HOUSTON — Different companies are laying fiber lines all across Houston and since our first story aired about contractors damaging one man's backyard, we've gotten calls from people with similar stories from Katy to Kingwood.
"This has been in my backyard since they came in and sucked out the dirt and were laying fiber optics," said Daniel Stone as he showed the damage in the backyard of his Kingwood home.
He blames it on contractors who were digging for new fiber lines.
"They dug against the fence. The post got weak and the fence leaned over and fell, and right on top of the pool," he said. "They came out... basically there were workers that were digging the trenches and they told the supervisor that they dug 8 feet away from my fence and the fence post were rotten under the ground and that's what caused it to fall."
Stone said they didn't dig 8 feet away.
"These trenches were dug right up against my fence, all the way down," he said.
Then, he discovered a big hole.
"They never said a word about the gas line," Stone said. "I came back here to mow one day and they had a piece of plywood over it and nothing but natural gas came out of it."
We called Comcast and a spokesman told KHOU that the company doesn't believe the damage was done by its contractors. They sent KHOU the following statement:
"As we are installing the fiber lines for the new Xfinity 10G Network, we take the utmost of care and respect for homeowners, their properties and community areas. Construction can get messy, so we make a commitment to communicate early and often with homeowners, do our best to protect lawns and minimize property impacts disturbed in utility easements. Before our work is finished, we commit to restore the areas we disrupt, and in many cases, we leave it better than we found it.
"Homeowner feedback is important to us. Our construction team investigates damage claims in a fair and timely manner. In the case of this particular residence, we determined that crews worked several feet away from the fence line. Photos provided by the homeowner and our construction crew show the damage to the downed fence is consistent with severe weathering and rotting and not consistent with damage from our construction efforts. If the homeowner has any additional evidence that shows our team damaged the fence, we would be happy to reconsider the damage claim.”
That leaves Stone stuck with the repair bill for a backyard he never thought would look like it does.
"What's frustrating me is them not trying to take any responsibility for this. They are leaving it all up to me to take care of all of this problem," he said.
If you have a question about companies digging in your neighborhood, you can call the permit division in your county. For Harris County, that's the Department of Engineering at (713) 274-3600. They can verify whether the utility has a valid permit to work in the right of way.
Consumers can also call their elected city council member. They take constituent complaints and can often work to help you sort through the problem. To find out who your council member is in the City of Houston, click here.
If you have a problem and need help, email GraceCanHelp@khou.com, call (713) 521-HELP or fill out the form below.