the city would probably still be where I would start, I'm assuming this was ran in a city utility easement. I would think they're responsible for permitting whoever ran the fiber.

Good news is now the old tile will be replaced with new stuff.

Is the house on a crawl or slab?

 

[Knight Rider]

Related story from my youth. The road in front of my house was widened from 2 to 4 lanes. A few years later Rotor was called for back up in our drains. After working for 10 minutes he shows up at the door covered in crap and paper screaming call 911! The new gas lines were run through our tiles. He rooted the out the tile and bust the gas line main.

Fire, police, NIPSCO descended going door to door taking phones off the hooks and snuffing pilot lights. Three city blocks had nat gas backing up into their houses via the sewer.

No explosions, but I’ll never forget that poor guys face at the back door or the smell that lasted for almost a week.

 

[Zombie]

My brother had this happen in Illinois, think it was the electric company that had cut his line out to the street main. His plumber contacted the power company and they owned up to it and paid for the repairs, surprised both of us!

 

[Cameramonkey]

Another vote for cut and wait.

And good luck if it’s ATT. If you aren’t a customer, the conveniently won’t /can’t talk to you because without a customer number to tie the ticket to, they can’t open a ticket. I ran through that when they destroyed my yard. Couldn’t get them to fix because I couldn’t open a ticket.

 

[Cameramonkey]

And you will have to fix that line. The holes will weep water. Any nearby trees will seek out that source and enter through the holes. Pipe will be clogged again in no tim with roots.

 

[churchmouse]

The drain wouldn't have shown up on the locate. Contacting the city would probably still be where I would start, I'm assuming this was ran in a city utility easement. I would think they're responsible for permitting whoever ran the fiber.

Good news is now the old tile will be replaced with new stuff.

Is the house on a crawl or slab?

Its on a slab and the damage is 83 feet out from the service clean out across the side walk by the curb.