Florida woman concerned after internet company contractors seen lounging in her yard: 'Just unprofessional'
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. - FOX 35 News has been looking into complaints about how a new internet provider has been installing fiber lines. We first told you about WOW! after Seminole County residents alerted us to broken utility lines, ripped-up yards, and tools left in lawns.
Paige Southward said she had no idea anyone would be installing fiber optic lines in front of her house. She found out from her Ring doorbell camera.
"The last thing that people want to see is people digging up their yards, and they don't know what's going on," she told us.
She said digging up her yard wasn't the only problem. She claimed the workers were trespassing on her property.
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"Sprawled out, laying down with their sandwiches and then just like, you know, freely picking the fruit off my tree," she explained. "I just thought, like, who, who, what, and why is all of this happening?"
Her camera caught the workers eating on her lawn at 12:24 p.m., and while eating lunch in the shade might not seem like a big deal, the camera’s time stamp has them there until 1:30 p.m. – over an hour later. At 3:16 p.m., you can see they came back and put something in her bushes. Southward said it was debris and trash.
"Regardless of what it is that they're trying to accomplish, it's just unprofessional," Southward said.
She called the city, the county, and her HOA, which finally told her it was WOW! Installing fiber optic lines. WOW!’s permits allow them to be on public easements like sidewalks but not private property.
WOW!'s vice president of corporate communications told FOX 35 News that the people in the video are violating WOW!’s policy.
"We have gone back to all of our contractors and have reminded them of this policy and have asked them to re-communicate it to their employees," explained Debra Havins.
Havins said that she has not confirmed if the people in the video are subcontractors of WOW!, she said they have stepped up canvassing of the neighborhoods in which they are working.
"Direct employees of WOW! are going through and walking and driving the neighborhoods and making sure that we're catching any of these incidents before they actually become concerns of homeowners," Havins added.
Havins said WOW! wants to earn business in Central Florida and will continue to make sure incidents like these don’t happen again.
She added that if anyone has a complaint to call WOW! Directly so it can take action.