dealing with irrational people

rmk700 · Apr 16, 2012

The company I work for were the genaral contractor of a job and we had a sub contractor putting up a retaining wall for us and they hit a buried powerline and it was flopping around like a fish. Very dangerous but luckly nobody got hurt. The sub tried using our (generals) locator service number and that was illegal because they didn't call in there own locator service, they where nailed with a $4000 bill. Even with multiple contractors digging on one job, each must call in.

LMan1967 · Apr 16, 2012

"The Customer is Always Right, But Not Everyone is my Customer."

BungeeII · Apr 16, 2012

Since you asked...

My most irrational customer wanted a $700 cordless telephone to work in all corners of a 9-story hospital and its separate Emergency Room FOR ALL CODE BLUE CALLS TO GO THROUGH! Kind of a long story, but the bottom line is they were so poorly run that they're officially out of business.

I've had great customers and miserable customers... you have to be a special kind of loser to become an ex-customer, though. I'll deal with even the most unreasonable customer if there's even hint of business ethic there. There's guys in this world, though, that will rob you blind if given the chance. Those are the ones that I ditch.

AGGIE00 · Apr 16, 2012

A little advise to add. Take pictures of locates with reference objects like fences or trees in them and do whatever you can to preserve the marks. Locates are often missed and if you happen to hit a line it is good to have evidence of where it was located to be.

pjbci · Apr 16, 2012

The 811 service here is a joke. I have broken 2 natural gas lines and 1 fiber optic cable in the last 5 years. All 3 instances I had a confirmation number comfirming my locate request, but no markings were on the ground. Because I had called 811, I was not liable, but thats little comfort when you are sitting with your machine on top of a ruptured gas line because somebody dropped the ball. MY life was risked and they tell me, oh its ok you are not responsible for the damages. The fiber optic cable incident was just as frustrating because I knew the line was out there some where. I called 3 times, got 3 confirmation numbers, and still didnt get it marked, so I dug it up. AT&T wanted me to pay but with 3 locate request confirmation numbers they couldnt say anything.

Anyway, call the number, get a locate request and your covered.

AGGIE00 · Apr 16, 2012

pjbci said:
The 811 service here is a joke. I have broken 2 natural gas lines and 1 fiber optic cable in the last 5 years. All 3 instances I had a confirmation number comfirming my locate request, but no markings were on the ground. Because I had called 811, I was not liable, but thats little comfort when you are sitting with your machine on top of a ruptured gas line because somebody dropped the ball. MY life was risked and they tell me, oh its ok you are not responsible for the damages. The fiber optic cable incident was just as frustrating because I knew the line was out there some where. I called 3 times, got 3 confirmation numbers, and still didnt get it marked, so I dug it up. AT&T wanted me to pay but with 3 locate request confirmation numbers they couldnt say anything.

Anyway, call the number, get a locate request and your covered.

The problem with fiber, besides cost, is downtime. We hit fiber by an interstate and there was no need to call it in. We were swarmed by people of every make and shoved out of the way. It was a utility project and the damage cost us two days of production. It would be nice if we could charge for liquidated damages for the missed locate.

EE_Bota · Apr 17, 2012

While I was firing off my final tax check, I was listening to the TV, and a PSA came on that simply said : "Call before you dig....it's the law." This was in NC, and implies to me that the actual person doing the digging, perhaps the outfit boss....calls.

ncnurseryman · Apr 17, 2012

Update. We arrived at the job site yesterday and the homeowner tells me that the vendor locator service wanted over five hundred dollars to check a fifty foot section. So, right, wrong or stupid we proceeded to dig each hole slowly and all went well. Probably the pipes are deeper than we dug. We finished up the job and called it a day. It has been a learning experience though.

ncnurseryman · Apr 17, 2012

Sigarms, good luck finding someone to guarantee that tree. Ha. But you'd be surprised at how many people cut down what would be a prize winning very expensive jap. Maple just because they don't like it. I prune my own but only in the winter when they are dormant.

rsewill · Apr 17, 2012

ncnurseryman said:
Update. We arrived at the job site yesterday and the homeowner tells me that the vendor locator service wanted over five hundred dollars to check a fifty foot section. So, right, wrong or stupid we proceeded to dig each hole slowly and all went well. Probably the pipes are deeper than we dug. We finished up the job and called it a day. It has been a learning experience though.

Free in my state.