Comcast Trespassed and Defaced Our Home

I am going through this right now. They came in my backyard without my
permission. They damaged my irrigation and ripped out a planter, left
trash, and stomped on a bush we have in that corner. Then they ran a
cable along my, repeat, MY fence in which they do not have easement
rights too! I also have a dog in the back yard. Do you think for one
minute they would not sue me if he had bit one of them? Calling them
is a joke. They will not call you back if you are not a customer. I
finally got some lady in their security group that started saying FCC
BS. I told her that in my title paperwork that I signed, it says I am
to be given 48 hour notice that they need access to there box. They
left a note on my front door, the door we never use as we park in our
garage, on Thursday and then went in my backyard on Friday! I got a
police report just in case. I told this gal that they trespassed and
vandalized my property illegally in which she basically did not seem
to care! She then tried to tell me that someone was going to be out
there tomorrow morning and we needed to have the dog put away to which
I replied that will not be happening and I will call the police and
tell them a trespasser is on my property!

I HATE COMCAST.THEY ARE THE MOST IGNORANT DISRESPECTFULLY LAZIEST
COMPANY EVER IN BUSINESS.YOU SHOULD REMOVE THE BOX FROM YOUR HOME AND
DRIVE AROUND UNTIL YOU SEE A COMCAST WORK VAN AND THROW THE BOX
THROUGH THE FRONT WINDSHIELD.AT THE VERY LEAST YOU WILL FEEL
BETTER!!!!

I hate to tell you but they did not trespass and that is not "really"
your propery if they followed the easement lines, which I bet they
did. Every house has a utility easement that extends 10 feet from the
curb and is part of your deed to allow any utility access to that
easement. Check your plat.

I bet your association gave them permission to do this. You need to
take this up with them. If you're in a townhouse or condo, they own
the outside walls of your home, and the land around it.

They can do whatever they want with it then. I"m not sure if they can
do this with an actual 'house'. I bet Comcast has a contract with your
association or town even, and has eminent domain to cable in your
area.

Comcast came to install one of my family members with cable and the
techs stole from him and he called comcast to tell them and the
manager he spoke to said oh yeah they did that once before. WHY are
they still working there! They didnt even offer to look in to the
stolen items!

The last two words of your letter confirm suspicions that I had all
through the letter. Your HOA is the FIRST people you need to be
calling. Comcast may have made some sort of arrangement with them to
set up the neighborhood for Comcast service. If so, there may be
little you can do about it, but either way you should talk to the HOA
first.

That's a bad one. Comcast actually has really good service
technicians, I should know, I've used their services for years. Their
customer service people are pretty good too. But their management
rank and file are pretty terrible. I actually know some of the bozos
they've hired at the top and they are people that no one else in town
will hire for more sr. level positions, or those who crashed and
burned at other companies that have gotten the big job there. There
in lies some of the problem for the type of decision making that goes
on with that company.

Good luck. I'd love to hear how it plays out. Let us know!

You should contact your HOA first by all means. They will know if
comcast was contracted to be the "exclusive" cable business or if they
are just going helter skelter and putting these boxes in "just in the
case you may want them in the future".

And it could be that your HOA contracted with comcast to do the homes.
But again you have to fo through them to get anywhere as you act as a
group now and not a single entity.

Everyone keeps saying to call Comcast first, but my first call would
have been to your HOA.

As others have said, you need to know if they were 1) aware of this
practice and 2) if they agreed to it.

YOU cannot take action on behalf of them, but THEY can take action on
your behalf (FINALLY, something worthwhile coming out of that
exorbitant annual fee!)if Comcast is doing this to the homes in the
development without anyone's knowledge or consent.

But you need to be certain. You don't want to go threatening legal
action, only to find out that your HOW obligated your home to this.
You won't have any recourse at all if that is the case.

I used to have Time Warner Cable, Road Runner, and Digital Phone. Now
because of a merger or a buyout or whatever, I have comcast. I have
had nothing but problems with my comcast service. It amazes me that
after three years with Time Warner and three years of stellar service
I might add. Comcast has taken over and in one year made me wish they
hadn't.

I agree with you Sara. However, I wonder if there is another factor
here.

Has Comcast arranged with your HOA or your town to have permission to
do things like this? While being able to dig in your yard sounds like
a classic example of an easement (they may have arranged with the
builder to have permission to run lines), I cannot believe that this
would extend to physically attaching something to your house. Yet, I
can see some HOAs feeling like they have the right to sell rights to a
company like Comcast because someone in your HOA agreement, it says
that they can do that.

So, if you live in a HOA neighborhood, read your bylaws. If they are
the ones that gave permission for this, then you need to protest to
the HOA board.

If not, then see Redhead's advice, below. It's good advise.

I would be ticked too, but if it was a box on my house that was not
interferring with anything and the other box did not disrupt my
property I would not care too much.
It may help in the future, you never know. Sometimes services will
resell other companies' (Comcast) equipment and lines and it just
makes it quicker for you in the future.
To me it would depend how much it imposed on my property. Like I said,
it would bother me that they presumed to do that but I would look at
whether or not it had any real impact on my life other than pissing me
off a little.
I don't blame you but it might turn out to be something good in the
future.

You won't waste your time calling them.. but you'll waste it writing a
letter which will probably get ignored... Smart move.......

Wow, that sounds pretty eff'd up of Comcast to do something like that.
Good luck getting this one sorted out!

From what you wrote, it seems you are in a VERY NEW development.

I would contact either the builder of the development or the
homeowner's association (if there is one in place). It is possible
that they had contracted with Comcast. If they didn't then I would
definitely persue it with Comcast and copy either the builder or
homeowner's association on the communication.

I'm torn on this one. I agree that they should not have put stuff on
your house w/o permission. But, I do think maybe they got the implied
consent from your husband. What I would do, is to contact their
customer service, AND if that does not work out, THEN get in touch w/
their legal department. However, being that you are threatening legal
action against them, it is unlikely that they will respond to your
letter. I would be interested to know what happens though, keep us
posted

Comcast is run by a bunch of donkey rears, IMHO. And your story
proves that. I disagree with the previous poster. As someone with
legal experience, let me tell you what *I* think you should do:

Confer with other homeowners in your association and work with your
association board. If you can draft a demand letter that covers
everyone's complaint, great -- there's power in numbers.

If you have to do this on your own:

Get two or three estimates as to what it will take to repair the
damage to your house. Draft a formal, businesslike letter itemizing
the damage done to your home and the estimated cost to repair the
damage. I would use the middle estimate, but choose the one that
seems best (not necessarily the highest). Send this letter to the
legal department at Comcast, and consider sending a copy to the
utilities commission in your state/municipality.

In your demand letter be sure to give them a certain amount of time to
respond to your letter -- 10 or 15 days is sufficient. Be sure to
send it certified/return-receipt, so you will get proof that your
letter was received. It should cost around $3 or $4 -- it's money
well spent.

Be sure to take pictures of the damage they did to your home. If you
have pictures of your home prior to this damage (and since it's brand
new, I'm guessing you do have photos), gather them up and keep them in
a safe place.

Document the conversation, as close to verbatim as you cam, between
your husband and the technician. Also keep this in a safe place.

If you don't hear from Comcast in the allotted amount of time, take
them to small claims court. If that doesn't work, THEN you can
consider hiring a lawyer, but that seems overkill, and you *may not*
get attorney's fees when all is said and done (although, it seems only
right that you do, you just never know with some judges).

Good luck to you. May the executives of Comcast lose everything they
own and never have decent TV to watch, for the rest of their lives.

First step you should make IS to CALL Comcast and voice your concerns.
In my opinion Comcast has no right to add these boxes to an already
occupied house unless it is okayed by the homeowner.