Woman's power line cut but turns to ABC13 for help getting it fixed

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A Stafford woman's power lines were cut, but didn't realize it until Hurricane Harvey soaked the underground lines.

It was not easy getting help in the days after the storm. On top of that, a utility crew that cut the cables wouldn't take responsibility to fix the problem.

That's when Ann Perkins called the "Turn to Ted" team.

It had to be frustrating enough to begin with, but enough to make you furious when hear she paid $6,000 of her own money to get it fixed.

When it was happening, Perkins barely noticed the AT&T contractor crew digging holes in her backyard this summer.

"I've lived here 16 years, they've been here a lot," Perkins said.

Weeks later, when working out of town during Hurricane Harvey, her daughter called to say some appliances weren't working. Her electrician tracked it down to a broken neutral wire under her backyard, right where that crew was working and when the electrician she paid for unearthed the cable, they found the cut to the power cable.

"It's obvious where the damage was," Perkins said.

But apparently not to the subcontractor that she says did the digging or AT&T, the company that hired them to do it in the first place.

"I was just banging my head on the wall," she said. "It's three companies all pointing at one another."

No one was willing to take responsibility except Anne, who had to pay $6,000 of her own dollars to get it fixed.

Anne saw our Turn to Ted work and called. We called AT&T.

"Now they are basically falling over themselves to get this resolved," she said.

And while they didn't get back to us right away, their crews tracked Anne down.

"Within 15 minutes of the call, 'we're ready to settle this claim'."

AT&T told us the problem has been resolved.

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