Utility lines usually hang over your yard, not in it.
But Orlando and Virginia Chavez say, for the past two months that's what they have been living with.
"There was a young man that came to our front door and asked if he could have access to our backyard because they wanted to pull this cable through," Orlando says.
He says contractors with Cox Communications spent an entire day in working on it, but left the cables drooping into their backyard.
After a few days, he says his wife Virginia called the company to get them removed.
"At least six or seven times that she spoke to people."
He says at first they were assured that someone would be right out to fix them. So he put off mowing his yard and had people avoid the area of the backyard where they were hanging.
"For Easter we couldn't let the grandkids come near the cables," Orlando says.
But he says no one ever showed up.
“When are you gonna finish this? When are you gonna get rid of this crap?" he says.
So Orlando and Virginia let me know.
When we contacted Cox they acted quickly.
Orlando says the next day a crew came out and pulled the cables up where they should have been all along.
In a statement, a Cox spokesperson said:
We are very sorry for any inconvenience Mrs. Chavez and her neighbors have experienced. This is an isolated situation where we did not meet our own standards for making repairs in a timely fashion. Again, we are sorry for the delay, but are happy that our field teams were able to complete a first phase/temporary repair earlier this week, and in the coming weeks will finalize the repair of these lines, so they will not be easily damaged, or jeopardize customer's services.
Orlando is just glad that he can finally mow his yard again.
"I was able to do without fiber in the way," he says.
Thanks To Cox for coming through. It's a good example of how persistence pays off because Virginia and Orlando did not give up.
Need my help? Call volunteers with the Assistance League of Phoenix at (855) 323-1515, by email, or on Facebook or Twitter.
