Fibre-optic flap pits Edmonton woman against cable company
Trisha Ladouceur's fibre-optic fiasco began this summer, when Telus salespeople knocked at her door.
She told them she wasn't interested in the new fibre-optic cable service. But they kept coming back.
"We were contacted a minimum of a half dozen times by their door-to-door sales people, who were required to fill a quota," she said. "Although I understand the pressure on their part, it really got to be ridiculous."
A few weeks ago, Ladouceur came home to see her lawn covered in spray-painted lines. Contractors hired by Telus were preparing to dig on her property, without permission.
"I had to track down area supervisors and fight them to get off my property with it," she said. "And instead of getting off, they just moved to the city side of the sidewalk and made twice the amount of mess.
"They were hydro-vacing out substantial-sized holes that were left unattended with simply a sheet of plywood. There were times when you could see right down past all the underground wires, and it was really difficult to get any assistance."
'An absolute mess'
Holes were dug along the sidewalk in front of Ladouceur's property, but she said they were never filled properly.
After recent heavy rains they washed out, creating deep sinkholes a couple feet wide.
Now the Terwillegar Towne resident is worried those holes could pose a risk to children and pets.
"They have made an absolute mess," Ladouceur said in a Thursday interview with CBC Radio's Edmonton AM.
"I understand that there has to be some disruption, but I really don't think they took into account that they're going into a community. A child, or someone walking their pet, could have easily fallen in that hole. It's clearly a safety concern."
Telus apologizes
Telus has since apologized and has promised to clean up the mess. But Ladouceur remains frustrated.
"I've been assured that they're going to try and fix things up, the hole was filled and a little bit of grass seed, but this time of year we'll see if it takes," she said.
"Let's hope they realize there are some changes they can make, to make it a little less disruptive for the communities that they're going into."
The company said the fibre-optic installation is free of charge, whether you're a Telus customer or not.
Telus is encouraging people to allow the lines to be dug, just in case they decide to sign on for the service in the future.
After making numerous complaints, Ladouceur said the contractors returned Sunday to refill the holes, and Telus representatives told her damage to the sod will be fixed.
Company spokesperson Shawn Hall said Telus has done its best to communicate with residents about the work and the benefits of the new service, and be as "non-invasive as possible."
"Clearly in this instance, we haven't done some important things as well as we needed to, and we're sorry about that," Hall said in an interview with CBC News.
"Any construction project is going to cause some disruption, and this is no exception. Our goal is to minimize that by effectively communicating with people … delivering letters to people, visiting door to door, and cleaning up after ourselves."
