June 5th, 2008
LA sues Time Warner over service
Time Warner Cable systematically “ripped off” consumers with false and misleading statements, the L.A. city attorney has charged, the L.A. Times reports.
TWC created “major havoc and distress” when it became the dominant cable provider in southern California, City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo charged in a lawsuit. Subscribers have to spend hours on hold with service reps and days waiting for repairs, the lawsuit said.
“Hundreds of thousands of Los Angeles residents were ripped off,” Delgadillo said in a statement. “Time Warner must be held accountable for its promises.”
The problems stem from TWC’s and Comcast’s joint buyout of Adelphia. TWC and Comcast then swapped franchises so each would have monopolies in different regions. TWC advertised that consumers would see no changes as a result of the change but in fact TWC had huge problems integrating systems. During 2006 and 2007, TWC advertised that they would “fix the problem fast.” In fact, the cable guy rarely showed up on time.
And TWC failed to live up to the franchise agreement, which required that a company answer subscribers’ calls within 30 seconds and begin repairs of service interruptions within 24 hours of notification in 90% of its calls for service.
Cable and Internet service “was so intermittent and inferior in quality that it was not much better than no service at all,” the suit says.
