By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

MediaOne cable company needs to get its act together, Fayetteville officials told company representatives last week.

“You really need to focus on the customer,” City Councilman Al Hovey-King told MediaOne community relations coordinator Julia Barden during a council work session.

“Customer service is MediaOne's main concern right now,” Barden told the council in an update on plans for improved service in Fayette County.

The company is under scrutiny by local governments, particularly now, because it is being acquired by AT&T. If the Federal Communications Commission approves the merger as expected early next year, governments will be called upon to transfer their franchise agreement from MediaOne to AT&T, which gives them leverage to push for improvements in local service.

AT&T is paying $62 billion in cash, stock and assumed debt

The agreement, approved late in 1998, requires MediaOne to finish replacing its decades-old coaxial cable in Fayette with state-of-the-art fiber optics by Dec. 31, 2000. Improvements in customer service also are called for in the document.

Intermedia, which serves parts of Fayette as well, also is being acquired by the communications giant. The Fayette County Commission will consider transferring its franchise agreement with Intermedia to TCI South Carolina, an AT&T affiliate, during its work session today at 3:30 p.m.

Fayetteville council members repeatedly pushed the customer service button during Barden's visit last week. “There have been a couple of experiences within the city within the past year that were just plain unacceptable,” said Hovey-King. “Quite frankly, cable's image is awful.”

“It's a challenge for people to get good service these days,” agreed Mayor Mike Wheat.

Barden said she is well aware of that. “We are developing a plan to address all those issues,” she said.

Recent storms brought more complaints of lost service than ever before, she said, adding that time on hold for customers calling MediaOne's customer service center were off the charts. “Our goal is to cut down wait time,” she said.

Council members said the storms haven't been the only problem. Response to customers and wait time on calls has been unacceptably long throughout recent months, they said.

“This thing has been going on a long time,” said Councilman Walt White. “This didn't just happen in the last month. Y'all's record is terrible.”

Hovey-King chastised the company for sending Fayette County residents a mass mailing that heralded new choices for customers with the new wide band fiber optic equipment. “If you do a mass mailing and it doesn't apply to half your customers, you've created some bad will,” he said.

“We realize that we're going to have to be more responsive if we're going to continue to be successful,” said Barden.

She promised to visit the council often to give updates and address any problems.