Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 19, 1993 TAG: 9310190102
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FINCASTLE LENGTH: Medium
Her boss, County Administrator Jerry Burgess, says that's because their office has received hundreds of complaints about the cable TV company.
Burgess says many citizens are fed up with lousy service, rising rates, the lack of cable hookups in some subdivisions and the inability to simply get through on the company's local number.
Burgess adds that the company has even been consistently late in paying its quarterly franchise fee to the county - to the point where the county has threatened to turn the bill over to an attorney.
Burgess says he's amazed that anyone in the customer-service business could go on with this volume of complaints and not do something about it. "If it was a county department - it would be fixed or everybody would be gone."
At Monday's Board of Supervisors' meeting, Burgess and other county officials let Tele-Media know in explicit terms about their displeasure.
The board is considering whether to apply to the Federal Communications Commission for the right to regulate the rates charged by Tele-Media, which holds the contract for the exclusive cable franchise in Botetourt.
Board chairman Robert Layman made it clear that the supervisors' chagrin over the company's performance is the main reason they're talking about seeking rate-regulating authority.
Tom Olsen, a vice president with Tele-Media, told board members that the company is working to respond to customer complaints. He gave a list of construction projects the company is pursuing to expand service in the southern part of the county and around Fincastle.
Earlier this year, county officials charged that Tele-Media was violating its franchise agreement by not expanding quickly enough into subdivisions that met the minimum density levels agreed to in the contract.
Olsen said the company, which is headquartered in Pennsylvania and has several franchises in Virginia, has been having trouble getting loans to finance the expansion of service. He said the uncertainty created by the recent federal "re-regulation" of the cable industry has made the company's lenders "kind of tentative about advancing funds."
Olsen said he was aware of consumer complaints, but not in the number that Burgess described.
Burgess responded, "One of the reasons you're not swamped with complaints is nobody can get through on your telephone."
Layman agreed, saying, "I've had people say they've sat there and hit redial on their phone every minute for three hours - and then they've finally given up."
Layman added that many folks are upset by increases in their cable bills - increases they say range from 10 percent to 40 percent a month.
Olsen acknowledged that some bills have gone up, but said that has been caused by new federal regulations on what cable companies can and cannot charge for.
"These are difficult issues to understand," Olsen said. "There has certainly been enough publicity on this issue, but a lot of it hasn't been accurate."
by CNB