Fort Worth

Fort Worth Man Left With Hole in Ceiling After Satellite Installation

A satellite TV technician tripped and fell through a Fort Worth man's ceiling. He called NBC 5 Responds after he said he was being ignored by the company as the hole remained for nearly eight months.

It started with Brian Johnston's deep love for professional basketball.

Problem is, he broke things off with his satellite provider.

"It was during the NBC Finals when we were trying to figure out how am I going to get these games," he said.

The streaming method just didn't cut it for Johnston and he wanted his satellite back.

"We finally just gave up on any pull the plug strategy and went back to DirecTV," he explained.

Back in July, Johnston set up an appointment for an installation. He said a technician was there that same week and started in the attic.

"That's when I heard the sound," he said. "This boom! It was just insulation and sheetrock all over the place."

He said the technician tripped and his foot came through the ceiling.

"He was very apologetic and embarrassed. This hasn't happened before. We're going to get it fixed," Johnston said.

The technician's supervisor came by that same night to look at the damage.

Johnston said they patched up the hole with cardboard and assured him it'd be fixed by Monday.

But Monday came and went and no one showed up.

By August, Johnston said he reached out to AT&T, the owner of DirecTV, on several occasions.

He said a representative told him the case had been escalated, but months continued to go by.

"It was defeating because I kept reaching out and every time they would calm me down by telling me it was being escalated," he said. "It really it wasn't until winter and it's cold and I became more angry about it."

Johnston said he struck out with AT&T and DirecTV, so he called Mastec Advanced Technologies, the installation company.

He said he was told they were going to fix it, but nearly eight months later, he called NBC 5 Responds.

We then reached out to Mastec Advanced Technologies, the home service provider for DirecTV and AT&T.

Mastec told us: "We are investigating this incident and taking quick action. We are contacting the customer to apologize, and we prepared to fix his ceiling as early as tomorrow if possible. The delay was a breakdown in process between our company and our third-party partner for claim resolution. But, we view this as our responsibility."

That same week, he had workers at his home repairing his ceiling.

"It took one phone call," he said.

Johnston is now reunited with his satellite service and no longer distracted while watching his beloved basketball, just in time for the playoffs.

AT&T released this statement: "Obviously this is an unfortunate, unacceptable situation. The ceiling by now has been fixed, and our contractor is taking steps to prevent a similar situation like this from happening in the future."

When you're having work done in your home, sometimes accidents can happen. But if a problem does arise, here are Samantha Chatman's Solutions:

-Document as much as you can.

-Take pictures of the problem spot.

-Keep a paper trail.

-If a company says they're going to fix the problem, jot down the person's name and the date they expect it to be fixed.

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