Typically, when a company delivers poor service, customers will complain to the company and either changes occur or the customer will be frustrated and find another company with which to do business. But, what if that service is so bad that it causes measurable damage to the customer? Is that even possible?

 

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office believes that it is and is planning to put that belief into action against Time Warner (News - Alert) Cable Inc. According to the Los Angeles Times, the office plans to sue the cable giant due to the “major havoc and distress” that the company caused when it became the No. 1 pay TV provider in Southern California two years ago.

 

The suit, to be filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, is based on what City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo claimed were false and misleading statements that Time Warner made to subscribers.

The lawsuit claims that the cable giant violated its franchise agreement with the city by allowing subscribers to spend hours on hold with customer service representatives and excessive repair work delays.

"Hundreds of thousands of Los Angeles residents were ripped off," Delgadillo said in a statement. "Time Warner must be held accountable for its promises."

Although Time Warner Cable could face civil penalties of tens of millions of dollars, representatives of the company had to immediate comment to provide on the suit.

This is not the first time Delgadillo’s office has gone after corporate America on behalf of the consumer. Local hospitals have been taken to court on allegations that they dumped indigent patients in downtown Los Angeles and Anthem Blue Cross was accused of scheming to cancel health insurance for those diagnosed with serious and expensive medical conditions.

Time Warner acquired its current standing in the L.A. market as a result of its joining with Comcast (News - Alert) Corporation in 2006 to buy out the bankrupt Adelphia Communications Corp. The two companies then swapped franchises to achieve domination in different U.S. regions.

The challenge for Time Warner was that it had to upgrade the old Adelphia and Comcast systems and merge them with its own. Nearly 500,000 subscribers in the city were affected and it has been said that the process was not seamless.

The suit focuses on the service provided by Time Warner from the fall of 2006 to the spring of 2007. Brochures and advertisements were dispersed that claimed that pricing for cable and Internet services would stay the same.

The district attorney’s office claims that the company failed to live up to its side of the franchise cable agreement that requires the company to answer subscribers’ calls within 30 seconds and begin repairs of service interruptions within 24 hours of notification in 90 percent of its calls for service.

The suit claims that Time Warner was so lax in its service delivery that it was almost as if there was no service at all. Only time will tell if the courts feel the same way.