Alpharetta Councilman Takes Issue With Customer No Service

Alpharetta City Councilman D.C. Aiken wasn't pleased with his Internet, TV and phone provider over the Memorial Day weekend, and he thinks the utility's customer service said and did all the wrong things.

Aiken bundles his television, Internet service and home phone with the same provider, in his case, Comcast. His home in a Kimball Bridge Road subdivision was fairly isolated with this problem, because he knew his neighbor across the street still had his service from the traditional cable TV provider.

Share your tales of woe–or of excellence–about customers service by your utility providers in the comments below.

He was using his pulpit as a City Councilman during a City Council meeting at City Hall for a specific reason. Alpharetta has franchise agreements with utilities such as Comcast.

"When we do an agreement with large companies, there should be some kind of customer service level," Aiken said.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, he said that was lacking.

He couldn't believe the customer service representative told him a technician wouldn't come to his home until Tuesday between 2 and 4 p.m. He asked the woman on the phone–and fortunately he had a cellphone–if the entire city of nearly 60,000 people was without their cable service, would all of them have to wait until Tuesday? Yes, Aiken said she told him.

He couldn't believe he was hearing this, so he asked for a manager. The manager promised to get a technician to contact him on Sunday for an earlier appointment. But that time on Sunday came and went, and no call or visit was made from Comcast. So he was back on the phone. That's when he got the customer service rep to admit that no technicians were working over the holiday weekend, which explained the Tuesday service call.

Aiken said if Georgia Power had just a single house without power, "Do you think Georgia Power would take four days to come put the power back on? Or Atlanta Gas Light?"

So the next time franchise agreements come before City Council, Aiken said he'll be thinking about the customer service city residents deserve.