City may sue Time Warner

Costa Mesa officials might take legal action against Time Warner Inc. after the city of Los Angeles sued the cable provider for allegedly misleading subscribers and providing them with an unacceptably shoddy product and slow, incompetent service.

In response to that suit and a history of complaints from local residents dissatisfied with the cable provider, Costa Mesa City Attorney Kimberly Hall Barlow wants to find out whether similar actions might be in Costa Mesa’s best interest.

“I requested a copy of the city of Los Angeles’ filing so that I can assess if we need to pursue action of our own,” Barlow said, noting that she was checking into a possible breach of contract.

Officials from the Los Angeles city attorney’s office said Time Warner could have to pay “tens of millions of dollars” in fines.

Time Warner is the only cable television provider available to Costa Mesa residents, according to the Costa Mesa’s telecommunications specialist, Dane Bora.

Community complaints became so vociferous earlier this year that the City Council called a public presentation where it questioned a spokeswoman from Time Warner. At that meeting, the council voted 5-0 to request that she compile statistics counting how many complaints the company received and how many customers canceled their service since Costa Mesa switched to Time Warner from Comcast in 2006.

Los Angeles’ lawsuit said Time Warner caused “major havoc and distress” by leaving customers waiting on hold for long periods of time, not responding quickly enough for service calls and raising rates in defiance of the city’s agreement with the company.

“The city of Los Angeles is not going to allow companies to rip off its residents,” said Nick Velasquez, a spokesman for Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo.

Kristy Hennessey, the Time Warner representative who gave the presentation at the Costa Mesa City Council session in February, said the problems customers were experiencing were merely a result of the transition from Comcast. Now that the “heavy lifting” of the transitional period is done, the service should be much better, according to Hennessey.

“All that is behind us. I feel really good about where we are today,” she said, adding that she was surprised and disappointed by Los Angeles’ suit.

Hennessey declined to provide statistics on how many people have canceled their service since Time Warner took over or how many complaints have been received in the past few months since the meeting with city officials. She also declined to provide statistics on average caller wait times, but said that allegations of 30-minute waits were unfounded and that usual wait times are “usually seconds and in some cases minutes.”

Some Costa Mesa residents have noticed that their programming has been interrupted less frequently in the last few months and they have had to make fewer calls to the company. But those who have had to get a problem fixed say it’s as bad as ever.

Costa Mesa resident Ardy Hurst reported that her cable reception went out and she was left waiting on hold for 45 minutes before someone answered the call.

“One time I had to go five days without TV, but they said there was nothing they could do. And I noticed there was no change in my bill. Thank God I haven’t had to call them for three or four months,” Hurst said.

City Councilwoman Katrina Foley said she has still not been presented with the statistics the council requested and still gets complaints from residents.

“I’ve just been getting a whole bunch of e-mails [from residents unhappy with their Time Warner service],” Foley said.

As a Time Warner customer herself, she also reported spotty reception and long waits for service. Los Angeles’ lawsuit has sparked her interest in having a Time Warner representative return for a follow-up report to the council.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.