Comcast cable gets strong message from Missouri City about service

(11/19/07 - KTRK/MISSOURI CITY, TX) (KTRK) -- From signal problems to rate hikes, some Missouri City residents are upset about their cable company and they took those complaints all the way to city hall.

Comcast took over from Time Warner earlier this year and some in Missouri City say the transition has not been a smooth one.

Not everyone in Missouri City is complaining about the cable company, but it's not hard to find those who are less than satisfied.

"When we turn the TV on we have a lot of signal fade," said Johnny Jackson of Missouri City.

"The TV it just went blank for a lot of hours, like two hours," said Emmanuel Awolaja of Missouri City.

"The cable goes out, especially at night time, it just goes blank," said Joe Buchanan, Jr. of Missouri City.

Residents took those complaints and others to city hall.

"The biggest one is the increase in cost people are facing with the transition from Warner Cable to Comcast," said Missouri City Councilman Jerry Wyatt.

City councilman Jerry Wyatt says the cost complaints started coming in not long after Comcast's October rate increase.

"The mayor decided that we would pass a resolution as a way of at least bringing it to the attention to everybody within Missouri City," said Wyatt.

The resolution, "encourages Comcast to maintain its rates at the amounts prior to October 1st, 2007."

The resolution also, "encourages Comcast to provide the highest level of customer service..."

The city is "encouraging" Comcast because it can do little else.

"Realistically we cannot regulate cable company prices, but we feel if we that if we bring some public attention to it maybe it will get somebody's attention at Comcast," Wyatt said.

Comcast officials say they've heard the complaints and promise to make things better.

Comcast officials say the company has hired an extra 200 call center and field technicians, increased appointment availability to seven days a week and invested in new customer care technologies

While the company works to improve service, no price roll backs are planned, a company spokesperson says, "Price adjustments reflect the increased value of our services, and a $200 million local investment to improve network reliability, launch new products and services and enhance the customer experience."

City officials say they do not believe the prices will drop, but they hope Comcast will improve customer service. The company says it is going to hire another 200 employees.

Could the city sanction Comcast?

No, the resolution is more of a suggestion than anything else, but city leaders hoped to send a signal to Comcast about customer service issues.

You can see Comcast's full response to Missouri City officials on The Consumer Blog.
(Copyright © 2007, KTRK-TV)

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