Should I just let it be?

I was mowing last year next to a power pole. I got wire tangeled up so bad in my flail mower drum I had to haul the mower home, and remove the drum to get the wire out. I lost a lot of hours. It is the same wire the cable companies use to wrap the main cable to another wire. A couple years ago the cable co. was doing some work on a pole next to my house, and left a lot of scraps of wire, that got wound up in the head of my string trimmer, while cutting weeds. Yesterday the cable co. was back at same pole. They left a lot of wire scraps again. I asked the worker if he was going to clean up the wire. He gave a yea sure smart a-- answer. Well he didn't. It just chapps my back side for some reason that they left the wire for me to pick up. I thought about calling the cable company. Yea I know people are going to bed hungry, and I'm worring about a few pieces of wire. What do you think? Maybe I'm getting too old and grouchy.Stan

call your township or municipality or local police. Around here it is a $300 fine for littering. The next best thing you can do is post the name of the cable company on line, and hopefully word of mouth will spread the story all over. Social media is more powerful than the sword.

Make the call. People doing sloppy jobs. Don"t wait for the mower to sling it at your head.

Good point JMS,

Just use the words "safety issue." because "safety issue" trumps everything else. Make anything a matter of public safety, and suddenly you have more power than ConEdison.

If that is on your land, I say start with the police. Next step = Run him off the property and call his office and tell them why.

In Ohio we have the public utilities commision (pardon my spelling) I would give your PUC a call and explain why you called them and not the cable company first the left over trash cant just be on your place I would bet they have had complaints before and i will bet they will do alot better after this call works it way back to them. Hope this Helps
John

Call the CABLE COMPANY! Insist that a supervisor VISIT you. SOMEONE will get a chewing, and that crap will stop. The companies that run the cables try to be 'good citizens' because they know that it's easier than fighting city hall when they want something. Ma Bell didn't approve of us littering- even to leaving scraps and trash in a ditch.

Here in ohio we have tree trimmers that drop limbs close to electric lines and drive off.I called the utility to complain and they said it was an act of god and they didn't have to clean up.

Act of god allright god da@n fool! !!!!!!!

I put in 43 years with Ma Bell in outside installation and cable repair. We were told to pick up trash when leaving a job. An older man that trained me in cable repair taught me to never even cover up trash in a pit. He said the next man may have to dig it with a shovel or even if you had a backhoe digging, the last thing you want to see is colored wires coming out of the hole in a backhoe bucket.

I agree with some of the posts. My advice is to First be NICE and call to complain. See what that gets you, if not enough then one can always step it up. joe

Back when I worked on highline construction, each persons property that we were on, had to pass a clean up inspection. No paper, no wood scraps from the glass insulator boxes, no wire scrapes, if the property owner wanted them, that was ok. Fences that were cut had to pass inspection, any dirt work had to be approved by the owner, this was in the contract, and we had to follow it.

feel the same way when contractors throw pieces of pvc pipe back in an excavation hole when backfilling. I wouldn"t want to be the next guy digging there. Bill

I bet a picture of the mess sent to the cable co. would get results, around here those guys have pretty good incomes to play with wires.

Call and see if they will clean it up. If not tell them you will save it for next time and tie it to their driveshaft.

The cable guy is probably a contractor, and paid by the job. Naturally he is going to do the minimum he thinks he can get away with. I'd complain to the company; chances are he'll lose his job, which will serve as warning to other contractors not to cut corners.

I look at it this way.. If you had caused damage to their stuff, they would sure be wanting for you to pay.... Raise a stink..

Reminds me of a while back.. Power Co. replaced a streetlight bulb at our business. Tossed the old bulb and box in our parking lot, and drove off. Bulb broke and I had to clean up the glass. Typical of the attitude Duke Power has..

Don't just let it go.
Its your property, equipment, time, money and safety.
As Joe said, start nice and escalate from there if needed.
I hope you got the name of the guy that gave you the smart
ask answer, or at least the name of the contractor he works for.

The company has no idea what their employees are doing if you don't let them know.

Welcome to the new America.

That guy telling you to stick it is one of your neighbors kids, and if you confronted the father he would defend his kid to the hilt.

If the shoe was on the other foot would you defend your kid for being a thoughtless slob?

Sad but true, as parents we are raising and defending the thoughtless actions of a bunch of jerks.

Go down to the courthouse, many of the parents of these slobs are our elected officials. So you think they are going to do something about it?

I was trimming around the house of the elderly couple that own one of my fields. I nearly got into some cable wire on the ground, and this was about 70 ft that just got dropped there when they had to replace the cable that an ice storm took down. Around here they are mainly contractors and give the appearance of not making much, but that still does not excuse leaving stuff lying there because that is not the way the world works.

Yes they do. They don't care. Just hoping you ignore it.

You should definitely let the power company know they left garbage and scraps on the property and they should clean it up or pay for repairs to your equipment. That said, you seem to have run into a fair amount of garbage and debris while mowing. It would save you a lot of grieve to walk the area you plan to cut beforehand so you can pick up any debris and/or spot any hazards.

dump it in their grass

Call the cable company and ask for a supervisor to come out and see the mess. You or someone owns that land, and its not allowable for a right of way company to leave their trash on it after working. Dont let them get away with causing you lost time and money. They might just come out and clean it up and make it right with you. Follow through!

You're just assuming that with no proof,the only way to find out for sure is to call the head office.I had a group of right of way trimmers knock down some fence line a couple years ago,I called the main office and within an hour they had a man come out that made the cutters put a new fence up to replace what they had knocked down.

I have had 2 problems like this in the past.

One was when they put city water down our road. The workers left the ditch grade a mess. I stopped the crew boss one morning; showed him my problem; and it was fixed by the time I got back home.

The other was with the tree trimmers. They run a large front end loader with a brush cutter on the front threw a ditch and up on my land rather than cutting the underbrush by hand. I complained to the electricity company and they said call contractor. I called them but no one every came out.
Fast forward a few years.
Different company came out to cut trees again and I told them to get off my land. You are not allowed to cut my brush/trees.
Next day the electricity company boss shows up and ask why they can not cut. Your trees will effect many down the line if it shorts out the wire.
I showed him the damage that was never fixed.
He left and never returned.
Then one day the electricity went off during a rain storm due to my trees. It does not affect my house but rather a large subdivision they built down the road from me.
Electric workers were out there cutting tree branches in the rain trying to get electricity back on. Went out there and told them to stop cutting my trees. If you think about it you can imagine the conflict we were having right there in the street in the middle of a rain storm.
It took years and years; cops getting called; and a car load of suit and tie guys from New Orleans to come out and look at the problem but them ask holes fixed my land.

So complain. You got a 50/50 chance of getting the problem fixed. If not refuse to allow them on your land (if you can legally)
If this is a job site then there is not much you can do to force them to comply. So walk the land before you cut it.

Pick it all up. Take it to the main office and dump it out on the lawn. Worked for my Dad. Never had anymore problems.