THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 7, 1996 TAG: 9603070422
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By KATRICE FRANKLIN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
The city is taking a tough line with Falcon Cable, setting up a hot line number for customer complaints and hiring a consultant to recommend improvements.
Additionally, the City Council Wednesday night authorized the city attorney to study the franchise agreement - including ways to end it - and new communications laws that might enable changes.
City Manager Myles E. Standish said the telephone hot line, to be installed by Monday, will allow
residents to voice complaints around the clock.
That, he said, will give the city documentation, bring a response to the caller and result in a letter to Falcon management.
The city will tally citizen complaints and keep track of how the cable company responds, Standish said.
``It's time we start to document complaints, '' he said.
The franchise, which has been feeding cable to Suffolk homes since 1984, has long been criticized by customers for bad reception, poor customer service, billing errors, frequent outages and high rates.
Last December, the City Council began requiring Falcon officials to give regular updates on service changes after the company accidentally aired the adult ``Spice'' channel on a Saturday morning to customers who hadn't asked for the station. Residents were upset because the channel showed up as their children watched cartoons and played with remote controls.
Falcon officials said the mix-up was caused in homes with old converter boxes, but council members said that the company had made the same mistake before.
Last month, the council received a number of complaints again after Falcon took several days to install cable in some customers' homes after a snow storm.
Falcon said that the problem was caused from a failure in their computers and that it would give customers a four-day credit on their bills.
Two council members complained at Wednesday night's meeting that some of their constituents had not received the credit on this month's billing. However, a Falcon spokesman said earlier that the billing date would determine when customers would get the credit.
Wednesday's actions mark the first time that the council has gone beyond verbally blasting the cable company.
KEYWORDS: CABLE TELEVISION SUFFOLK CITY COUNCIL by CNB