Warning about Fiber Installation for Residents of Rattan Creek

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Timeline of Events

  1. Wednesday, February 21 2024

    A friendly Google sales rep, Rose, came to my door to sell me on Google Fiber. I signed up right there on the spot, and chose an installation date of 2024-02-29.

    I was informed that there would be a 2 step process to the installation

    1. An installer would come to my house, and run the line underground from the curb to the side of the house. I was told I do not need to be home for this step.
    2. A technician would come to complete the inside portion of the installation.

    I left this conversation excited for my future internet upgrade.

  2. Thursday, February 22 2024

    The Installer

    At 4pm, someone knocked at my door several times. The person identified themselves as a Google Fiber installer, and advised they need access to my side yard. The yard is accessible and not locked, but I walked with him to the side of the house where the installation would be done.

    After briefly surveying the area, the installer stated he did not think the installation was possible due to the brick paver walkway being an obstruction. We then verbally agreed to not proceed with the installation.

    The installer quickly changed his mind and said "put on your shoes, I need your help and my partner isn't here today." At this point, I went to put on my shoes, and he went to grab tools from his truck.

    When I came back outside, the installer had a power drill and what looked to be a plumber's drain cleaning cable with a bulb auger attachment, and he informed me that he was going to tunnel under the brick paver walkway. He's the professional, so I assumed this was standard procedure.

    The installer proceeded to create a few foot long trench leading up to the brick pavers, and laid the cable in the trench. He handed me a shovel, held it over the cable, and asked me to hold down the shovel as hard as I could to make sure it would drive downwards. He then begin firing the drill, sending the cable under the pavers.

    This quickly turned into a game of the installer and I taking turns between running the drill and running our hands over the ground to try and determine where the cable was. We were never able to determine where the cable was driven into. He asked me if I was ok with him lifting up and removing the brick pavers to locate the cable, and I informed him this was not acceptable as it's substantial work to rebalance after. He proceeded to move the cable to a second location, and we ran into the same issues.

    The installer decided to remove the cable, but at this point it was stuck, and he looked to me and said "that's not good." After another minute of trying to pull the cable out, he asked if he could use an electrical outlet to charge his drill, as his battery had died. I brought him to an outdoor outlet and waited for him to charge up his battery. When I came back outside the cable had been removed, but he had also removed several brick pavers and pulled out the sand below with his hands. I informed him that that was not acceptable, but that didn't seem to have much of an impact.

    The next idea involved a PVC pipe, a hammer, and something resembling a pick axe. The installer used his hands to dig up soil next to the edging of the brick pavers, and shoved the PVC pipe in. He then proceeded to spend a few minutes trying to hammer it under the walkway. He successfully got the pipe under the walkway, but in the process forced all the bricks in the pipe's path to rise above the rest.

    The PVC pipe eventually made it out of the other side of the walkway, but was too close to the surface and was stuck in the edging of the pavers. The installer started to use his pick axe to pull out the edging of the walkway, and this is where I asked him to stop what he was doing and began pointing out the damage, which included:

    1. The sides of the walkway sinking due to edging being pulled up and out
    2. A line of bricks, taking the same path as the PVC pipe, raised above the rest, creating a tripping hazard
    3. A fence door that doesn't close
    4. A crack in the fence door caused by using the pick axe to lift one of the edge bricks up while the door was above it
    5. A PVC pipe partially stuck under the walkway, which will likely cause the pavers to sink if removed

    The installer disagreed with my assessment of his work, and stated the fence and the walkway already had that damage when he arrived. We went back and forth for a bit, and the installer then went back to his truck to contact his manager.

    At this point, I sent the following text message to the salesperson that I spoke with the previous day:

    5:13pm: Hey Rose. Pretty frustrated with the install experience. Installer asked me to put my shoes on and help him dig because his helper didn't come today. It's a work day and my understanding was I didn't need to be present for the install. Installer lifted up patio pavers after asking him not to (they cannot be put back without balancing them). Also jacked up the sides to try and get under them. I'm gonna have to pay someone to come back out here and fix them now on my dime. He disagrees he caused an issue. I know it's not you, but this is highly unprofessional and id like to just cancel and stick with ATT.

    After some time, the installer brought me his phone and offered for me to talk to his manager, which I accepted. I spoke with an Eric that identified himself as an employee of Sandcastle Communications, vendor for Google Fiber. This was the first time I was made aware I was dealing with a 3rd party contractor and not Google. During our call, I informed Eric of everything I've documented here. Eric was professional and apologetic on the phone, and seemed to agree that the situation I described was not good. He seemed particulaly unsettled that an employee of Sandcastle Communications had asked me to help with an installation using their tools. I was informed that they would be asking the installer to leave immediately, and a second crew of several installers would be sent out to survey the damage the next day and see if the install could be completed in a safer way. The installer collected his tools and left shortly after this.

    The Phone Call From Google

    At 5:39pm, I received a call from 512-814-6006, and the caller identified themselves as a Google Fiber employee that was made aware of my situation from Rose, the salesperson I had texted. After 3 minutes the Google Voice number the employee was using terminated the call, but the employee quickly called me back from their personal phone. We chatted for 11 minutes, and a few things were made clear from Google's side:

    • This has never happened before, and is extremely unique to my case
    • This is a big problem for Google because Google wants others in the neighborhood to sign up and this could be bad for their sales numbers
    • An installer should never be asking a customer to help with the outdoor installation
    • The 3rd party vendor should take this "very seriously," because a Google contract is probably a "very big deal for their business."
    • It's my responsibility to work with Google's chosen 3rd party vendor to seek reimbursement. Google wishes to be as uninvolved as possible, and I should only contact them if the 3rd party vendor refuses to repair or reimburse. Google will assist working with the 3rd party in the event that we cannot come to an agreement.
    • I could maybe be given a Google Fiber credit on my account, but no guarantees

    We ended the call with me agreeing that I'd keep Google informed if their 3rd party contractor and I could not come to an agreement.

  3. Thursday, February 22 2024

    A second crew consisting of 3 Sandcastle Communications employees showed up to look at the state of the current installation. Like Eric, they were both professional and apologetic. I walked through the damage with one employee while the other 2 surveyed the yard to see if there would be an alternative path for installation. During this process, the employee I spoke with agreed that the work was done incorrectly, and that the damage I reported matched with what he saw. He specifically mentioned that the pipe/cables should have been buried to a depth of 12", and instead was closer to 3/4 of an inch.

    Before leaving, I was asked to confirm what my expectations were. They were:

    1. I expect Sandcastle Communications to reimburse me for the cost of repair, using a company of my choosing
    2. I do not wish to proceed with a Google Fiber install

    After the crew left, I sent the following text message to Eric:

    3:12pm: Hey Eric, spoke with the guys that came by. Assume they’ll chat with you soon, but sounds like we were on the same page about the problems with the current work done.

    Let them know my hope is we can get a patio and fencing company out here to fix the damage we reviewed together.

    As you can probably understand, don’t have a huge appetite for finishing the fiber install. Would have been a nice upgrade, but the challenges have already outweighed the benefits

    Eric called me back at 3:49pm, and we spoke for 2 minutes. He agreed verbally that Sandcastle Communications would reimburse me for the repair of my fence and walkway, using a company of my choosing. Before our call ended, I requested that Eric provide me written confirmation of our agreement, and he asked me to text him my email address. I sent my email in a text at 3:59pm.

    Eric replied at 4:02pm with the following:

    4:02pm: Thank you sir. Will send here shortly, my emails are,

    {redacted}@sandcastlecommunications.com


    {redacted}@google.com

  4. Saturday, February 24 2024

    I noticed I never received the email from Eric, so I sent the following text message:

    12:20pm: Hey Eric, apologies for the weekend message, just wanted to double check if you were able to send that email yesterday? Didn't see it in spam so double checking

  5. Monday, February 26 2024

    I received a text message reply from Eric:

    8:54am: Good morning, yes sir I will be sending email shortly, thanks

    I still had not received the email by the end of the day, so I sent a follow up text:

    6:57pm: Thanks Eric. Did you get a chance to send it today?

    Eric replied shortly after with:

    7:00pm: Yes sir, just finishing up here and I will send

    And I followed up with

    7:00pm: Thanks! Appreciate it

  6. Tuesday, February 27 2024

    I waited until midday, and still did not receive the email Eric had promised. At this point, I began Googling for more information about Sandcastle Communications to see if there was someone else I could speak with, but found that they have no physical address, no phone number, and no website.

    I sent a frustrated message to the Google employee that had originally called me on Thursday:

    2:48pm: Hi. The manager I'm working with from your 3rd party installation vendor has been avoiding giving me confirmation in writing that I will be reimbursed for damages for 3 business days as of the end of the day today. What can Google do to fix this?

    If y'all can't address this and keep punting me on your own vendor, I'm going to start going door to door to speak with everyone in my neighborhood about the risks of Google Fiber. I've shown a great deal of respect and understanding both to y'all and your vendor, but this is beyond unprofessional and others need to be aware of the risks of signing up with y'all

    At 3:12pm, I received the following email from Eric, 24 minutes after contacting the Google employee:

    Hello,
    Sending you an email regarding damaged pavers and fence. Let me know how we need to proceed as we will handle the damaged contractor caused. Please update me with invoice and work needed to be performed,
    thanks

    At 4:09pm, I received a follow-up text message from the Google employee I spoke with:

    Good afternoon! Did you receive an email with the confirmation?

    I called the Google employee at 4:11pm, wanting to share my frustration with this process and look for an opportunity to deal directly with Google going forward instead of this 3rd party. The call lasted 2 minutes, the employee seemed uninterested the moment I mentioned I won't proceed with Google Fiber, directed me to call customer support, and ended the call. 1 minute later, I received an email titled Your GFiber cancellation request.