Verizon, Verizon Fios
Home Electrical Damage After Fios Dig Work, Company Denies Responsibility

About 6 months ago, we experienced a power outage in our home. The outage occurred concurrently with Verizon men working outside our home.

Orange and Rockland Utilities came out and restored only partial power by installing a temporary patch. They said that this was not their problem.

The patch allows us to have basic electricity to run our lights, etc. But it does not allow us to use large appliances. Things like the central air-conditioning will not work.

The problem occurred when Verizon destroyed one of two hot phases. The cost to make this repair is about $3,000. In addition, we are facing fines from the Village because our electrical system is out of compliance.

We learned from our neighbors that this type of power outage occurred very recently at other homes on our street. My neighbors, having personally experienced this issue, also work in the construction and electrical trades. They explained that Verizon often disrupts the electricity as they work to install or repair Verizon FIOS lines. My neighbors have been successful in having Verizon fix the problem while I have not been so lucky.

BTW we do not subscribe to FIOS service.

After a lot of badgering, Verizon came out with their FIOS contractor. They looked at one spot outside my house and re-dug the hole. After taking photos, they determined that they did not cause the disruption. What about all the other spots that they dug up near my home? How am I suppose to know where they dug?

O&R says the problem occurred on my property, so, it is my problem. The Verizon men said that O&R has also been digging around the street perhaps they caused the outage. O&R won't even send a worker to inspect they say the problem is on my property.

I asked two individual licensed electricians review the issue and both agreed that the problem was most probably caused by Verizon.

Verizon said that I could get it fixed on my own and if I could prove that their work caused the problem, then they would reimburse me; Oh, sure!

Company: Verizon, Verizon Fios
Country: USA
State: New York
City: Spring Valley
Site: verizon.com

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