Spectrum customers air grievances to company rep. at council committee meeting

Aug. 26—Keene residents got the chance to air their grievances with Spectrum's cable and Wi-Fi services before city councilors Thursday evening, and a company representative promised to look into delays and outages.

Around 16 people attended the regular meeting of the Finance, Organization and Personnel Committee at City Hall, and a few shared their experiences with Spectrum, such as slow Internet connection speeds, poor cable reception and lackluster customer service from the company.

The meeting came after At-Large Councilor Randy Filiault, a customer himself, wrote an email in June to fellow city councilors and Keene Mayor George Hansel requesting that Spectrum representatives appear before the council. Filiault said complaints from more than 25 residents prompted his call for a response from the company.

"This isn't just a case of storms or bad weather, this is happening all over Keene no matter what the weather is," Filiault, who is not a member of the committee, said at the meeting. "As far as world events go this isn't earth shattering, but it is a service that people pay for and people expect the service. The only thing worse lately than Spectrum cable service has been Spectrum's customer service."

In his original email to city officials, Filiault wrote that when he and his constituents reported outages or service interruptions to Spectrum's customer service, the company's only reply has been "we don't see a problem in your area," despite repeated complaints.

Bob Trudelle, who lives on Park Avenue, said he frequently experiences issues with cable where the picture on the television screen isn't synced with the audio levels. Or, he added, the screen will simply freeze.

"Something has to be done; we're paying good money for this," he said.

Rod Parsons of Hurricane Road said he's been frustrated with inconsistent Internet connection speeds. He added that his monthly bill is $238.

"That could have been a car payment," he said. "And you sure would like to see that car performing a lot better than my $238 does."

Chuck Cherry, a Washington Street resident, said he works from home as a customer service agent, and Spectrum Internet interruptions have made his job a lot harder.

"If there's an outage, I either have to work later that day or I have to give up some of my vacation time because Spectrum outages are not my company's fault," he said. "Even for a couple hours, it costs the user a lot more money."

After seven customers at the meeting addressed councilors regarding their service, John Maher, director of government affairs for Charter, addressed the committee and said he took notes of the experiences shared and he'll pass those along to the company's assistant vice president. Maher said representatives of Spectrum will return to the committee's next meeting on Sept. 8 to address the issues in more detail.

Higher parking fees get green light

After hearing from Spectrum customers, councilors unanimously recommended a proposal from Chelsea North, parking operations manager, and Medard Kopczynski, economic development director, which aims to increase parking meter rates and ticket fees in Keene.

The plan would increase hourly rates for on- and off-street parking by 15 cents, according to the agenda packet for the meeting. Under the proposal, on-street parking would rise from 85 cents per hour to a dollar, while off-street and lot parking-meter rates would increase from 35 cents to 50 cents.

The proposal also calls for bumping up ticket fees by $5. Currently, most parking violations result in a $10 ticket, with some triggering a $15 ticket. Those would now be $15 and $20, respectively. After 30 days, if unpaid, those ticket fees would double, and then would double once again after 60 days.

North wrote in a memorandum to councilors that raising rates is necessary to finance the maintenance and operation of the parking system and generate revenue for the parking fund, which pays for the "beautification of the downtown area." This includes amenities such as landscaping and lighting. Income for the parking fund comes from hourly metered parking, quarterly permits, ticket payments and parking space rentals.

If approved by the full council at its meeting next Thursday, North said the new rates would go into effect at the start of next year.

Hunter Oberst can be reached at 355-8585, or hoberst@keenesentinel.com.