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Cable Laid on Neighbours Property

SMHamer
Joining in

Hi,

Today the engineers came to attach the cables to the front of my property. We have a shared wall with our neighbour where the cable source is and we specifically said to not run down our neighbours drive since they did not have permission. I was away for roughly 30 minutes for work and the installers had finished and left. But they ran the cable down my neighbours driveway and not mine. This is also done in a very visible not tidy way.

I do not feel like the way they installed the cable was necessary as there was a secondary rather simple route they could have followed. This will eventually cause a dispute between myself and my neighbour so could you please as soon as possible and before the 14th January arrange for the cable to be routed correctly, or gain permission from my neighbour or something equivalent to this and relay this to me.

I understand you use contractors however this is a very poor quality of service provided and I would like it to be resolved immediately or have this matter escalated.

9 REPLIES 9

goslow
Alessandro Volta

You're not having the best of luck with your installation.

The remedy of the problem will follow the same pattern of randomness that you have already experienced with VM and its sub-contractors.

You may find, however, that it helps the forum staff on here to refer on for action/remedy if you post some photos of the offending cable and identify where it has been incorrectly placed and where it should be located (leaving out anything in the images that uniquely identifies you or your properties).

Red is currently cable line onto neighbours drive, green is where we asked to route of the cable to go to route around a shared flower bed outside front of property. If someone is able to escalate this so this problem can be fixed ASAP it would be greatly appreciated.

 Screenshot 2023-01-06 at 18.29.08.jpg

jpeg1
Alessandro Volta

I hope that you and your neighbour both have great patience. From similar cases in the past, you are going to need it. 

- jpeg1
My name is NOT Alessandro. That's just a tag Virginmedia sticks on some contributors. Please ignore it.

I managed to get through to someone and they have arranged an engineer to come back to relay on 11th January.

I wanted to know what is the standard practise for laying cables, we were under the impression they would be laid underground.

At the moment our cables are out in the open and firstly, could be a trip hazard and secondly,  could very easily be ripped up if someone wanted to. Can I ask that cables be laid under ground ? Or is this not standard practice for virgin media cable laying ?

jpeg1
Alessandro Volta

The contractors used by Virgin vary considerably. Some do a neat job, others will run the cable as quickly as possible and then disappear.  All you can do is be there and make sure they do it properly. 

- jpeg1
My name is NOT Alessandro. That's just a tag Virginmedia sticks on some contributors. Please ignore it.

Our question is is laid properly just completely dependent on the contractor ? Does virgin media have a minimum or guideline requirement for the cable laying, I.e should it be as hidden/covered as possible ?

goslow
Alessandro Volta

@SMHamer wrote:

Our question is is laid properly just completely dependent on the contractor ? Does virgin media have a minimum or guideline requirement for the cable laying, I.e should it be as hidden/covered as possible ?


I don't imagine that the contractors will be cutting slab concrete to bury the cable. If you have seen the quality of some of the reinstatement work on here you may want to leave your front garden/concrete as is!

jpeg1 is correct. Skills and abilities of the sub-contractors vary enormously. Expect the baseline/minimum of skills/tools/equipment/materials and enjoy the experience if you get something better!

If you get an installer who is better-than-basic they might be able to angle drill to the inside of the planter wall and route the cable that way out of sight behind the wall of the brick planter.

VM could use a cable 'dolly' as per image 1 below

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/QuickStart-set-up-and/Needed-External-cable-entry-cover-on-pave...

to protect the cable as it comes out of the ground and then re-route to the inside of the planter wall to keep it out of sight. You might reasonably expect them to clip the cable to the wall but they may just want to install in green plastic conduit laid on the surface.

They could also use cable capping to cover and protect any exposed cable on the wall. As per example underneath the grey box here

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/76647i5AC6D9727BC65E09/image-size/large?v=v2&...

In all likelihood though the contractors won't have the necessary materials with them. Try and agree the work with them when they turn up. As you have discovered, not being there means they will do it their way!

A further issue may be the cable length they have pulled through. Is the distance in red in your photo significantly shorter than the distance in green? If so they may not have pulled through enough cable to follow the green route. If they have left plenty of slack coiled up near your home then it may be OK.

I managed to get through to someone who has scheduled a relay of our cables tomorrow, however I have just received a call stating that because construction has not been complete in time, that they have cancelled my "go-live" date which was supposed to be 14th. The appointment tomorrow is just to relay off my neighbours drive so the equipment can still be installed on Saturday.

I have called and used the online live chat but I haven't managed to get hold of anyone that can help me solve my problem, any suggestions ?

Hey SMHamer, thank you for reaching out and I am sorry to hear there has been a delay on your install.

I am going to PM you so we can talk about this in more depth, please look out for the purple envelope. Thanks 

Matt - Forum Team


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