Telus says its communication isn't lacking as more Calgarians complain of damaged property

A Telus representative says the company's fibre optic internet installation is going according to plan, despite dozens of complaints from Calgarians.

Concerned residents in every corner of the city tell CTV News the company's line digging damaged their property.

Some point to cracked driveways and unstable concrete foundations, others to hundreds of dirt-filled squares on private lawns in the city.

Erin Rainey says Telus is even responsible for the death of her 25-year-old weeping birch tree.

Workers in McKenzie Lake were putting in lines under her lawn, thanks to municipal right-of-way utility policies.

"When they dug," she said, "I made sure (my tree) was flagged. So it was marked off for a few days, and then the (fibre digging) day comes and I notice someone under the tree and it looked like the flags had been moved."

She says the workers got within a foot of the tree and hit roots.

"All the roots around that huge hole were frayed, damaged and some were severed," Rainey said.

"Two years (later), it was very dull and lifeless."

Rainey claims an arborist she hired pointed to the fibre optic work as being responsible for the dying tree.

But she says ongoing communication with Telus eventually subsided, and the mother was left with a hefty bill to remove the tree.

The lines there were installed in 2020.

In 2023, Rainey says she still hasn't been compensated or received solid answers from Telus.

A representative in the telecom giant's customer network planning division finds that hard to believe.

"We have done hundreds of thousands of homes and remediated them fully to the satisfaction of all the residents," VP of Customer Network Planning Shazia Sobani said.

"We assess each case with a lot of attention and a lot of care and we always work with residents to find a solution that works on both sides."

That's a claim Cranston resident Bev Schell laughs at.

Schell tells CTV News the Telus work caused a sink in her driveway concrete.

"Our driveway had sunk away from the forms of our garage door," she said.

"We didn't have that problem prior to the work Telus did for us."

Schell says she complained to the company shortly after it did its installation in 2020.

"And they said they had aerial footage to say (the sunken driveway) was a pre-existing condition," she said.

"My argument with that is that I just painted that wood frame and I accidentally put some of the paint on the concrete. So you can see the separation of my frame and the paint on my concrete."

Sobani was unable to speak to specific cases but insisted multiple times in an interview that her company had taken the correct steps in helping residents who needed repair work.

She disputes any "damage" has been done, instead calling the work remnants just part of the installation.

"We do acknowledge that it does cause disruption and we do acknowledge that residents find it intrusive," Sobani said.

"We are working on it. We are 80 per cent done the remediation and we are on with the remaining 20 per cent to be done over the next two weeks."

Schell still feels ignored.

"I recall so many times I had to plug in my phone because it was running out of charge -- that's how long I was on hold," she said.

"And you know what? They succeeded. They didn't answer, they didn't follow up with me. And I did go away. That's what they wanted."

CTV News has received a number of messages about Telus and its fibre optic work.

Photos sent to the newsroom show various properties left in various states of disrepair.

There's no way to prove exactly what caused every piece of damage, but all the complainants say they have one thing in common: Telus did work in their communities within the last few years.

For its part, the telecom company says it's passed out multiple postcards in neighbourhoods set to undergo work, and that its online and over-the-phone communication is still effective.

"We want to keep residents informed, and we have been doing it," Sobani said.

Telus says those residents with issues should "go through what they've been sent," as that communication should include instructions for the street.

It acknowledges the work isn't perfect, but says Calgary's weather and rocky terrain can make the job a difficult one.