Messy openreach installation

[#1]

I recently ordered a Plusnet package and had an openreach engineer install full fibre to my property last week, and I am surprised at how messy the installation is.

Blown-out stone, damaged mortar, nails sticking out, the entry hole covered with silicone with no cover box.

I would try and repair the blown out stone myself with epoxy, but the engineer took the broken pieces with him.

And to top it all off, he left some old cable ties on my driveway.

Is this level of messiness and damage normal, or have I been unlucky?

[#2]

Use the Openreach complaints of poor workmanship process https://www.openreach.com/help-and-support/when-to-get-in-touch-with-openreach/complaints-policy

[#3]

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from Full Fibre to My Order

[#4]

I have been reading some shocking stories of messy installations of fibre by OpenReach engineers and, tbh, am considering cancelling my planned installation. My FTTC contract has a while to run. I checked with a neighbour in the block and they are far from impressed with the poor standard of workmanship. One question I do have is this. If I provide mini trunking, ie, 8 x 10mm, for the fibre cable, would the OR engineer be willing to use that instead of clipping the cable to the wall or skirting board? Something to do with metal clips being required and fire regulations? Must admit, I would prefer to stay with FTTC if that was an option. Or to dump OpenReach altogether if there was a better mobile signal in my location. Seems like shoddy work is to be expected.

[#5]

In my opinion the work is shoddy and not acceptable.

I do sometimes wonder if watching the installation helps. On the rare occasions I have anyone come to my home to do something I have a - probably unnerving -  habit of looking over their shoulder whilst they work, and sometimes even make suggestions. 

[#6]

It is a bit shoddy. Those nails could have been hammered but equally that could cause more mortar to break, so maybe that is why they chose to do that but still it should be done to keep it attached properly. Possibly they should have chosen to clip to the stone itself 

Leaving the mess/ties on the floor is not acceptable at all. 

The fibre with a curve around the corner in one picture is to be expected as the fibre must not bend so that is to be expected, and only a change of route without any bends/corners would tidy that up.

Having re-clipped wires on to stone (where our tv aerial cable became loose) I can understand how a bit of pointing/mortar would come away and it being a little bit it might be a bit difficult to patch up, although a bit of mortar in place of the sealant if that doesn't cause a problem for fibre might have been neater.

The blown out stone/brick is a common one because they drill from inside to outside and it's difficult to stop it doing that. The I was lucky that the hole I asked for ended up between two bits of stone through the mortar. Patching it up is going to be awkward and best is usually to put a cover over it to hide it.

The sealant is something I see around quite a lot now where other people have had installations done. For me the outer box covers where the wire goes in so it's quite neat and I think if they could they should have done that.

[#7]

@wb94 

As advised by @MisterW complain about the work. Include something like "potential safety hazard"

OR should have someone come around to fix things.

Brian

[#8]

@cpc6128 

"The fibre with a curve around the corner in one picture is to be expected as the fibre must not bend so that is to be expected, and only a change of route without any bends/corners would tidy that up."

I don't agree with that, I have a similar internal right angle feed around a corner wall and it is sharper than that!

Looking at picture IMG_3461 it seems to me the cleat on the right is definitely too close to the corner for a fibre cable bend.
My guess is the installer put the cleat on the right in and then guessed it was too close - which is why he then didn't put the cable through it - and only used the one on the left, leaving the fibre cable with an excessively large bend radius. Two cleats equally spaced away from the corner would have done a better job. Just my guess...

I'm pretty satisfied with my FF installation. Apart perhaps from the exposed bare hole on the inside wall, though it's only small. For some unknown reason he drilled the hole only just above the skirting board, leaving no room for any internal cap. 

He too just used sealant on the external entry point, though it is neater than in the above images and a brown colour, so more closely matches brickwork. Also, the cable correctly rises upwards (anti-drip) to reach the external entry hole.

[#9]

@pvmb

"My guess is the installer put the cleat on the right in and then guessed it was too close - which is why he then didn't put the cable through it"

OR - the cleat on the right in the corner, is an old one for a since removed vertically rising (TV?) cable? In which case there should have been a new cleat on the right, nearer to the corner.