Charter Communication representative hears from Auburn residents

Oct 08, 2008 (Opelika-Auburn News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- CHTR | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Auburn residents vented concerns about service and cost to a Charter Communications representative Tuesday morning at the Auburn Chamber of Commerce.

"I'm wanting to hear those stories and possibly tell you what we're doing to address those things," Skip James, director of government relations for the company's eastern division, said to more than 40 people gathered in a Chamber meeting room.

Some people voiced concerns about the quality of the image. Others complained about the customer service and technicians. Several emphatically expressed their

frustration.

James listened to all and asked many of them to talk to him after the meeting about their individual issues.

Recently, Charter has implemented programs like tracking contracted technicians and tracking repeat trouble calls, he said.

"We were having unexplained outages," James said. "We have started a preventative maintenance program that goes on at nighttime when most of you are asleep. These technicians go through the systems... and determine components that are going to go bad before they actually go bad."

Some residents said they were upset Charter did not serve all subdivisions, especially those with lower densities. A developer said he was disappointed Charter did not want to reimburse developers for installing the infrastructure while houses were being constructed. James said meetings with developers to find a solution were in the works.

After the meeting, James said he thought the meeting went well.

"Without the customer, we're not here," he told his audience. "We understand that, and we appreciate all our customers."

The City of Auburn has been trying to entice other cable companies to look at serving Auburn residents.

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