Bell Installer's Bad Workmanship resulted in $500 in damages

  • Thread starter Thread starter lecoyte
  • Start date Start date
Ahhhh, waste disposal now the blocked drain makes sense. It also makes the installer look a little more negligent. If it was an unfinished basement, he had to go down there to get the cable once he drilled it into the basement, to run it to the tv location. One would assume he would clip/staple the cable in the basement , so it wasn't hanging. Even better, he could have checked the area in the basement prior to drilling (Use some landmarks to pinpoint where to drill, water pipes, gas, phone, cable, etc...)
Hopefully you can get this situation resolved
Good Luck
 
Come on now, don't piss in his cornflakes :)

They came through so far, let's be optimistic for this guy.
 
nimiq, correct me if i'm wrong, but how plausible is it that the tech:
a) couldn't tell by the shift in the drill that he'd hit empty space and then hit something again
b) could actually thread the cable through the drain pipe without much difficulty
c) not notice he had gone through the drain pipe when he was pulling the cable through and tacking it up
I just find it highly unlikely that all three of these things would go unnoticed.

nem, who is not an installer but has worked with a drill before
 
The installers are independent contractors. They are not employees of Bell. Bell does not train them, etc. Your claim would be against the installer.
 
Exactly, lets be positive here, it sounds like it is all going to work out in the end.

I am sure it it does not, we will be hearing about it.
 
Pending verification from the original poster, when I read this thread I got the impression the drill/cable went "through" the pipe as in "across" as opposed to "along". i.e. perpendicular as could easily happen when drilling into a wall. Threading the cable from the outside of the house could indeed have resulted in the cable passing through the pipe without the installer noticing.......(although I say that with some scepticism) but then we haven't seen the actual install location, have we......

Threading a cable inside a drain and having it come out a hole is (as mentioned above) an impossible tasks and I don't know how you guys got to that conclusion. :-)

In any case, I'm sure the installer is happy (even though he may not realise it) that he didn't drill into a power cable.....

Certainly an unfortunate situation but that (again as mentioned) is why companies have insurance. Seems pretty cut and dried.
 
Which is why I asked for the Area the Poster lives in. I can then assist by directing them to the Installation Company in that area.

There are very few Independent Installers in the Southern Ontario area, they almost all work for or on behalf of an Installation Company.

Express Vu will NOT get involved directly but I am very surprised they did not contact the Installation Co, they seem to like bashing them at almost every opportunity they get.
 
I do not have too much confidence with your techs if this is what you are seeing, you sound like you need to educate them a little more.....lol

The original Poster had tried ExpressVu and got no-where, I see they were given the Installation Compamies Name and I would have supplied them direct contact within ExpressVu had they still had no response.

Out of all the complains you handle, how many are "bogus".?

I know of Customers who were told by ExpressVu that in order to get a Credit they had to make a complaint.....
 
dumb and dumber did my install (almost 2 yrs ago)

long story short -I negotiated free programming credits and ppv credits with a csr which equaled the damage done

the negotiatng was hilarius though , I should have recorded it

I started high , he started low --we met somewhere in the middle :cool:
 
I'm curious as to how someone does this these days?

- Hey, look at all the extra-compressed channels you can get?
- You should see Emily's eyes! (forget 1-976...)
- I'm a Little Beaver fan
- Who cares about network fees, you can save that money back by going for triple-play
- Error-free billing

And the number one reason for switching to Bell...
- nice Toronto ads!

Sorry, I couldn't resist.
-gmd
 
There is a clear difference between making a mistake in a Government building and not getting charged back for it (i.e. nobody is really losing any money out of their pocket, it's all covered in the maintenance budget) and making a mistake at someone's house where the customer had NO choice in the matter (I know I've had to tolerate installers at my place because Bell would not have it any other way) and incurring damage for said customer.



Well, that's for the installer to decide if he wants to make an insurance claim or not but in NO way does that put the onus on the customer to pay for damages or make a claim to their insurance provider. This is the INSTALLER'S responsibility.

What if you went for surgery and the surgeon drilled at the wrong place and through something he's not supposed to drill through, causing long-term damage? Would you just sit back and say "oh well" or would you go after him for being an incompetent jackass?
 
It would actually be against both, because the customer doesn't have a contract with the installer, Bell does. The customer only has a contract with Bell.

aa_aa I understand your point but just because it's difficult to detect doesn't relieve the installer of his obligation for due diligence or his responsibility in drilling through something he wasn't supposed to drill through. That's the cost of doing business and that's why most of those installation companies have insurance (aren't they obligated to be insured against issues like that?).
 
Why wouldn't the installer just use the cable that was used for the Starchoice dish, instead of running all new cable and making more holes in the house? You could even use the same mounting mast, no?

Also, I'm pretty sure you would notice all the gunk, like grease and such, on your bit after drilling through a kitchen drain pipe... but $500 to fix it, in an unfinished basement? I want to be your plumber!
 
I would side with the customer too I think.
I doubt he knew he hit the drain pipe, but that doesn't change the fact that he hit it. They have insurance (Installation Company) and should use it to keep this customer happy. If they don't pay, it will look very bad on their part, and seeing as many potential ExpressVu customers come here, it would be bad PR, and cost them more in the long run.
I'm crossing my fingers that they do the right thing, and pay for the damages.
 
With Bell, you can cancel within 10 days. You still have to pay for the days.

I got rid of the HD receiver.

-gmd
 
I again disagree. I have been on many job sites where close to catastrophic things have happened. Every thing from cutting through a 600 volt main line in a Provincial maximum security prison to coring through concrete and hitting pretensioned structural cables. I know the contractors were not held to blame as due diligence was taken.

I may be wrong, but this has been my experience. As for the contractor having insurance, of course they will have it but if small claims like this were made even in small numbers, they would soon not be able to renew it. The home owner will also have insurance, and if their insurance company did not like the process, they would quickly go after the contractors insurer.
 
the Rogers guy is coming over tomorrow for my install...i'll let you know how it goes.
 
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