OJAI : Line Gets Few Calls on Cable Problems

Only two complaints about cable television service have been made to Ojai officials since a new telephone system to handle them was set up a month ago at City Hall.

Both calls were logged Thursday and neither was from a city resident, said Elaine Willman, assistant to the city manager.

Ventura County Cablevision arranged for the Phone-A-Concern forwarding system in late November after the City Council reported a steady stream of complaints about rate increases, reception problems and poor service from the cable company, officials said.

The council had asked its staff to log every complaint and had sent letters to state and federal legislators urging increased regulation of the cable industry.

“We hear so frequently that people are unhappy with the cable response process,” Willman said. “I expected that people would utilize this service, but it just hasn’t happened.”

The program is designed to ensure that most inquiries will be acted on within 72 hours, Cablevision President Alexander Zwissler said.

Although it is primarily designed for city residents, the company will respond to questions from any customer, he said.

“We have a form the city fills out. They fax it to us, and we respond directly to the customer and then let the city know the resolution,” he said.

The city signed a 15-year contract with Ventura County Cablevision in 1984 giving the company exclusive rights to provide cable service for Ojai’s 7,500 residents. The company has 2,900 subscribers in the city and an additional 5,600 in the rural Ojai Valley, Zwissler said.

Thousand Oaks, Santa Paula and Fillmore also contract with the cable company and operate similar programs to handle complaints, he said.