MAILBAG:Take Time Warner to task for poor service

To my shock and dismay, I received a letter announcing Time Warner was cutting off my telephone service.

The letter’s headline reads:

Important information about your telephone service

Discontinuance of traditional telephone service

The letter said they will no longer offer the level of service I enjoyed from Comcast for so many years, and I could more than double my monthly cost by subscribing to additional services (call waiting, caller ID, call forwarding, three-way calling, call waiting ID, speed dial and anonymous call reject) for $39 a month.

I must decide by Sept. 18.

Haven’t we let Time Warner screw up our cable, high-speed Internet and telephone service long enough?

Every day I am on my three PCs on the Internet and watching cable TV in the background.

Every day Time Warner has transmission problems and Internet packets don’t make it to the PCs and the TV turns monochromatic. Many service calls have been placed to Time Warner.

Last month my phone service was out for several days. Their techs blamed my a) house internal wiring; b) home security; c) security alarm wiring; d) Comcast telephone box.

Finally, they isolated my house from equipment and discovered it was Time Warner packet transmission equipment in their facility only after 20-plus additional customers complained.

Time Warner took over Comcast cable, Internet and telephone service, and my bill doubled and outages went up 1,000% on all three services.

They have fired Time Warner executives and still have a “We are Time Warner, you aren’t” attitude that is insulting.

How much longer is Time Warner going to be coddled? There are fines and lawsuits involving their poor performance, but the customer is powerless to intervene or influence city politics into forcing a better lever of performance. Help!

LLOYD MCDANIEL

We are in opposition of AB 437, which effectively eliminates the statute of limitation for lawsuits under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and the labor code.

Lawsuits, no matter how old, could be brought for indefinite damages amounts, resulting in exponential new liability exposure for California employers.

Under AB 437, the statute of limitations for any type of employment discrimination lawsuit (not only gender pay claims but any employment decision affecting any protected class under FEHA) keeps running so long as the employee’s pay or benefits is affected. Employees could even retire and sue years later so long as they continued to receive retirement benefits.

The statute of limitations created by AB 437 is unworkable and violates public policies. This includes prompt surfacing and resolution of potential claims through dialogue between employers and employees. The time limits also balance competing interests by providing plaintiffs a sufficient time to file charges while preventing courts and employers from facing stale claims.

AB 437 would destroy the balance in California between employer and employee that should be maintained when the Legislature creates workplace laws.

Ignoring this balance harms both when the weight and cost of too much litigation forces employers to reduce workforces and operations, close their doors or relocate to states with less hostile legal systems.

We oppose AB 437 and urge your no vote.

LINDA SWANIGER

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