Action 9: Who pays when cable installers cause damage to homes?

ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orange County man blames a cable installation crew for hundreds of dollars in damages after they sliced into a main water line.

When the crew didn't cover his repair bill, he called Action 9.

Consumer investigator Todd Ulrich found other complaints against the same installer and got results.

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“They finally bullied me into paying for a plumber,” Doug Gaston said.

He still vents about a cable installation crew that showed up on his street.

The installation crew were subcontractors for AT&T and were installing underground cables.

“And suddenly, we discovered we had no water,” Gaston said. He claimed the crew sliced a main water pipe near his home then shut down the line to fix it.

“Two hours later, we discovered a leak, so I had to cut the water off and stop the leak,” Gaston said.

He said he never got a chance to bleed the line, so the sudden pressure surge triggered a pipe leak just inside his wall.

He contacted the subcontractor, Ivy H. Smith Company.

But Gaston claims nothing happened, and he had to keep the water turned off for nearly four days.

Then, he says the subcontractor sent a plumber to fix it but blamed his bad pipes and charged him $630.

“They were looking for every excuse in the book to why they shouldn't have to pay for the job,” Gaston said.

He contacted Ulrich.

Online, Action 9 found similar complaints about the subcontractor. One homeowner claimed their installation flooded a bedroom.

Ulrich went to the company's south Orlando office.

“He had to pay $600 and the company’s not paying it,” Ulrich said.

“Just give me a minute,” replied an office manager.

Ivy H. Smith Company officials told Ulrich that managers would review Gaston’s complaint. AT&T managers also agreed to look into the complaint.

The next day, the subcontractor agreed to pay Gaston’s repair bill and fix the stucco at no charge.

“They also replaced a bunch of sod, so I am grateful you helped us out. We had been stuck between a rock and a hard place,” Gaston told Ulrich.

Ulrich contacted Rainaldi Home Services, the plumbing company that fixed the leak. A manager said a sudden pressure return can cause a leak in older plumbing and this kind of dispute is not unusual during cable installations.

Cox Media Group