Railroad troubles

[RonR]

Curly does have a good idea here!

25 Yrs ago, after my Dad died, Mom received a letter from BC/BS saying that Dad's medical treatment had been paid in error for the past coupla years, so would Mom please refund the overpayments by enclosing her personal check in the enclosed envelop for $85,XXX.

WOW, Mom's pension was $10K/yr, so that was a BIG number, and besides, it was WRONG. Dad was covered.

Since Dad was a civil service employee, Mom went to our congressional rep's office in town. Mom knew that one of his aids managing that office had been a kid in Mom's neighborhood!

She gave the letter to the manager, who said he'd take care of it for her.

Later she received a copy of the letter he sent to BC/BS, stating that they were WRONG, and any future correspondence they had with Mrs. XXXX should be directed through the Congressman's office.

She never heard another word from BC/BS!

It works.

Ron

 

[PitbullMidwest]

The railroad's initial fix was to install 2 cement catch basins and tie these to a main drain...they sent a crew out and a couple hours later a railroad representative all dressed up shows up and shuts down the job

Just curious, what did they do for the couple of hours before being shut down, what was the crew going to do to correct the problem?

 

[barticus73]

I was told they were going to regrade the ground to direct the water into the catch basins but who knows.

More on the story now. I went and was snooping around one of the wetter areas to see what needed to be done. In my looking I see a few pieces of white plastic. I go get a shovel and move some straw laying in the area and what do I find? A perforated pvc pipe ripped in half and pulled to the surface. Looks like they hit a drain line when installing their new drains and either never noticed or tried to hide it by burying it. Anyways, I now have the railroad rep coming back to the property to discuss further actions. I'll keep you guys informed.

 

[ByronBob]

Fixing this yourself without asking for any permission sounds like the easier route at this point.

 

[gordon21]

Get the EPA out to your place. They take no prisoners. They are Feds. I am pretty sure even the RR will not try to screw with them. Just make sure you are 110% right the water is not coming from your septic system.

 

[barticus73]

Well, I just got an email back from the railroad this morning. In it they state that they knew of the broken drain line back in March as they could actually see a piece of it sticking out of the ground. The funny thing is I had to dig 6 to 8 inces of straw and soil to get to the broken piece of pipe now. Looks like they tried to bury it and hide it if you ask me. We also informed them that we were going on vacation next week and would be unavailble. So, guess when he said they were going to do their repair work? Thats right, next week! He stated they would regrade the area (regrade is a misnomer as it was never initially graded) and fix the broken drain line. But, he did say he would like to meet with me and my wife on the Tuesday we get back so we will see what happens then. I can see I will end up doing the work myself in the long run but I'm not going to drop the issue until it heads in the direction og getting a lawyer involved. I think finding the broken drain was definitely in my favor as the railroad rep seems to have changed his tone in his emails. Wish us luck,lol!

 

[rox]

Well, I just got an email back from the railroad this morning... ... I think finding the broken drain was definitely in my favor as the railroad rep seems to have changed his tone in his emails. Wish us luck,lol!

Good Luck to you! If you have a garden, and can send him back with a grocery sack full of surplus zucchini he'll always remember you and probably make an extra effort on your behalf.