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View Full Version : NTL damaged drainage during installation


wopdiddly
24-04-2006, 21:30
2 1/2 years ago, I got NTL. Their service is, ok. It was decent value for money at the time but now Talk Talk etc. are much better. I however remain a loyal customer...because I'm lazy.

Anyway, last week I noticed a little toilet paper around one of my drains. Odd. How did that come from my gutters??

This week...I discover a turd and a sanitary towel...nice. I get someone out to look at it and they dig up my garden to discover that directly under the NTL cable is a couple of bricks, below that a big flagstone, below that a smaller flagstone and a little.....ooze?

They lift the smaller flagstone and hey presto...3 years of backed up excrement even a vindaloo wouldn't clear!!

Ok so I phone NTL and what response do I get? Sorry, we take no responsibility for something that happened 3 years ago. Eh? Well I'll tell you what I am going to take responsibility for, sending their equipment to the little sess pit in the garden bye bye Digibox and Cable Modem. I have taken a lot of pictures and they will be sent to our local TV version of Watchdog. Leaving as much bad publicity as I can wherever I can, and I have one more surprise lined up for them. Could be a little bit dodgy...

But I'll tell you in 3 years, that way I don't have to take responsibilty for it!

---------- Post added at 20:30 ---------- Previous post was at 20:20 ----------

What gets me the most about it is this, the installation engineer clearly realised he'd broke the cover. And instead of him going and paying a few quid to get another and pop it back on he instead covers it up with rubble and buries it.

Why are people so inconsiderate to others? I have sewage in my now destroyed garden, crap all up my driveway and I'm going to be handed a very nice bill to unblock it all. The drain guys told me if they can't blow the blockage out all the pipes will have to come up meaning my driveway and garden too.

Quality.

mmm
25-04-2006, 00:12
Sorry, sounds like you have dug up your soakaway, which should be used for surface water from roof drainage, not foul water.

Your sewers should be much much deeper, the ntl cable will be only a few inches from the surface.

Much more likely your drains have collapsed due to poor construction/subsidence/ tree roots etc.

Check your house buildings insurance - you should be covered by that!

wopdiddly
25-04-2006, 00:41
Nice guess, but you are wrong on so many levels...

You're wrong according to the Drain experts, and certainly also the collection of toilet roll in my front garden...directly below the NTL cable...

Incidentally, the cover that is now missing as it has been broken then removed(which is an access point so why would it be way deeper??) is very close to the surface. It should actually be at surface level but thanks to our trusty NTL engineer's has been buried!

If I stick drain rods in, yes it then goes MUCH deeper. Just proves my point however, as you must knows sewers are deep which is why it took so long for me to notice the missing cover has been slowly letting in dirt from my garden and blocking the pipe.

My drains are totally intact. I can feel the pipe and also the circular hole where the access cover should be. As final proof my neighbour has an access cover approximately 2 feet from the sess pit in my garden and the other gardens in the street also have them in the same places in their gardens.

Soakaways are not connected to the sewage so there should not be fecal matter bubbling up in my front garden.

Very good guess however, for a minute you had me wondering there. Again until I remembered the toilet...produce. The NTL engineer could have mistook it for a soakaway like yourself.

Was it you by any chance??

mmm
25-04-2006, 10:54
No definetely not me - but I'm 100% sure it is not NTL either. Must have been a builder to have access to bricks and rubble, not an install tech. To cross my lawn NTL just cut a slit with a spade and hid the cable under the turf! Something smells very wrong - can't see why the cable should go over a manhole cover either - must have already been buried! And it would take 3 days or weeks not 3 years to bubble to the service if you drop a brick into the foul pipe!. And how did you get foul muck visible in surface water drains which should have no connection? Is it a fairly new house and the builder connected your foul drain to the soakaway? - if so you should be covered by 10 year NHBG!

Chris
25-04-2006, 11:01
I tend to agree with mmm - the most common complaint I hear about NTL installs through the garden is that the cable wasn't buried properly. The chances of the intall tech going at the job with sufficient force to damage the drain are very slight indeed. And the presence of that rubble clinches it - I see no reason why he would even have had access to rubble to do such a patch up job.

I think what you have here is a cock up by the builder who put the drains in in the first place. For starters that access cover should be on the surface of your front garden, not buried a foot or more underground. The NTL cable is for certain laid on top of it entirely by coincidence.

ian@huth
25-04-2006, 11:39
My NTL cable is only about 2 - 3" below the surface of the lawn. The installers only want to spend as little time as possible on the job so I can't see them going to the lengths needed to achieve the result you have. The access cover should have been on the surface clearly visible to the installer so he would have routed the cable around it.

I would take a guess that you are not the original owner of the property. A previous owner probably decided that the access cover was an eyesore and decided to remove it, dig down a bit, cover with topsoil and turf over the top. Pure coincidence that the NTL installer routed the cable over the particular spot.

Florence
25-04-2006, 18:01
My first pull was just under the ground which was soon visible as it wasnt a lawn just plants. My replull those guys worked hard in the worst weather possible and put the cable a spade depth in the ground in the pouring rain.

etccarmageddon
25-04-2006, 18:26
I guess if you want it doing properly you need to watch over them as they do it and even better dig up a trench with your desired route before they get to your house.

---------- Post added at 17:26 ---------- Previous post was at 17:25 ----------

...Something smells very wrong...no comment!

wopdiddly
25-04-2006, 20:39
Dunno, cleared now thanks to Drain guys definitely wasn't a soakaway but I guess you guys know better than than the owner of the property and the drain experts! THe reason I suspect NTL is because yes the cover was below the ground in the garden and was also about a spades depth directly below the cable.

Either way, it's fixed and I was planning on changing to Talk Talk anyway I think you just have to wait a few months beofre you can get broadband. Well you do where I live anyway.

mmm
25-04-2006, 21:19
Either way, it's fixed and I was planning on changing to Talk Talk anyway I think you just have to wait a few months beofre you can get broadband. Well you do where I live anyway.

Well follow the instructions in another thread and tell NTL you want to leave - you should be pleasantly surprised when they offer to match the talk talk offer without you having to buy a new modem and go back to BT! [It is true but I'll wait till I see my next bill before cancelling onetel and clicking the donate button on this site!]

Stu038
25-04-2006, 22:13
I can thoroughly understand you being hacked off about this and can see why you would want to blame ntl, indeed the muppets that did my first install messed up my front lawn so badly that ntl paid for the whole thing to be returfed but a couple of things run contrary to what we normally hear about installs on here.

THe reason I suspect NTL is because yes the cover was below the ground in the garden and was also about a spades depth directly below the cable.
You don't mention how deep the cable itself was. As has been said a few times the biggest complaint is normally that installers are too lazy to bury the cable properly, generally your lucky to get a 8 or 9 inches let alone a spades depth further down than that.

Also you mention,
directly under the NTL cable is a couple of bricks, below that a big flagstone, below that a smaller flagstone and a little.....ooze?
Not normally the things carried by an install crew who if they're lucky get a bag of ready mix concrete, mortar and tarmac to patch things up with.

It should actually be at surface level but thanks to our trusty NTL engineer's has been buried!
If it was at surface level before the install then they would have seen it and not gone anywhere near it, besides surely you would have noticed that it had disappeared the first time you did your garden after the install?

Incidentally, the cover that is now missing as it has been broken then removed(which is an access point so why would it be way deeper??) is very close to the surface.
Aside from the fact that it can't be that near to the surface if its a spade depth below the cable unless the cables only an inch or two down in which case they obviously didn't dig deep enough to damage the cover anyway, if they'd broken it and decided to bury the evidence as it were, to my mind it would be easier to actually use the remains of said cover and patch that before burying it than going wandering around the neighbourhood looking for spare flagstones to nick.

Sorry mate but my monies on either Chris T or Ian@Huth being right.

MovedGoalPosts
26-04-2006, 00:33
Without seeing the actual installation it's difficult to comment accurately. You say you have photos, you could post them, but CF would prefer to avoid "dirty pictures".

In my experience as a surveyor it is very frequent that householders bury inspection covers to drains under flower beds, patios, all sorts of things as they are percieved as an eyesore. It does sound like this has happened in this case, or it was a builder's bodge. I really wouldn't expect an ntl installer to have the flagstones and stuff you say was laid.

Chris
26-04-2006, 00:39
Dunno, cleared now thanks to Drain guys definitely wasn't a soakaway but I guess you guys know better than than the owner of the property and the drain experts! THe reason I suspect NTL is because yes the cover was below the ground in the garden and was also about a spades depth directly below the cable.

What qualifies you, just because you're the property owner, or the drain experts, just because they flushed your old turds away, to say that NTL is responsible for the mess? It's quite obvious that neither you nor Dyno Rod witnessed the NTL installation taking place. You, the drain man, and we all have the same information to go on.

NTL do not bury drain covers feet below the ground. Even if they broke the drain cover, which should have been on the surface, they would not excavate to a depth of something like 2 feet to hide the error. It would take too long. Besides, they don't carry rubble and flagstones round in their vans with them.

What you have there is either a cock-up by a builder, or a cack-handed attempt at hiding the drain by a previous owner of your house.

wopdiddly
26-04-2006, 21:19
What qualifies you, just because you're the property owner, or the drain experts, just because they flushed your old turds away, to say that NTL is responsible for the mess?
I actually have a Doctorate in responsibility. More to the point what qualifies anyone who hasn't actually saw the location of the NTL line and the location of the damage. They are literally inches apart(certainly not 2 feet which once again I don't know when you measured this??) in terms of depth. The rubble wasn't hard to come by, there's plenty down the side of my garage or any skip in the street that may have been present as this area is ripe with refurbishment.

I really don't think "rubble" is that rare, I don't think Bush will be invading any countries to get it.

I do of course fully appreciate how you feel the need to defend your employer.

homealone
26-04-2006, 22:00
<snip>
I do of course fully appreciate how you feel the need to defend your employer.

Chris T is not employed by NTL, his input here as one of the Cable Forum Team is voluntary and well respected...

I can understand your frustration, but such remarks don't really help your credibility ;)

Kneebs
26-04-2006, 23:46
I can't see how you wouldn't have noticed it when it was first done though - when ever NTL's been to my property, if i've not been there at the time I'd have checked it when I did get home - how big is (was) this cover ?. :shrug:

Chris
27-04-2006, 12:15
I actually have a Doctorate in responsibility. More to the point what qualifies anyone who hasn't actually saw the location of the NTL line and the location of the damage. They are literally inches apart(certainly not 2 feet which once again I don't know when you measured this??) in terms of depth. The rubble wasn't hard to come by, there's plenty down the side of my garage or any skip in the street that may have been present as this area is ripe with refurbishment.

I really don't think "rubble" is that rare, I don't think Bush will be invading any countries to get it.

I do of course fully appreciate how you feel the need to defend your employer.

Employer? :rofl:

Well thanks for giving me a laugh on a dull Thursday morning anyway.

I estimate depths by your own statement that the cable was a spade's depth down, and the drain another spade's depth below it. I think a foot is a reasonable estimate of a spade's depth. :shrug:

orangebird
27-04-2006, 12:21
I actually have a Doctorate in responsibility.

OK

More to the point what qualifies anyone who hasn't actually saw the location of the NTL line and the location of the damage.

I take it the doctorate you studied didn't require a general grasp of english grammar... :erm:

They are literally inches apart(certainly not 2 feet which once again I don't know when you measured this??) in terms of depth. The rubble wasn't hard to come by, there's plenty down the side of my garage or any skip in the street that may have been present as this area is ripe with refurbishment.

I really don't think "rubble" is that rare, I don't think Bush will be invading any countries to get it.

I do of course fully appreciate how you feel the need to defend your employer.

You're peeing in the wind. The only link bewteen the ntl install and the drainage problems is that they're close together. I really don't think you have a leg to stand on, over something that happened 3 years ago which NO-ONE witnessed. Get over and and get it fixed yourself.