FiOS Installer Drills Through Wife's Wedding Dress
A Verizon FiOS installer showed up yesterday to install the service in Sam's house, but misjudged the location of the laundry room by 4 feet and drilled directly into the closet where his wife kept her wedding dress.
Sam writes:
Yesterday I had Fios internet installed at my house and the installer accidentally drilled a hole into my wife's wedding dress.
When the installer was mounting the box on the outside of the house, he meant to drill a hole from the outside into the laundry room. Instead, he drilled a hole from the outside into my wife's closet (about 4 feet away) and into her not-cheap-at-all wedding dress.
I asked the technician "so, what's this about drilling through my wife's wedding dress?" and he explained that he thought he was drilling into the laundry room. I said, "but the laundry room is over here (pointing about 4 feet over)". He apologized and continued working.
Before he left he apologized again and said he "made a note" in his installation report and that Verizon would contact me. So far no word from them.
It's a sign of just how successful Comcast's Frank Eliason has been at turning around that company's customer service image that our first thought was, "Too bad this wasn't a Comcast tech or we know Frank would be all over it." So here's your chance, John Czwartacki, the Verizon FiOS guy on Twitter: can you get someone at Verizon to contact Sam and make things right again?
(Sam, go on Twitter and send a direct message to http://twitter.com/CZ with your story and see what happens.)
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Comments:
That'll buff right out.
FIOS is probably worth it, though.
Is this for a future wedding or is it from a former wedding? If it's the latter, is it really that big of a deal? I'm not a very sentimental person, and I'm incredibly rational
So, how does Verizon compensate someone for damage to something like that? Does the OP have an outlined request for compensation, or is it one of those passive/aggressive "I am going to tell you what happened and want you to offer to compensate me?"
@Sian:
At least he'll have a good internet connection after the wedding with no throttling or caps :)
plz come to my town fios :(
Wait - he drilled "blind" into a wall?
What would he of done if he it electrical cables, water pipes, gas lines?
Make a note on his sheet?
Oh - NVM - talking about an installer.
You mean the installer didn't offer to get another dress out of the truck?
@Blinky987:
Since the post says the installer drilled through his "wife's" wedding dress, I'd assume it's a past wedding, so at least they don't have that headache to deal with.
But I can tell you this, for as expensive as some of these dresses are, my wife would be mighty ticked off if this happened to her dress...and that is not taking into account the sentimental value.
Verizon better be coming up with something good to offer, or they will have to deal with a women's scorn I'm sure!
This could be a win. If he's aggressive about it, Verizon's insurance should pay for the replacement value of a dress that will never be worn again (and may be worth thousands). $$$$$$$!
Shit happens
@Blinky987:
The average cost of a wedding dress is around $1k. If she kept the dress, chances are, it's sentimental to her. Not to mention, as the saying goes, "almost only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades." Missing by 4ft is significant.
@Blinky987: I'm sure Verizon has insurance to cover the actual value of the dress, which is presumably less than the sentimental value. But that's the way it goes.
It's a tough lesson, but don't tie your emotions up in material goods. Save them for the things that can't be replaced, like people.
How do you value a used wedding dress?
the cost of it new would be a good start, but sentimental value is so subjective. some would say its worthless some would say it costs significantly more then the cost of a new dress.
i hope to see an update as to what is offered for compensation, but i expect it would come with some sort of non-disclosure agreement.
Interesting. I've heard of getting drilled while wearing a wedding and getting drilled while not wearing a wedding dress, but never heard of a wedding dress getting drilled by itself.
We learn something new every day... :-)
Should have sold that crap on eBay...
@Blinky987: While there is much sentiment attached, I see no point in the cost if you are not going to wear it again. My wife intentionally had her dress engineered so she can continue using it, without it looking like a wedding dress, and she does just that. I am proud to be married to a person who knows how to spend money wisely.
i cannot even begin to describe all the things wrong with that statement
@Blinky987: The installer damaged an item, it needs to be paid for. The only matter of age, condition is to value the damaged item.
My dress cost $2,400 before alterations in 1998. No question I'd be demanding a chunk of it.
@maztec: That's fine if you aren't having a formal wedding or if you don't care to preserve the dress for your children. Personally I love my wedding dress and the idea of wearing it around for other occasions would cheapen the memory of it.
@Hoss:
The kicker might be that Verizon might be off the hook. The contractor screwed it up and he might not be a employee of Verizon.
I think the idea of a wedding dress is getting in the way of how some people are thinking about this situation.
An item was damaged through negligence of an installer and the owner has to be compensated. Age, condition, etc only factors into what they get back.
Many people, myself included, had their gown carefully preserved which will keep it in great condition and I suspect factor into this.
I think it's more than a 'placing value in material things' type of...thing. I'm also thinking a *Shit Fit* was something the wife had when she found out about the defiled gown. :( It's hard to place value on things like that-although I'm pretty sure a $$$ amount will be worked out between the two parties ;)
I still have my daughter's Christening and Communion gowns and will also save (God willing) her Confirmaion gown and maybe she will take it on from there if/when she marries years from now. If something happened to those gowns it would do more than piss me off.
@k6richar: sentimental value is worth jack in small claims court. I do feel sorry for her. She'll probably just be compensated the original purchase value...the absolute most that can be recovered in this case.
@Charlotte Rae's Web: I'm not familiar with the preservation methods--would you still hang a properly preserved dress in a closet? The only one I know of is in some special box.
I think people are getting sidetracked because a dress can also have a utilitarian value, which this one would seem not to. But utilitarian value isn't the only kind--think if Verizon had drilled through a painting worth a couple of thousand dollars.
@ironchef: I don't think any rational small claims court would order repayment of the original purchase value for a piece of clothing that's likely years old. I would have to imagine that wedding dresses depreciate in material value like crazy, considering they're generally used once.
@Benjamin M Martin: +1
Now that I re-read the headline, there are so many disturbing ways to interpret it. :)
@Sian: Wedding dresses are overpriced, ridiculous investments. But, FiOS Internet, that is the good stuff right there :) I'm sure if Sam writes a letter to Verizon instead of whining to the Consumerist, he'll be reimbursed. Don't expect some tech to take care of the situation for you. That's not realistic.
@floraposte: You are correct, a preserved dress wouldn't be just hanging up.
The initial letter didn't say it was just hanging up or in the box - just that is was were it was 'kept' so I was just tossing it in as a side note about value that it could be preserved. We need more details!
Who's to say it wasn't in a special box that happened to be in his wife's closet?
I bet you could get more than the cost of the dress back by just including the costs involved in fixing the holes in the closet (drywall, repainting, labor interiour), and the outside wall (siding, repainting, sealing, etc)
Whether the wedding dress is worth anything or would be used again is irrelevant compared to this guy's obvious incompetence. I don't know about financial compensation, but one hopes Verizon will at least issue a "sorry we suck at measurements" apology.
It doesn't matter what was damaged, the fact is that something was damaged and Verizon should pay for it. Just because it happens to be a wedding dress doesn't mean it doesn't matter.
Having just gotten married myself, no, I don't think they can "make this right". No matter what they give as compensation.
My wifes dress is in a sealed bag hanging in the closet. Hell the bag was 150.00 alone as it was a special preservation bag. I on the other hand have the black silk boxers I wore and the bow tie from the rental tux and they have been worn many times :) The dress only once.
Hummm.... Measure twice and drill once!?
Instead, he drilled a hole from the outside into my wife's closet (about 4 feet away) and into her not-cheap-at-all wedding dress.Welp, good thing she'll never have to wear it again, amirite?
Seriously though, that sucks.
At least the guy didn't set their house on fire.
@cupcake_ninja: "The average cost of a wedding dress is around $1k" ?????? I wish it were close to that price!
My parents attempted to have FiOS installed in their house. Apparently they were a little off in their drilling and they managed to make half of their house's power go out. Some rooms had it, some didn't. And they tore up the sidewalk too and took a month to get it fixed. My dad seemed to think that they picked up random workers and that the foreman was the only one who had half a clue of how to do the installation.
@supercereal: Dont count on it... you are forgetting pain and suffering and the fact that like others have noted, they may have wanted to pass it on via daughter, daughter-in-law to be, niece, grand-daughter.
If this were just a simple mistake I would say they would be outta luck as well but he missed by 4 FT. thats a bit more than a mistake. If the installers not any better than that they may need to find another occupation. Domino's is hiring, lol.
@RookOmega: That actually happened to a friend of mine, although it was a cable internet installation at a place of business. It shorted a 480 volt service drop which ended up destroying the transformer outside. The cable company got stuck with a $180K bill for all the damages. The guy drilled completely through cinder block and into the conduit. He's lucky no one got hurt.
If someone destroyed my wedding dress, which myself, my mother, and both my grandmothers worked together sewing, I would be devestated.
Hiyoooooo!