The Lawn Aeration Debacle

I signed up for Fall lawn aeration and over seeding. The afternoon of the aeration service, Chris and I were both scratching our heads because the internet was out. What the heck? What does this flashing blue light mean? No signal? I finally put two and two together and realized the lawn aeration must have cut the cable in the side yard. It was just under the sod, not down very deep at all.

I dug up the old cable and followed it into the yard

The cable pulled up and I saw a frayed end. I found the other end in the middle of an aeration hole. A perfect bulls-eye! What are the odds?

I ripped up the rest of the old cable, it was just under the sod so it was easy to pull up.

Comcast came out and put in a new line, removed the old line, and stuck the plastic cover on.

The cover doesn't go all the way down because the line isn't buried yet. I asked the tech if he could just run the line up under the plastic cylinder and he said no they have contractors that come do that. I asked if I could dig down with a trowel 6 inches real quick and have him run it under and he said no.

I don't want them to spray paint and dig up my whole utility box area, so I'm going to bury the cable myself except for the last bit where the box won't close.

I used a square spade to slice an 8 inch deep trench through the lawn, wiggling it to allow the cable to slide down at least 6 inches or so. Since the ground is mostly clay I tried to form the clay over the top to close it up. I also watered it profusely to flood the trench, hopefully covering the cable with runoff.

I used a row of rocks to mark where the cable runs under the flower bed.

Now I'm just waiting for this contractor to come out and run the cable 6 inches down under the lip of the cylinder. The tech said it would be 2-3 weeks. Sweet. If they come at all - my neighbor's cable isn't even buried, they left it on top of the grass until the thatch grew over it, so it's not even under the sod. Out of sight out of mind right?

I looked at the hookup inside the green Comcast cylinder and the coax cable is locked onto the connection - probably so people don't steal cable or mess with it - but it also means I can't just unhook it real quick to run it under the lip of the box. Sigh.

So who is to blame here? Is Comcast to blame for never burying their cable in the first place leading to me running it under the sod? Am I to blame for running it under the sod and not digging it down further? Is Lawn Pride to blame for puncturing it? Am I to blame for not marking my cable line before they aerated?