Who's on first?

[Scott Shepherd]

We had a sign to do for a company, outside, (2) 4" x 4" posts. Called and had the area marked for utilities. Got to the job site, no markings where we planned to dig. Cool. Started digging the first hole, uh oh. Not good. 250 pair phone line cut. Crap.

Where's the mark? No mark.

Called the emergency line for this, reported it and waited. Heard nothing.

Went to the job site, took tons of photos, measured it all out, requested the original request. Original request was for marking 100 feet radius from a landmark there. Measure the lines, they stop at 27 feet.

Call it in, tell them the reason we hit the line was because they didn't mark it to the requested 100 feet. They tell me that I should have known it wasn't marked right. Huh? I go round and round and round and I get no where. I ask the people "If I'm looking at dirt and it has no paint on it, does that mean that it was checked and there are no utilities under it, or does that mean someone forgot to mark it?". They tell me that it's my fault because I should have known. I inform them that if I should know where the utilities are, then why would I need to call them to have it marked. I feel like I'm in a Laurel and Hardy movie. The inspector tried to tell me that (2) 50 foot radii added up to be a 100 foot radius. I had to explain to him that a 100 foot radius was a 200 foot diameter.

So the phone company inspector calls. Same conversation. They are convinced that I was supposed to know that the company who marked it stopped short of the request, rather than there not being any utilities to mark.

Anyone else had any dealings with this comedy?

No matter how many times I ask, they can't tell me how I'm supposed to know the difference between not marked and not marked properly. I think I'm making headway on it, but for the life of me, I can't believe that I'm even having this conversation with rational human beings.

It's like me saying "Okay, start drawing a line........now stop drawing. Okay, now look at that line and tell me if it's the length I wanted it to be or half the length I wanted it to be".

See, you thought you were having a bad week. Hit an underground 250 pair phone line and I think you win some sort of award for having a crappy week :o

[Bob Cole]

That is horrible. Has the phone company or facilities ask you to pay for the repairs?

Maybe you should go through the entire property and mark where they shouldn't mark (don't locate here). Then they can figure out where you want to mark. Sounds logical for their reasoning.

[Stephen Beckham]

Man - that bites... Comedy of errors...

Reminds me of the day I was listening to the banker tell me that I needed more money before he could loan me money. I gave him the - but if I had money, why would I be here asking for money...

Hope things work out for you. I can't imagine them asking for you to pay. You requested markings - there was no markings where you were, so there were no utilities where you were!

[Wil Lambert]

Sorry to hear about your problem. Hopefully your insurance doesn't have to get involved. 250 lines will not be cheap.

To avoid this problem I go out and mark the area I am working in. Go out and stake off the area and mark with tape and maybe spray paint if you can. This eliminates the question of where they need to mark.

Wil

[Scott Shepherd]

They haven't asked me to pay....yet. They are bullies, I can say that. They have repeatedly told me it was my fault and I have repeatedly told them that they didn't follow the work order for marking, which makes them liable, not me.

I've spoken to some people in the business and they all tell me we're okay since it wasn't marked properly. But, they are working very hard to make me believe it was my fault.

Fortunately it didn't cut 250 pairs of wire. Not sure the actual damage at this point, but it's certainly not all 250 pair. If we're lucky, it only split the casing and pushed the wires around rather than cutting a bunch of wires. Won't know until they finish their investigation.

I'm certainly glad I called it in to have it marked. If we didn't do that, it's an automatic $25,000 fine plus damages.

[Scott Shepherd]

Update- it was a 600 pair phone line, it was repaired and I never heard another word. I called for an emergency 3 hour remark of the site, got the email report that it was complete, went to the site, there was no line over the 600 pair line I previously cut. I called the guy, asked him to meet me out there, he did, and when we met (24 hours after the emergency remark call), he meets me there and there's a bunch more lines marked. He said someone from another marking company must have done it.

I explained that the line we hit still had no mark. He waved his machine over it, said he must have been off 6" or so, while I measured him being off 1 1/2 feet. Went back the next day, more stuff marked. Went back to install the sign, more stuff marked. So much for 3 hour emergency marking.

Sign is installed, no bills from anyone at this point, and the customer is happy, so let's hope it's all over.

In talking with the guy who was marking it, I'm now officially freaked out. He basically confirmed they have no real idea where anything is.

He did check the depth on the phone line. 600 pair phone cable- 10" deep. Now that's scary to me.

[Bob Cole]

How much are those locator devices they use? Wonder if having one on-hand (after having locator service out) and use it in the area where you are going to dig wouldn't be a bad idea. I wouldn't rely entirely on your locator but a double-check would be good.

Did you happen to take pictures, diagrams, and a paragragh on the back of each one explaining what the picture was about?