Wiring to the house, who's responsible

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gcorgnet

1078 posts

Uber Geek

#113996 4-Feb-2013 15:06

Hi guys,

I have a fairly easy question: Who is responsible for the connection between the street and the house? Is it Chorus or the homeowner?

To try and sum up the situation, our phone line stopped working at the same time as our neighbours'. Chorus guys came and took some measurements and diagnosed that the wire, which ran under a recently build driveway (note: the line have been working for at least 6 month after the driveway was put in) were broken. They pulled some really thin wires as a temporary measures to our property and the neighbours'.

We then had further issues and the came and replaced our temporary wire by an overhanging bigger wire (looks permanent).

Our neighbours though keep having issues and today a Chorus guy came in and told them that they'd have to pay to dig out along the driveway and put in a new connection as it was their responsability, etc..

After having heard all sorts of similar stories, I had been under the impression that Chorus was responsible for the connection all the way to the ETP box and that the homeowner was responsible for the internal wiring. Is it the case?

Thanks,

Guillaume

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417 posts

Ultimate Geek

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Lifetime subscriber

#755600 4-Feb-2013 15:11

I think it should be Chorus. I came home to broken overhead copper connection to my home last Thursday. I quick call to Vodafone that evening led to a site visit from Chorus the next morning. It was reconnected and working by the time I got home.

Paul Spain
Founder: Gorilla Technology, NZ Tech Podcast

gcorgnet

1078 posts

Uber Geek

#755613 4-Feb-2013 15:20

Thanks for that. That was my understanding as well especially considering they fixed our connection without (too much) hassle.

They are saying that the cables would have been broken when the driveway was built. Even if it was true (which I don't think it is given the phone was working way after the driveway was built), would that be the same thing?

I wonder if they are just trying to get out of the expensive jobs by shifting responsibility on someone else...

wellygary

8328 posts

Uber Geek

#755614 4-Feb-2013 15:24

Who put the wires under the driveway?

Or did Someone just put the driveway on top of the existing wires?,
Were Chorus involved in any way to check that driveway was not going to impact the existing wires...... If this is the case, that probably why they want he to pony up for a new connection....

gcorgnet

1078 posts

Uber Geek

#755619 4-Feb-2013 15:29

wellygary: Who put the wires under the driveway?

Or did Someone just put the driveway on top of the existing wires?,
Were Chorus involved in any way to check that driveway was not going to impact the existing wires...... If this is the case, that probably why they want he to pony up for a new connection....

That's an answer I don't have. I bought the house (brand new built on a new subdivision) in Apr 2012 and the driveway was already there and looked quite new (might have been done at the same time but cannot be sure).

The neighbours bought their house (which was the original house on the section) sometimes in May/June.

I have no idea how/when/by whom the driveway was built...

sbiddle

30853 posts

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Retired Mod

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Biddle Corp

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#755786 4-Feb-2013 21:07

The damage is part of the Chorus network, but by the sounds of it they're claiming you caused damage to their network and are ultimately responsible for damages incurred.

InstallerUFB

840 posts

Ultimate Geek

#755795 4-Feb-2013 21:35

sbiddle: The damage is part of the Chorus network, but by the sounds of it they're claiming you caused damage to their network and are ultimately responsible for damages incurred.

+1

the cable/conduit is part of the Chorus Network - the locateing of them on private property is free - If you (or some one else before you owned the property) damaged the cable/conduit then you end up with the cost of repairing/replacing it if it needs to be fixed due to damage

Bung

6487 posts

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Subscriber

#755798 4-Feb-2013 21:48

Something seems odd. There should be a separate lead in for each house. If it's under a driveway it should be ducted and the duct should have been at least 300mm deep.

Is there a line of new fence posts that could have clipped both pipes? If they pulled new cables through presumably the old ones came out. Were they damaged?

Is this an infill subdivide, old house shifted back, new house in front with drive to rear?

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gcorgnet

1078 posts

Uber Geek

#755866 5-Feb-2013 07:33

Bung: Something seems odd. There should be a separate lead in for each house. If it's under a driveway it should be ducted and the duct should have been at least 300mm deep.

Is there a line of new fence posts that could have clipped both pipes? If they pulled new cables through presumably the old ones came out. Were they damaged?

Is this an infill subdivide, old house shifted back, new house in front with drive to rear?

Hi,

Yes, a new fence must have been put as well, which I guess could have damaged but ttat fence should only be on our lead's path, not the neighbours'.

And yes, the old house is at the back and the driveway is on the right hand side to the rear, with the phone pole at the end of the driveway, to its right. So it goes (from right to left) pole => driveway => fence => our section.

johny99

495 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#758836 9-Feb-2013 23:38

what the hell ufbinstaller, it is your net work that the customer pays a monthly fee for, in return it is choruse's responsibility to keep the infrastructure, to a acceptable standard, which i might say chorus do a bad job of.

johny99

495 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#758838 9-Feb-2013 23:40

ok, that may have been a bit harsh. But Chorus do seem to get away with day light robbery.

chevrolux

4962 posts

Uber Geek
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#758843 10-Feb-2013 00:35

johny99: what the hell ufbinstaller, it is your net work that the customer pays a monthly fee for, in return it is choruse's responsibility to keep the infrastructure, to a acceptable standard, which i might say chorus do a bad job of.

So it is ok if a customer puts a post hole borer through a cable? Or digs out a driveway and the bobcat rips it up? Should chorus insist armoured cable be used everywhere to stop this happening?

Saying Chorus do a bad job of maintaining the network is like saying Toyota dont know how to build cars. 'Chorus' has been working in those cables since before alot of us were born and truly understand what it takes to look after a national network.

To be fair though there is a lot more red tape for them to go through now, especially in circumstances like this. We need to know what sort of damage was done to the cable or whether it has just degraded over time. Obviously it is the owners responsibility if it was caused by them. But if not then Chorus need to front up and do the work. If an overlay is required that is a pretty big job and will cost them a lot of money and therefore take a lot of time to get approved. Not saying they shouldnt fix it but just looking at it from Chorus's side of things.

Kyanar

4089 posts

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#758853 10-Feb-2013 07:04

chevrolux:
johny99: what the hell ufbinstaller, it is your net work that the customer pays a monthly fee for, in return it is choruse's responsibility to keep the infrastructure, to a acceptable standard, which i might say chorus do a bad job of.

So it is ok if a customer puts a post hole borer through a cable? Or digs out a driveway and the bobcat rips it up? Should chorus insist armoured cable be used everywhere to stop this happening?

Saying Chorus do a bad job of maintaining the network is like saying Toyota dont know how to build cars. 'Chorus' has been working in those cables since before alot of us were born and truly understand what it takes to look after a national network.

To be fair though there is a lot more red tape for them to go through now, especially in circumstances like this. We need to know what sort of damage was done to the cable or whether it has just degraded over time. Obviously it is the owners responsibility if it was caused by them. But if not then Chorus need to front up and do the work. If an overlay is required that is a pretty big job and will cost them a lot of money and therefore take a lot of time to get approved. Not saying they shouldnt fix it but just looking at it from Chorus's side of things.

And in all fairness I can attest that if Chorus accepts responsibility for the fault, even if it is a giant expensive job they will get in and do it - I have a card beside me from Chorus advising that they've booked in for an overlay of about 30m of cable to my house and they've already applied for council permits. From what you're saying that's an expensive job - but it took maybe a couple of weeks to get them to agree to it.

johny99

495 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#758855 10-Feb-2013 08:06

Chorus assume the risk of this occurance,if their cost to charging analysis are out of alignment they need to look at it, what is W&M for, i always believed this was insurance for exactly this problem.

Cbfd

307 posts

Ultimate Geek

#758861 10-Feb-2013 08:33

W&M is for internal wiring in the house which if goes faulty the chorus tech will repair or replace same with jackpoints otherwise its a chargeable expensive with larbour and materials and time

sbiddle

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#758867 10-Feb-2013 08:57

johny99: what the hell ufbinstaller, it is your net work that the customer pays a monthly fee for, in return it is choruse's responsibility to keep the infrastructure, to a acceptable standard, which i might say chorus do a bad job of.

This issue has nothing at all to do with Chorus. They weren't the ones who put down a new drive way and were certainly not the ones who potentially caused damage to their cable.

Chorus (and every other sevvice provider such as power) offer a free cable location service for this very reason - so damage isn't done to critical infrastructure. If you fail to use this service and damage their infrastructure in the process of digging holes I fail to see how you can lay any blame onto them.

If you're trenching critical infrastructure such as fibre or large MPF's Chorus will typically even send somebody on site (once again for free) to ensure damage doesn't occur.

At the end of trhe day, as harsh as it is, you have nobody else to blame when the infrastructure provider offers a free service to avoid an issue such as this occuring in the first place. if you fail to contact Chorus I don't see how you can lay any blame whatsoever on them. Had they visited and not advised of a cable running under the drive I can perfectly understand your position, but in this case they weren't even called before hand to locate the cable.

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